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Research
Polymer Architectures
Functional polymers with diverse architectures—such as (co)polymers, grafted structures, block copolymers, or surface-immobilized chains—are highly relevant materials for modern technology. For instance, block copolymers can undergo microphase separation or self-organization in selective solvents to form distinct nanostructures (spheres, cylinders, lamellae, or porous materials). These are already widely applied in fields ranging from nanolithography to drug delivery and separation technologies.
Furthermore, incorporating stimulus-responsive segments allows these materials to alter their conformation, solubility, or chemical bonds in response to external triggers like temperature, pH, light, redox reagents, or electric fields.
Opal Films
Photonic band gap materials have attracted a great deal of attention as potential candidates for various optoelectronic applications. With easily accessible monodisperse colloids, such materials can be prepared by an inexpensive and convenient bottom-up process.
So-called elastomeric polymer opals, where monodisperse beads with diameters typically in the range of 200−350 nm are embedded in a soft matrix, can be fabricated to yield reversible stretch-tunable films showing remarkable color changes. The lattice distances in these soft opal films and hence the reflected colors have been varied, e.g., as a function of an applied voltage, as well as other external triggers such as organic solvents, pH value, or transition metals are well-known. In our group the promising melt-shear organization technique based on shearing the melt of hard core/soft shell particles for the production of highly ordered elastomeric polymer opal films is used. This technique enables the formation of large-area films which reflect spectrally distinct colors due to Bragg reflection from the fcc lattice as function of the incident angle.
Membranes
In the field of separation processes, immobilized functional polymers, block copolymer or inverse opal structures attracted enormous attention as potential filtration membranes.
In our group we investigate the usability of tailor-made polymer architectures based on block copolymers or core/shell particles for the preparation of hierarchically structured porous materials featuring various functional groups.
One concept focusses on the self-assembly and phase inversion of amphiphilic polymers while the other concept is based on the melt-shear organization technique followed by core particle removal. These porous free-standing hybrid or polymer-based film materials are potential candidates for smart switchable membranes, optical sensors and catalyst supports.
Ceramics
The self-assembly of polymers such as block copolymers or polymer particles is a feasible tool for the formation of nanostructured (hybrid) materials for a manifold of different potential applications. In our group, we study polymer-based templating strategies for the preparation of advanced ceramics.
Two self-assembly techniques of preceramic or hybrid polymers are of special interest: (i) the self-assembly of block copolymers featuring a ceramic precursor as integral part of the polymer chain for at least one block segment and (ii) colloidal crystallization of polymeric spherical (hybrid) nano-particles. In the recent past, both concepts have attracted significant attention in order to generate ordered ceramic (composite) nano-structures.
Ionic Liquids -
Our research focuses on the application-oriented design, synthesis, and optimization of ionic liquids and ionic liquid-derived materials.
One major research direction addresses structure–property relationships. We synthesize novel ionic liquids with systematically varied cations, anions, and functional groups and correlate their molecular structures with macroscopic material properties. A particular focus lies on maximizing ionic conductivity, which is essential for advanced electrochemical devices such as supercapacitors and rechargeable batteries. These systems are key technologies for the transition toward sustainable energy storage and conversion.
Beyond transport properties, we investigate fundamental aspects of ionic liquid behavior, including liquid nanostructure formation, intermolecular interactions, and interfacial processes with polymers and solid materials.
In addition, we develop ionic liquid-derived functional materials such as poly(ionic liquids), ionogels, hydrogels, and heteroatom-containing carbon materials generated through ionic liquid pyrolysis.
A second important research direction is the reverse engineering approach, where ionic liquids are specifically designed for targeted scientific or technological applications in close collaboration with external research partners.