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Team

The picture was taken with the consent of everyone in it.The Dynamics of Complex Fluids and Interfaces department during an online-meeting. Also on the picture are two master's students: Dominik and Martin.
Copyright: HI ERN

Students

NameDurationActivity
Dominik Geyersince Nov 2020Master Thesis on collective dynamics of linear microswimmers
Chun-Ting ChoOct 2019 – Jun 2020Master Thesis on effective force between charged colloids at interfaces
Xing GuMay 2019 – Feb 2020Master Thesis on incipient particle motion in two phase flow
Christian HartnagelApr 2018 – Sep 2018Master Thesis on Inverted stratification in colloidal mixtures
Sunil GopalakrishnaMay 2017 – Nov 2017Master Thesis on the drag force calculation of a particle in a shear flow
Viktor HaagNov 2016 – May 2017Master Thesis on advection of free surfaces based on the volume-of-fluid-method

Alumni

    Dr. Daniel Berger

    Dr. Simon Bogner

    Dr. Nicolas Rivas

    Dr. Andrea Scagliarini

    Maarten Wouters

Research

The central challenge about thin liquid films and their conversion into solid films is how to tailor their microstructures, which influence the electronic, optical, and mechanical properties. For example, the relation between the microstructure, the functional properties of the thin films and the process variables in the printing process is currently not sufficiently understood for the manufacturing of a printed solar cell and for electrochemical systems. For this reason the theoretical activities of this research group link fundamental scientific research with the well-defined application of mass-printing highly efficient electrochemical systems and solar cells. Based on the fundamental physical and chemical properties of the used materials and processes, an in-depth understanding of structure-property and process-structure relationships shall be developed. Thus, modeling and simulation of the structure formation processes during printing, drying and post-processing will address the following aspects:

  • Wetting and spreading of liquids, dispersions or emulsions during printing by means of thin film equations and mesoscale simulation methods
  • Rheological models of highly filled dispersions adapted to shear rates in the printing device
  • Statistical mechanics of the dynamic evolution of interactions between the building blocks – molecules and nanoparticles – which determine the thin-film rheology via aggregation and self-organization
  • Heat and mass transfer coupled to structure formation processes during deposition and drying including the important issue of crack formation

  • Effect of post-processing in various environments on defect states

    J. HartingProf. Dr. Jens Harting
    Copyright: A. Kraus / HI ERN

    A. Sukhov, M. ZellhöferA. Sukhov, M. Zellhöfer
    Copyright: A. Kraus / HI ERN

Modeling and simulation of structure-property relationships of thin films

Once predictive models of structure-property and process-structure relationships for thin film formation have been developed, mathematical optimization is used as the tool for developing highly efficient printing processes. The predictive models are supposed to be validated by cooperating with the experimental groups (e.g. at the Energiecampus Nürnberg).

Publications

For a complete list of publications visit our publication database.