Bridging Length Scales: From Nanoparticles to Materials
Event details
| Date | 30.06.2016 |
| Hour | 16:00 › 17:00 |
| Speaker |
Prof. Markus Niederberger, Laboratory for Multifunctional Materials, Department of Materials, ETHZ Bio: CV of Prof. Niederberger |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Nanoparticles with varying, but defined morphologies are the ideal building blocks for the bottom-up fabrication of functional materials. They offer a broad range of interesting properties, which not only depend on the composition, but also on the crystal structure, the particle size and shape and on the surface chemistry. Accordingly, successful synthesis routes have to provide full control over all these parameters. However, the synthesis of nanoparticles (typically as powders) is only the first step on the way to prepare “real” materials. For most applications the nanoparticles have to be assembled and processed into useful geometries, including 2-dimensional arrangements like films or 3-dimensional bodies like composites, foams or aerogels. While this approach provides exceptional flexibility for combining different types of building blocks on the nanoscale, a great challenge remains to fabricate a material with macroscopic size. The talk will cover the synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles with different shapes using nonaqueous sol-gel chemistry. Different strategies will be presented how to assemble and process the nanoparticles into thin films and aerogels bridging several orders of length scales. Incorporation of different types of nanoparticles within the final body enables subtle tuning of the properties. Selected applications in the field of photoelectrochemical water splitting, gas sensing and lithium ion batteries will briefly be addressed.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Raffaella Buonsanti
Contact
- Constance Visser Witman