TY - JOUR A1 - Paul, Sagar A1 - Dolai, Malay A1 - Nanda Goswami, Juli A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Drew, Michael G. B. A1 - Chattopadhyay, Shouvik A1 - Sarkar, Rabi Sankar A1 - Sunil, Appu A1 - Novitchi, Ghenadie A1 - Moreno-Pineda, Eufemio A1 - Wernsdorfer, Wolfgang T1 - From strong to weak interaction: Reconciling SQUID and μSQUID-EPR data in anomalous Co(ii) dimers N2 - Magnetic molecules have been proposed as scaffolds for novel quantum technologies, ranging from quantum sensing and quantum memory to multilevel quantum bits (qudits) and fault-tolerant quantum computation. Integration of magnetic molecules into cutting-edge applications hinges on a deep understanding and tunability of their spin states. To date, the strategic manipulation of the local environment of the ion and careful selection of the magnetic core have enabled the desired tunability and scalability of the spin states. For such goals, however, extracting the anisotropic parameters that dictate the characteristics of the Spin Hamiltonian is challenging, especially for molecules consisting of multiple magnetic cores. We address these challenges by studying two cobalt(II) dinuclear systems, complicated by inherent spin–orbit coupling. We explore the magnetic properties of these systems in two temperature regimes: (i) at sub-Kelvin temperatures employing single crystals at 30 mK using a unique μSQUID-EPR technique that examines the microwave absorption peaks in the magnetisation data and their variation with field angle and frequency; and (ii) in bulk employing convectional SQUID magnetometry above 2 K i.e., χMT(T) and M(H). Unexpectedly, sub-Kelvin temperature investigations reveal a negligible interaction, whereas the SQUID data reveal a much stronger interaction between the Co(II) ions. An understanding of these data is developed based on a strong coupling model and the coupling of two moieties with a spin-effective ground state. KW - cOBALT(II)-complex KW - In situ complex formation KW - Magnetic property KW - Crystal structure PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641421 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5QI01387A SN - 2052-1553 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-64142 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rodríguez-Sánchez, Noelia A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Bienert, Ralf A1 - Ballesteros, Menta A1 - Ruiz Salvador, A. Rabdel A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Emmerling, Franziska T1 - Mechanochemical ZIF-9 formation: in situ analysis and photocatalytic enhancement evaluation N2 - Efficient treatment of persistent pollutants in wastewater is crucial for sustainable water management and environmental protection. This study addresses this challenge by investigating the mechanochemical synthesis and photocatalytic performance of ZIF-9, a cobalt-based zeolitic imidazolate framework. Using synchrotron-based powder X-ray diffraction, we provide real-time insights into the formation dynamics of ZIF-9 during mechanosynthesis. Our results show that mechanochemically synthesised ZIF-9 exhibits superior photocatalytic activity compared to its solvothermally prepared counterpart, achieving a 2-fold increase in methylene blue degradation rate. This research not only advances our understanding of the synthesis and properties of ZIF-9, but also demonstrates the potential of mechanochemical approaches in the development of high-performance, sustainably produced materials for water treatment and other environmental applications. KW - MOFs KW - ZIF KW - Time-resolved in situ investigation KW - Photocatalysis synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641416 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D4MR00114A SN - 2976-8683 VL - 2 IS - 1 SP - 116 EP - 126 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-64141 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ryll, Tom William T1 - Applied and Technical Mineralogy:� high-throughput automated platform for in-situ monitoring of CaSO4 formation N2 - In this project we investigate nucleation pathways by utilizing synchrotron-XRD and running a case-study on calcium sulfate and its polymorphs. To accomplish this, we developed a modular automation setup for reactions in solution to run synthesis and control reaction conditions. So far we successfully characterized the recycling process of gypsum (CaSO4*2H2O) and are now investigating the formation of anhydrite (CaSO4*0H2O) as well as possible applications for the automation setup and analysis. T2 - Geo4Göttingen 2025 CY - Göttingen, Germany DA - 14.09.2025 KW - Recycling KW - Gypsum KW - Synchrotron-X-ray-diffraction KW - Raman-spectroscopy KW - Automation PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64139 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Feiler, Torvid A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit T1 - Sustainable mechanochemical approach for the selective synthesis of multicomponent organic solids: real-time in situ insights N2 - Crystalline multicomponent organic solids (MOSs) such as cocrystals and ionic cocrystals hold immense potential in diverse functional applications, ranging from pharmaceuticals to optoelectronics. However, conventional solution-based crystallization methods often result in polymorphic mixtures and lack precise control over product composition. Herein, we report a comparative investigation of solution crystallization versus mechanochemical synthesis for constructing MOSs from 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid (ACA) and 4,4 '-bipyridine (BPY). Solution-based approaches consistently yielded concomitant formation of neutral cocrystal (CC) and ionic cocrystal (ICC) forms, regardless of the solvent used. The resulting multicomponent solids were comprehensively characterized using a combination of single crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, differential thermal analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis. In contrast, mechanochemical methods, including neat grinding (without solvent) and liquid-assisted grinding (with minimum solvent), enabled selective formation of either a phase pure CC or ICC form. Less polar and nonpolar organic solvents favor the kinetic CC, while polar water promotes formation of the thermodynamically stable ICC. Time-resolved in situ powder X-ray diffraction (TRIS-PXRD) captures the dynamic evolution of solid-state phases and reveals the complete transformation of the CC into ICC under neat grinding or water-assisted conditions. This study highlights the powerful role of mechanochemistry and in situ monitoring in steering solid-state reactivity and offers a sustainable pathway for the targeted and scalable synthesis of pure multicomponent organic materials. KW - Cocrystal KW - Synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction KW - Time-resolved in situ investigation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641409 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CE00663E SN - 1466-8033 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-64140 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ryll, Tom William T1 - In-situ analysis of nucleation processes – case study: calciumsulfate N2 - In this project we investigate nucleation pathways by utilizing synchrotron-XRD and running a case-study on calcium sulfate and its polymorphs. To accomplish this, we developed a modular automation setup for reactions in solution to run synthesis and control reaction conditions. So far we successfully characterized the recycling process of gypsum (CaSO4*2H2O) and are now investigating the formation of anhydrite (CaSO4*0H2O) as well as possible applications for the automation setup and analysis. T2 - SALSA Make & Measure 2025 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 10.09.2025 KW - Recycling KW - Gypsum KW - Synchrotron-X-ray-diffraction KW - Raman-spectroscopy KW - Automation PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64138 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ryll, Tom William T1 - In-situ analysis of nucleation processes – case study: calciumsulfate N2 - In this project we investigate nucleation pathways by utilizing synchrotron-XRD and running a case-study on calcium sulfate and its polymorphs. To accomplish this, we developed a modular automation setup for reactions in solution to run synthesis and control reaction conditions. So far we successfully characterized the recycling process of gypsum (CaSO4*2H2O) and are now investigating the formation of anhydrite (CaSO4*0H2O) as well as possible applications for the automation setup and analysis. T2 - SALSA Make & Measure 2025 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 10.09.2025 KW - Recycling KW - Gypsum KW - Synchrotron-X-ray-diffraction KW - Raman-spectroscopy KW - Automation PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64135 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Madbouly, Loay Akmal T1 - Chemical analysis of commercial functionalized graphene along the production process N2 - Graphene has been commercialized for over a decade. For many applications like flexible electronics, coating of different materials like paper or for textiles, it used in the form of suspensions or inks. Functionalization enables tailoring the properties of graphene, such as the sheet resistance. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy are used to characterize the chemical composition of graphene flakes, functionalized and otherwise. In this study, we investigate the following set of commercial materials: fluorine-functionalized graphene (F-graphene) and nitrogen-functionalized graphene (N-graphene) as well as unfunctionalized graphene (G-graphene, as the starting material) in the forms of powders, suspensions, and inks, the latter as the final commercial product. Raman spectroscopy and XPS are complementary techniques. Our results obtained from Raman spectroscopy confirmed the existence of graphene structures in all samples investigated and provided a comparative insight on the structural defects between samples. XPS was used to investigate the chemical states of elements in graphene, such as sp2 and sp3 hybridization states of carbon, as well as the chemical effect of functionalization on graphene. High resolution XPS analysis was performed for C 1s, F 1s and N 1s core-levels for all the graphene samples. The XPS results showed the elemental composition and the impurities of each sample. All powders showed less presence of carboxyl groups, compared to their respective suspensions and inks. F-functionalized suspension and inks showed a significant decrease in the at-% of fluorine relative to the powder. These valuable insights, particularly when correlated, allowed the tracking of the structural and chemical changes of graphene along its production process. T2 - 3rd FUB Nano Colloquium CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 15.07.2025 KW - Functionalized graphene KW - Graphene-related 2D materials (GR2M) KW - Raman Spectroscopy KW - XPS KW - Inks PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64116 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hörmann, Anja Franziska T1 - My surface at a glance: grazing incidence scattering applications N2 - Three literature examples are presented to demonstrate the wide range of applications of grazing incidence scattering. These examples concern 1) the determination of the density of a porous film, 2) how orientation of conducting polymers is observed in grazing incidence scattering, and 3) how the three-dimensional order of nanoparticles is reflected in the data. To conclude we show recent data from the MOUSE lab demonstrating the new capability to observe intermolecular distances in thin films using the molybdenum X-ray source. T2 - Surface Transfer of Pathogens (STOP) - M37 meeting CY - Turin, Italy DA - 11.09.2025 KW - Grazing incidence KW - GISAXS KW - Applications PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64115 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Madbouly, Loay Akmal T1 - Chemical analysis of commercial functionalized graphene along the production process N2 - Graphene has found widespread commercial use, particularly in flexible electronics and coatings for substrates such as paper and textiles, in the form of suspensions and inks (Zhang et al., 2017). Functionalization of graphene allows fine-tuning of properties like electrical conductivity. Structural and chemical features of graphene materials are typically analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). While Raman spectroscopy plays a critical role in identifying the presence of graphene and characterizing its structural defects (Pollard et al., 2017), XPS examines the chemistry of graphene. This study investigates three types of graphene materials — graphene (unfunctionalized, G-graphene), fluorine-functionalized graphene (F-graphene), and nitrogen-functionalized graphene (N-graphene) — across three physical forms: powders, suspensions, and embedded in inks. Functionalization was performed via plasma treatment of G-graphene with fluorine or ammonia gases. Suspensions were obtained by dispersing powders in distilled water, while inks were formulated using diacetone alcohol, carbon black, and graphene. Raman spectroscopy analysis confirmed the graphitic nature of all materials and revealed differences in defect density across different forms. The characteristic D, G, and D’ bands varied in relative intensity, offering insight into structural integrity and functionalization effects. XPS measurements examined core-level spectra (C 1s, F 1s, N 1s), revealing chemical bonding environments and hybridization states, including the sp² and sp³ states. A notable decline in fluorine content in F-graphene suspensions and inks, relative to powders, was observed. Existence of organic fluorine and total absence of metallic fluorine were observed. Raman spectroscopy and XPS data provided a correlated view of structural and chemical evolution through the graphene production chain (Figure 1). T2 - RamanFest 2025 CY - Frankfurt, Germany DA - 02.07.2025 KW - Functionalized graphene KW - Graphene-related 2D materials (GR2M) KW - Raman Spectroscopy KW - XPS KW - Inks PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64114 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Madbouly, Loay Akmal T1 - Raman Spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Commercial Functionalized Graphene N2 - Graphene has been commercialized for over a decade. For many applications like flexible electronics, coating of different materials like paper or for textiles, it used in the form of suspensions or inks [1]. Graphene powders are typically used as the starting material for the synthesize of graphene suspensions and graphene inks. Functionalization enables tailoring the properties of graphene, such as the sheet resistance. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, along other techniques are used to characterize graphene flakes, functionalized and otherwise. Raman spectroscopy is necessary as a primary step to validate the existence of graphene structure in graphene powders [2]. XPS is commonly used to investigate the elemental composition, including impurities, and the chemical structure of graphene. In this study, we investigate the following set of commercial materials: fluorine-functionalized graphene (F-graphene) and nitrogen-functionalized graphene (N-graphene) as well as unfunctionalized graphene (G-graphene) in the forms of powders, suspensions, and inks. The functionalization process for the graphene powder was carried out in a plasma reactor by purging fluorine and ammonia gases, in separate processes, over the G-graphene powder. The suspensions were prepared by adding distilled water to the powders. The inks consist of diacetone alcohol, carbon black, and graphene powders. Raman spectroscopy and XPS are complementary techniques. Our results obtained from Raman spectroscopy confirmed the existence of graphene structures in all samples and provided a comparative insight on the structural defects between samples. XPS was used to investigate the chemical states of elements in graphene, such as sp2 and sp3 hybridization states of carbon, as well as the chemical effect of functionalization on graphene. High resolution XPS analysis was performed for C 1s, F 1s and N 1s core-levels for all the graphene samples: G-graphene, F-graphene, and N-graphene, in all forms. The XPS results showed the elemental composition and the impurities of each sample. All powders showed less presence of carboxyl groups, compared to their respective suspensions and inks. F-functionalized suspension and inks showed a significant decrease in the at% of fluorine relative to the powder. These valuable insights, independent and when correlated, allowed the tracking of the structural and chemical changes of graphene along its production process. T2 - E-MRS 2025 CY - Strasbough, France DA - 26.05.2025 KW - Functionalized graphene inks PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64113 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Voss, Heike A1 - Zahedi-Azad, Setareh A1 - Ernst, Owen C. A1 - Lucaßen, Jan A1 - Mann, Guido A1 - Bonse, Jörn A1 - Boeck, Torsten A1 - Martin, Jens A1 - Schmid, Martina A1 - Krüger, Jörg T1 - Chemical vapor deposition of indium precursors for solar microabsorbers using continuous laser radiation BT - A, Materials science & processing N2 - Localized deposition of indium on an amorphous glass surface covered with a thin molybdenum layer is demonstrated utilizing laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition. A continuous-wave laser causes a temperature rise on the molybdenum layer resulting in the selective aggregation of liquid and ultimately crystalline structures of indium. The formation sites of the indium are determined by the decomposition of gaseous trimethylindium. The deposited indium islands can serve as precursors and could be further processed into compound semiconductors like CuInSe2 for micro-concentrator solar cells. The experimental investigations were supported by theoretical simulations of the laser heating process to calculate the local temperature distribution on the surface of the molybdenum-covered glass substrate. KW - Laser-assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition KW - CW Laser KW - Indium Islands KW - Micro-concentrator Solar Cell PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-641069 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-025-08895-z SN - 0947-8396 VL - 131 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ; Heidelberg [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-64106 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul T1 - Morphological Analysis of Graphene Oxide by SEM and Correlative Field-Flow Fractionation Coupled with Multi-Angle Light Scattering N2 - Since the first free-standing monolayer graphene sheet was successfully prepared in 2004 [1], graphene and graphene oxide materials achieved the necessary technical readiness level to be considered for use in commercial products. Moreover, the focus has shifted from fundamental research towards expanding the applicability of graphene-related 2D materials (GR2M) and to improve their competitiveness with established materials [2]. Significant advances have been made especially in applications regarding optoelectronics, energy storage materials, chemical additives, sensor applications etc. [3]. Composite products containing graphene and functionalized graphene such as inks and dyes have shown enhanced performance regarding longevity, wettability, and can be tailored for specific purposes through dedicated functionalization. For accurate physico-chemical characterization, GR2M products in their raw form or as part of composites present challenges in terms of sample preparation, choice of analytical method and evaluation of data. For instance, in the context of imaging, these challenges encompass: (a) the selection of images magnifications being representative for all the flakes ranging in size from hundreds of nanometers to micrometers; (b) the selection of representative flakes for adequate statistics, which may involve the separation of overlapping/agglomerating flakes by segmentation; and (c) the classification of diverse morphologies such as irregularly shaped/crumpled flakes, porous flakes and particulate features present in the sample. The complexity of the analytical task has needed the introduction of specific ontology for 2D materials to identify the proper descriptors characterizing confidently the morphological features of interest. Regarding light scattering techniques such as Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Multi-Angle Light Scattering (MALS) commonly used for process control in industry as a first measure, an alternative approach would be necessary. This is in part due to the use of the standard sphere-model for 2D materials as appearing to be inappropriate, whilst a disc-shape model potentially yields more suitable results. Standardization efforts are underway to establish a baseline for accurate characterization of aimed measurands with sufficient statistics. To date, the measurement methods recommended by standardization bodies for the morphological-structural characterization of GR2M’s are AFM, Raman Spectroscopy and SEM and/or TEM. The acquisition of statistically relevant numbers of flakes for a thorough characterization using TEM and AFM is particularly time-consuming. The size distribution of graphene oxide- and graphene-containing inks was investigated by using a correlative approach coupling Centrifugal Field-Flow Fractionation (CF3) [4] with MALS. Up to now, promising results for Field-Flow Fractionation have been achieved only with respect to the separation into size classes of GO samples as well as of graphene oxide mixed with graphene by Asymmetrical Field-Flow Fractionation (AF4) [5], [6]. Besides the online characterization by MALS, the eluting size fractions obtained by CF3 were also collected and subsequently measured by SEM. Successful separation into size fractions allows us to apply ensemble techniques such as MALS to samples that were previously not measurable according to best-practices. In this study, the following material sub-classes have been observed with SEM: (i) nano-graphite mixed with graphene flakes, (ii) graphene oxide few- and multi-layer flakes with diverse and highly complex morphology, and (iii) graphene oxide of well-defined size and shape with >95% single- and bilayer content were investigated. Data on the class size ranges was obtained by MALS after separation with CF3 and consideration of a disc-shape model. Significant effort was invested into the sample preparation for CF3 measurements to achieve a recovery rate of >80%, well above the recommended 70% by ISO/TS 21362:2018 for validation purposes. The material fractions collected after the CF3 measurement were separately deposited on a silicon wafer and the size results of the SEM analysis were correlated with the corresponding mean sizes obtained with MALS. T2 - Microscopy and Microanalysis 2025 CY - Salt Lake City, UTAH, USA DA - 27.07.2025 KW - Advanced Material KW - CF3 KW - SEM KW - Morphology PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64084 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul T1 - Wire-print procedure for accurate morphological and Chemical characterization of graphene-related 2D-materials N2 - One of the biggest challenges in the physico-chemical characterization of particulate nanomaterials pertains to the sample preparation. Particularly the imaging methods require suitable deposition of the sample on a substrate. ‘Suitable’ sample preparation of a particulate (nano)material on a substrate means to make visible the constituent particles to a microscopy technique able to analyze the nanoscale (AFM, SEM, TEM, etc). The particles deposited on a substrate either directly as a powder or from liquid suspension must be ideally isolated (de-agglomerated), without particle losses, homogeneously distributed in a high density of particles per substrate area for efficient analysis, with good statistics of the counted particles. Various sample preparation approaches to meet the latter requirements have been reported in the literature, e.g. electrospray, substrate surface treatment, embedding the particulate material and polishing the cross-section, or addition of ligands to the suspended nanostructures to enhance their hydrophilicity [1], [2], [3], [4]. In this study we have systematically tested the efficacy of a new deposition procedure for graphene-related 2D materials (GR2M’s) from liquid suspension onto a substrate for quantitative analysis of their size and shape distribution with electron microscopy. The technique is an extension of the conventional drop-casting method, and we have designated it “wire-print” deposition. It consists of two steps, first one being usual drop-casting on a copper substrate and second one involving a thin copper wire with a sub-mm diameter being dipped into the deposited droplet and retracted with a corresponding half-spherical droplet attached on its tip and final deposition of this entire nL-amount of suspension onto e.g. a silicon wafer for microscopical, detailed analysis. The result of 11 series of such a wire-print deposition for a graphene-based ink is shown in Figure 1 (labeled A-L), where various conditions (treatment of the starting suspension) have been experimented with a repetition of up to 10 times per condition, all together 86 spots on a silicon wafer of 10 mm x 10 mm. The result of one series of 8 repeated wire-print depositions is shown in Figure 2, where the deposited spots are visualized with SEM. Note the weak presence of coffee-rings, irregular spot shape, and presence of agglomerates. The results for the measured flake size distribution expressed as ECD (equivalent circular diameter) are represented in Fig. 3 for all the eight depositions. Both the mean value of the 8 ECD distributions and the total number of flakes deposited in each spot show a variance in the range of 17% and 22%, respectively, see Table 1. In the context of accurate analysis of such challenging complex materials these numbers can be considered as excellent and demonstrate the high benefit of the wire-print deposition for accurate morphological measurements on GR2M’s. T2 - Microscopy and Microanalysis 2025 CY - Salt Lake City, UTAH, USA DA - 27.07.2025 KW - Sample preparation KW - Graphene KW - Electron Microscopy KW - Morphology PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64083 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul T1 - Standardized Chemical Composition Analysis of Graphene Oxide Flakes with SEM/EDS and XPS Works Reliably N2 - Reliable quantification of the chemical composition of graphene-related 2D materials as powders and liquid suspensions is a challenging task. Analytical methods such as XPS, ICP-MS, TGA and FTIR are recommended to be used in ongoing projects at standardization bodies. The specific parameters to be measured are also defined, e.g. the oxygen-to-carbon (O/C) concentration ratio, the trace metal impurities, or the functional groups present [1]. In this contribution, for the first time, the results of a systematic study on the capability of SEM/EDS to reliably quantify the O/C ratio in a well-defined and well-characterized graphene oxide material [2] are presented. It is expected that the quantitative EDS analysis of light elements emitting characteristic X-ray lines below 1 keV to be provided with significantly larger measurement uncertainties than the analysis of elements with an atomic number of 11 (Na) or above [3]. The robustness of the SEM/EDS results obtained at various measurement conditions (various excitation energies) is tested by comparing the results to the established XPS analysis [4], which has been carried out on the same samples. A crucial step in sample preparation from liquid suspension with graphene oxides flakes onto a substrate for analysis with both XPS and EDS. It is demonstrated that if a closed and enough thick drop-cast deposited spot is succeeded to be deposited on a substrate, both surface-sensitive XPS analysis and bulk-characterizing EDS result in very similar elemental composition of oxygen and carbon. Hence, theoretical, expected O/C atomic ratio values for pure graphene oxide of ~0.5 [1] are achieved (with both methods), see Figure 1. Further, the effect of untight deposited material enabling co-analysis of the (silicon) substrate, is evaluated for both methods, XPS and EDS. To note that all the EDS results in this study have been quantified standardless. The effect of the variation of beam voltage on the result of the quantification of the O/C ratio is shown in Figure 2. No clear tendency is visible by varying the kV, which is a confirmation of the quality of the standardless analysis at the used EDS spectrometer. The results of this study demonstrate the reliability of the reference measurement protocol for SEM/EDS to be introduced into ISO/DTS 23359, including the dedicated sample preparation, particularly for the cases when the concentration of the GO flakes in stock liquid suspension is low. Further, also the consideration of this GO material as one of the very few available as a commercial material on the market as the very first GO reference material with regard to its morphology as well as chemical composition. Both the standard measurement procedure and the candidate reference material will immensely contribute to characterise reliably the chemical composition of graphene-related 2D materials with SEM/EDS as one of the most widely used methods in analytical laboratories. T2 - Microscopy and Microanalysis 2025 CY - Salt Lake City, UTAH, USA DA - 27.07.2025 KW - Graphene oxide flakes KW - SEM/EDS KW - XPS KW - O/C ratio KW - Impurities PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64085 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Mrkwitschka, Paul T1 - Standardized Chemical Characterisation of Graphene Oxide Flakes by X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy N2 - Reliable quantification of the chemical composition of graphene-related 2D materials as powders and liquid suspensions is a challenging task. Analytical methods such as XPS, ICP-MS, TGA and FTIR are recommended to be used in ongoing projects at standardisation bodies. The specific parameters to be measured are also defined, e.g. the oxygen-to-carbon (O/C) concentration ratio, the trace metal impurities, or the functional groups present [1]. In this contribution, for the first time, the results of a systematic study on the capability of SEM/EDS to reliably quantify the O/C ratio in a well-defined and well-characterized graphene oxide material [2] are presented. It is expected that the quantitative EDS analysis of light elements emitting characteristic X-ray lines below 1 keV to be provided with significantly larger measurement uncertainties than the analysis of elements with an atomic number of 11 (Na) or above [3]. The robustness of the SEM/EDS results obtained at various measurement conditions (various excitation energies) is tested by comparing the results to the established XPS analysis [4], which has been carried out on the same samples. A crucial step in sample preparation from liquid suspension with graphene oxides flakes onto a substrate for analysis with both XPS and EDS. It is demonstrated that if a closed and enough thick drop-cast deposited spot is succeeded to be deposited on a substrate, both surface-sensitive XPS analysis and bulk-characterising EDS result in very similar elemental composition of oxygen and carbon. Hence, theoretical, expected O/C atomic ratio values for pure graphene oxide of ~0.5 [1] are achieved (with both methods), see Figure 1. Further, the effect of untight deposited material enabling co-analysis of the (silicon) substrate, is evaluated for both methods, XPS and EDS. To note that all the EDS results in this study have been quantified standardless. The results of this study demonstrate the reliability of the reference measurement protocol for SEM/EDS to be introduced into ISO/DTS 23359, including the dedicated sample preparation, particularly for the cases when the concentration of the GO flakes in stock liquid suspension is low. Further, also the consideration of this GO material as one of the very few available as a commercial material on the market as the very first GO reference material with regard to its morphology as well as chemical composition. Both the standard measurement procedure and the candidate reference material will immensely contribute to characterise reliably the chemical composition of graphene-related 2D materials with SEM/EDS as one of the most widely used methods in analytical laboratories T2 - EMAS 2025 Workshop CY - Mataró, Spain DA - 11.05.2025 KW - Advanced Materials KW - Graphene KW - Chemical Quantification KW - EDX KW - XPS PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64082 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - George, Janine T1 - High-throughput Computational Screening N2 - I provided a tutorial lecture on high-throughput DFT calculations in combination with heuristics, machine learning and workflows. I started with the introduction of the software infrastructure. Then, I showed applications for phonon predictions, magnetism and synthesizability prediction. T2 - Machine Learning for Materials 2025 CY - Karlsruhe, Germany DA - 08.09.2025 KW - Materials Design KW - Automation KW - High-throughput KW - Magnetism KW - Thermal conductivity PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64074 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - George, Janine T1 - Introduction to computational methods with periodic boundaries N2 - I provided an introduction to density functional theory (DFT) with periodic boundary conditions. I repeated the derivation of DFT and the Bloch theorem. Then, I combined both concepts. Additionally, I delivered an outlook to automatic DFT for solids and machine learning in the field. T2 - Computational Methods in Crystallography CY - Lausanne, Switzerland DA - 09.09.2025 KW - DFT KW - Automation KW - Machine Learning KW - Bloch Theorem KW - Materials Design PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64044 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Pedersen, Angus T1 - Coupling Single Atom Electrocatalysts with a Bioreactor for CO2 to C2+ Conversion N2 - To alleviate CO2 emissions impact on climate change, and close the carbon cycle, converting carbon dioxide into valuable products such as multi-carbon organic chemicals is of great importance. Each approach offers distinct merits but also certain challenges in terms of process efficiency, product selectivity and implementation at scale. Developing coupled CO2 conversion systems, for instance bio-electrochemical reactors, can address some of the challenges.[1] Precious-metal free biocompatible single atoms in N-doped C (M-N-C, where M = Fe, Ni, Co) electrocatalysts, based on Mg active site imprinting of bioinspired MN4 sites,[2][3] have shown state-of-the-art activity and selectivity for conversion of CO2 to CO.[4] Pyrolysis of Mg-N-C is carried out in a salt-melt at high temperatures (≥ 800 oC) and followed by an exchange with stoichiometric amounts of Ni or Co at low temperatures. N2-sorption of the materials reveal a micro-mesoporous structure with high surface areas (> 1000 m2 g-1) and a mass-transport enabling pore system. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure reveal the existence of atomically dispersed single atom active sites with defined active site structure. These catalysts were implemented in a home-made bio-electrocatalytic system (BES) consisting of a bioreactor coupled to a CO2 electrolysis cell.[5] Here, CO2 is first electrochemically converted to CO in the electrolysis cell which is then directly fed to bacteria (Clostridium ragsdalei) in the bioreactor which further metabolize it to valuable carbon compounds, such as acetate. An acetate formation rate of 1.8 mg L-1 h-1 was achieved and an acetate concentration of 0.103 g L-1, corresponding to acetate formation rate of 0.73 mmol d-1. We have successfully demonstrated the validity of a coupled bio-electrocatalytic system operating with resource efficient single atom Co- and Ni-N-C electrocatalysts for CO2 conversion. T2 - Electrifying Organic Synthesis CY - Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany DA - 03.09.2025 KW - Single atom KW - Electrochemical CO2 conversion KW - Bioelectrolysis PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64037 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - INPR A1 - Liu, Yuanbin A1 - Zhou, Yuxing A1 - Ademuwagun, Richard A1 - Walterbos, Luc A1 - George, Janine A1 - Elliott, Stephen R. A1 - Deringer, Volker L. T1 - Medium-range structural order in amorphous arsenic N2 - Medium-range order (MRO) is a key structural feature of amorphous materials, but ist origin and nature remain elusive. Here, we reveal the MRO in amorphous arsenic (a-As) using advanced atomistic simulations, based on machine-learned potentials derived using automated workflows. Our simulations accurately reproduce the experimental structurefactor of a-As, especially the first sharp diffraction peak (FSDP), which is a signature of MRO. We compare and contrast the structure of a-As with that of its lighter homologue, red amorphous phosphorus (a-P), identifying the dihedral-angle distribution as a key factor differentiating the MRO in both. The pressure-dependent structural behaviors of a-As and a-P differ as well, which we link to the interplay of ring topology and structural entropy. We finally show that the origin of the FSDP is closely correlated with the size and spatial distribution of voids in the amorphous networks. Our work provides fundamental insights into MRO in an amorphous elemental system, and more widely it illustrates the usefulness of automation for machine-learning-driven atomistic simulations. KW - Materials Design KW - Amorphous KW - Machine Learning KW - Machine Learning Interatomic Potentials KW - Automation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-640204 DO - https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2509.02484 SP - 1 EP - 43 AN - OPUS4-64020 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zimmermann, Yoel A1 - Bazgir, Adib A1 - Al-Feghali, Alexander A1 - Ansari, Mehrad A1 - Bocarsly, Joshua A1 - Brinson, L Catherine A1 - Chiang, Yuan A1 - Circi, Defne A1 - Chiu, Min-Hsueh A1 - Daelman, Nathan A1 - Evans, Matthew A1 - Gangan, Abhijeet S A1 - George, Janine A1 - Harb, Hassan A1 - Khalighinejad, Ghazal A1 - Takrim Khan, Sartaaj A1 - Klawohn, Sascha A1 - Lederbauer, Magdalena A1 - Mahjoubi, Soroush A1 - Mohr, Bernadette A1 - Mohamad Moosavi, Seyed A1 - Naik, Aakash Ashok A1 - Ozhan, Aleyna Beste A1 - Plessers, Dieter A1 - Roy, Aritra A1 - Schoeppach, Fabian A1 - Schwaller, Philippe A1 - Terboven, Carla A1 - Ueltzen, Katharina A1 - Wu, Yue A1 - Zhu, Shang A1 - Janssen, Jan A1 - Li, Calvin A1 - Foster, Ian A1 - Blaiszik, Ben T1 - 32 examples of LLM applications in materials science and chemistry: towards automation, assistants, agents, and accelerated scientific discovery N2 - Large Language Models (LLMs) are reshaping many aspects of materials science and chemistry research, enabling advances in molecular property prediction, materials design, scientific automation, knowledge extraction, and more. Recent developments demonstrate that the latest class of models are able to integrate structured and unstructured data, assist in hypothesis generation, and streamline research workflows. To explore the frontier of LLM capabilities across the research lifecycle, we review applications of LLMs through 34 total projects developed during the second annual Large Language Model Hackathon for Applications in Materials Science and Chemistry, a global hybrid event. These projects spanned seven key research areas: (1) molecular and material property prediction, (2) molecular and material design, (3) automation and novel interfaces, (4) scientific communication and education, (5) research data management and automation, (6) hypothesis generation and evaluation, and (7) knowledge extraction and reasoning from the scientific literature. Collectively, these applications illustrate how LLMs serve as versatile predictive models, platforms for rapid prototyping of domain-specific tools, and much more. In particular, improvements in both open source and proprietary LLM performance through the addition of reasoning, additional training data, and new techniques have expanded effectiveness, particularly in low-data environments and interdisciplinary research. As LLMs continue to improve, their integration into scientific workflows presents both new opportunities and new challenges, requiring ongoing exploration, continued refinement, and further research to address reliability, interpretability, and reproducibility. KW - Large Language Models KW - Machine Learning KW - Materials Design KW - Bonding Analysis KW - Phonons KW - Thermal properties PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1088/2632-2153/ae011a SN - 2632-2153 VL - 6 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 34 PB - IOP Publishing AN - OPUS4-64019 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Grandel, Jonas T1 - Fine-tuning universal interatomic potentials for phonon properties without catastrophic forgetting N2 - Accurate phonon predictions are essential for evaluating material stability and thermal behavior. Traditional DFT-based methods are computationally intensive, driving interest in faster, machine-learning-based alternatives. In this work, we fine-tune the machine learning interatomic potential MACE-MP-0b3 (https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.00096) to improve the prediction of harmonic phonons and thermal properties. A key challenge is the need for highly accurate force calculations. While fine-tuning can enhance phonon accuracy, it may reduce generalizability to other properties. Despite this, our study shows that fine-tuned models can accurately predict phonon properties (including renormalization of imaginary phonons) at the same time as volume-dependent properties like the bulk modulus. We fine-tune the base model using small sets of rattled structures and introduce a novel fine-tuning method, benchmarking it against existing techniques. These results suggest that refined MACE-based universal potentials are a promising path for efficient and accurate phonon modeling. All implementations are included in the equitrain training code (https://github.com/BAMeScience/equitrain). T2 - Psi-k Konferenz CY - Lausanne, France DA - 25.08.2025 KW - Machine Learning KW - MACE KW - Phonon KW - Thermal properites PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64010 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Walterbos, Luc T1 - Double trouble: exploring the chemical landscape of halide double perovskites N2 - Halide Double Perovskites (HDPs) are an emerging class of materials with chemical formula A2BB’X6 with possible applications in photovoltaics, X-ray detection, sensing, photocatalysis and spintronics.. However, with more than 40,000 potential HDP compositions, much of the chemical landscape remains unexplored. We have generated a database of spin-polarized, hybrid functional (HSE06) electronic structure data of all HPDs with A=Cs that are predicted to be stable based on a tolerance-factor analysis. Our high-throughput workflow also consists or a chemical bonding and orbital projection analysis based on LOBSTER (ww.cohp.de), leading to a comprehensivedatabase of electronic, magnetic and chemical bonding properties of >2700 HDP compositions, which can serve as a starting point for material design and discovery via interpretable machine learning techniques, which we use to identify unexpected trends and relations in the chemical landscape. T2 - Psi-k 2025 CY - Lausanne, Swiss DA - 25.08.2025 KW - Materials design KW - Halide perovskite KW - Halide double perovskite KW - High-throughput KW - Hybrid functional PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64009 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - de Oliveira Guilherme Buzanich, Ana T1 - Bridging Structure and Electronic State: Real-time XES–XRD Fusion for Functional Alloys N2 - We present a unified X-ray Emission Spectroscopy (XES) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) approach for real-time, in situ characterization of materials, demonstrated on Co₂FeSi Heusler alloys under varied heat treatments. The combination of XES and XRD is particularly well-suited to Heusler alloys, where subtle changes in atomic ordering and electronic structure (e.g. site occupancy, hybridization, and spin state) are tightly interdependent and critical for their magnetic and transport properties. In addition, this method enables more efficient materials design by reducing experimental iterations through comprehensive structural and electronic analysis. Developed at the mySpot beamline at BESSY-II, the platform integrates (a) digital twin-based experiment planning, (b) open-source XES spectral simulations, (c) an optimized single-shot, two-element XES setup with sub-pixel resolution for enhanced energy precision, and (d) result-driven beamtime utilization. With an unprecedented synchronized XES-XRD platform, we aim to shed light on how diffusion-controlled processes in Heusler alloys and double perovskites at elevated temperatures establish the formation of specific phases with distinct structure types in real time. This, in turn, strongly impacts the functional properties of the materials under scrutiny. T2 - XLIV Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale CY - Ulm, Germany DA - 27.07.2025 KW - Multimodal KW - X-ray spectroscopy KW - X-ray diffraction KW - Functional alloys PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63991 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, Yuanbin A1 - Morrow, Joe D. A1 - Ertural, Christina A1 - Fragapane, Natascia L. A1 - Gardner, John L. A. A1 - Naik, Aakash A. A1 - Zhou, Yuxing A1 - George, Janine A1 - Deringer, Volker L. T1 - An automated framework for exploring and learning potential-energy surfaces N2 - Machine learning has become ubiquitous in materials modelling and now routinely enables large-scale atomistic simulations with quantum-mechanical accuracy. However, developing machine-learned interatomic potentials requires high-quality training data, and the manual generation and curation of such data can be a major bottleneck. Here, we introduce an automated framework for the exploration and fitting of potential-energy surfaces, implemented in an openly available software package that we call (‘automatic potential-landscape explorer’). We discuss design choices, particularly the interoperability with existing software architectures, and the ability for the end user to easily use the computational workflows provided. We show wide-ranging capability demonstrations: for the titanium–oxygen system, SiO2, crystalline and liquid water, as well as phase-change memory materials. More generally, our study illustrates how automation can speed up atomistic machine learning in computational materials science. KW - Automation KW - Machine Learning KW - Machine learning potentials KW - Amorphous materials KW - High-throughput KW - Ab initio KW - Materials property prediction PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639882 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62510-6 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-63988 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Das, Prasenjit A1 - Chakraborty, Gouri A1 - Yang, Jin A1 - Roeser, Jérôme A1 - Küçükkeçeci, Hüseyin A1 - Nguyen, Anh Dung A1 - Schwarze, Michael A1 - Gabriel, Jose A1 - Penschke, Christopher A1 - Du, Shengjun A1 - Weigelt, Vincent A1 - Khalil, Islam E. A1 - Schmidt, Johannes A1 - Saalfrank, Peter A1 - Oschatz, Martin A1 - Rabeah, Jabor A1 - Schomäcker, Reinhard A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Thomas, Arne T1 - The Effect of Pore Functionality in Multicomponent Covalent Organic Frameworks on Stable Long‐Term Photocatalytic H2 Production N2 - AbstractIn nature, organic molecules play a vital role in light harvesting and photosynthesis. However, regarding artificial water splitting, the research focus is primarily on inorganic semiconductors. Although organic photocatalysts have high structural variability, they tend to exhibit lower quantum efficiencies for water splitting than their inorganic counterparts. Multicomponent reactions (MCRs) offer an attractive route to introduce different functional units into covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and enable semiconducting properties and high chemical stability, creating promising materials for long‐term photocatalytic applications, such as H2 production. Herein, five highly crystalline donor‐acceptor based, 4‐substituted quinoline‐linked MCR‐COFs are presented that are prepared via the three‐component Povarov reaction. The pore functionality is varied by applying different vinyl derivatives (e.g., styrene, 2‐vinyl pyridine, 4‐vinylpyridine, 4‐vinyl imidazole, 2,3,4,5,6‐pentafluorostyrene), which has a strong influence on the obtained photocatalytic activity. Especially an imidazole‐functionalized COF displays promising photocatalytic performance due to its high surface area, crystallinity, and wettability. These properties enable it to maintain its photocatalytic activity even in a membrane support. Furthermore, such MCR‐COFs display dramatically enhanced (photo)chemical stability even after long‐term solar light irradiation and exhibit a high and steady H2 evolution for at least 15 days. KW - Sstability KW - Covalent organic frameworks KW - Pore functionality KW - Long-term H2 production KW - Multicomponent reactions PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639787 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202501193 SN - 1614-6832 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Wiley VHC-Verlag AN - OPUS4-63978 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rodríguez-Sánchez, Noelia A1 - Domínguez-Santos, J. Enrique A1 - Bhattacharya, Biswajit A1 - Prinz, Carsten A1 - Canosa, Inés A1 - Flores, Amando A1 - Jiménez-Rodríguez, Antonia A1 - Ruiz-Salvador, A. Rabdel A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Ballesteros, Menta T1 - Mechanochemical synthesis of multivariate UPO-3 (Cu-ZIF-9-ica) MOF for inactivation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and irrigation-quality water production via heterogeneous photo-Fenton catalysis N2 - Water scarcity and pollution are critical global challenges, particularly in agriculture, the largest consumer of water. The development of sustainable, effective, and environmentally friendly disinfection methods is essential to address the risks posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and to ensure safe reuse of water for irrigation. In this study, we report the synthesis of the metal-organic framework (MOF) Universidad Pablo de Olavide-3 (UPO-3) via a mechanochemical approach, a scalable and sustainable method compared to traditional solvothermal synthesis. The resulting UPO-3/H2O2 system exhibits robust photocatalytic properties under visible light, achieving effective and broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. The disinfection efficiency of the catalyst was evaluated against Escherichia coli as a model of microbial pathogen in two saline matrices, considering the key parameters of the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process, including catalyst dosage, initial H2O2 concentration, and light irradiation. Notably, it inactivated two important virulent and antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Furthermore, UPO-3 shows exceptional performance under real-world conditions, such as river water disinfection, achieving >5-log reduction of E. coli, fulfilling a critical criterion for Class A water reuse under Regulation (EU) 2020/741. These results highlight UPO-3 as a versatile and sustainable solution for water reuse, addressing water scarcity and advancing efforts to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6. KW - Water reuse KW - Antibiotic-resistant bacteria KW - Water disinfection KW - Mechanochemical synthesis KW - Metal organic framework PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639766 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2025.144610 SN - 0045-6535 VL - 386 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-63976 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kricheldorf, Hans R. A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - Polymerization of L‐Lactide Catalyzed by Metal Acetylacetonate Complexes N2 - ABSTRACTRing‐opening polymerizations (ROPs) of l‐lactide (LA) were performed at 120°C, 140°C, 150°C, and 180°C in bulk catalyzed by acetylacetonate (acac) complexes of manganese(II), nickel(II), copper(II), zirconium(IV), dibutyltin(IV), and vanadyl(V). These experiments revealed that only the acac complexes of Zr and Bu2Sn were reactive enough to enable quantitative polymerization within a few hours. Further ROPs with Bu2Sn(acac)2 and Zr(acac)4 showed that Bu2Sn(acac)2 had a slightly lower reactivity than the Zr complex. The ROPs catalyzed with Zr(acac)4 yielded number average molecular weights (Mn) up to 70,000 g mol−1. The matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐TOF) mass spectra indicated an exclusive formation of cycles in the mass range of up to m/z 13,000 for Zr(acac)4 and up to m/z 18,000 for Bu2Sn(acac)2. Unusually high melting temperatures (187°C–192°C) were also achieved along with high crystallinities. Furthermore, four lactide/glycolide copolymerizations catalyzed by Zr(acac)4 were performed, and the topology and the extent of transesterification were characterized by MALDI‐TOF mass spectrometry and 13C NMR spectroscopy. KW - MALDI-TOF MS KW - Polycondensation KW - Acetylacetonate PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639754 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/pol.20250788 SN - 2642-4150 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley Periodicals LLC. AN - OPUS4-63975 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kricheldorf, Hans R. A1 - Weidner, Steffen T1 - Zwitterionic polymerization of glycolide catalyzed by pyridine N2 - The usefulness of various N- and P-based catalysts for syntheses of cyclic polyglycolide via zwitterionic polymerization of glycolide was examined. Most catalysts produced discolored, largely insoluble polyglycolides consisting of cycles and unidentified byproducts. Soluble, cyclic polyglycolides were obtained using neat pyridine as catalyst at 120 °C, 100 °C, 80 °C, and even at 60 °C. The number-average molecular weights were extremely low and depended slightly on the glycolide-to-pyridine ratio. Three different mass distributions of the cycles were detected by mass spectrometry, depending on the reaction conditions. The cyclic polyglycolides were also characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements. The SAXS data in combination with the mass spectra indicate that the majority of the cycles form extended-ring crystallites KW - MALDI-TOF MS KW - Polylactide KW - Polymerization KW - Zitterions PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639748 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5py00762c SN - 1759-9954 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-63974 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Alić Stolar, Jasna T1 - Harnessing mechanochemistry to tackle PFAS pollution N2 - We are currently facing one of the most serious environmental crises in human history – the widespread pollution caused by PFAS. PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are toxic, persistent, highly mobile, and bioaccumulative compounds, often referred to as 'forever chemicals'. For over 70 years, they have been used to make products resistant to water, heat, and stains, but the cost of damaging ecosystems and harming human health was revealed far too late. As of 2023, there were more than 23,000 confirmed PFAS contamination sites in Europe alone, with at least an equal number of presumptive contamination sites due to historical and current industrial activities.1 Public concern has pushed regulatory bodies to restrict the production of the most common PFAS, but with over 10,000 PFAS compounds and existing contamination, the problem remains largely unresolved. State-of-the-art remediation strategies rely on energy-intensive incineration, which releases greenhouse gases and smaller, volatile PFAS derivatives.2 Here, we present a fast, simple, and sustainable method for the complete degradation of PFAS, leveraging mechanochemistry3 to break down the persistent carbon-fluorine bonds. Our findings indicate that liquid-assisted grinding conditions accelerate the degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid compared to neat grinding conditions, resulting in a significant reduction in energy consumption. Moreover, the fluoride released during the process binds to inorganic additives, allowing fluorine recovery as crystalline salts and preventing the formation of secondary toxic waste. The method has strong potential for scaling up and offers a green and viable solution for real-world application in PFAS decontamination. T2 - Tag der Chemie CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 03.07.2025 KW - Mechanochemistry KW - Forever chemicals KW - Sustainability PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63972 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Alić Stolar, Jasna T1 - Harnessing Mechanochemistry to Combat PFAS Contamination N2 - For over 70 years, the uncontrolled production, use, and disposal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have led to widespread global contamination, necessitating the rapid development of innovative and efficient remediation technologies. State-of-the-art strategies rely on energy-intensive incineration, which releases greenhouse gases and smaller, volatile PFAS derivatives. Here, we present a fast, simple, and sustainable method for the complete degradation of PFAS leveraging mechanochemistry to break down the persistent carbon-fluorine bonds. Our findings indicate that liquid-assisted grinding conditions accelerate the degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid compared to neat grinding conditions, resulting in a significant reduction in energy consumption. Moreover, the fluoride released during the process binds to inorganic additives, allowing fluorine recovery as crystalline salts and preventing the formation of secondary toxic waste. The method has strong potential for scaling up and offers a green and viable solution for real-world application in PFAS decontamination. T2 - International Conference on Sustainable Chemistry for Net Zero (ICSC-NZ) CY - St. Andrews, Scotland DA - 10.06.2025 KW - Mechanochemistry KW - PFAS KW - Remediation PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63971 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Alić Stolar, Jasna T1 - Harnessing mechanochemistry to combat PFAS contamination N2 - For over 70 years, the uncontrolled production, use, and disposal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have led to widespread global contamination, necessitating the rapid development of innovative and efficient remediation technologies. State-of-the-art strategies rely on energy-intensive incineration, which releases greenhouse gases and smaller, volatile PFAS derivatives. Here, we present a fast, simple, and sustainable method for the complete degradation of PFAS leveraging mechanochemistry to break down the persistent carbon-fluorine bonds. Our findings indicate that liquid-assisted grinding conditions accelerate the degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid compared to neat grinding conditions, resulting in a significant reduction in energy consumption. Moreover, the fluoride released during the process binds to inorganic additives, allowing fluorine recovery as crystalline salts and preventing the formation of secondary toxic waste. The method has strong potential for scaling up and offers a green and viable solution for real-world application in PFAS decontamination. T2 - International Conference on Sustainable Chemistry for Net Zero (ICSC-NZ) CY - St. Andrews, Scotland DA - 10.06.2025 KW - Mechanochemistry KW - PFAS KW - Remediation PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63970 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Alić Stolar, Jasna T1 - Harnessing mechanochemistry to combat PFAS contamination N2 - For over 70 years, the uncontrolled production, use, and disposal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have led to widespread global contamination, necessitating the rapid development of innovative and efficient remediation technologies. State-of-the-art strategies rely on energy-intensive incineration, which releases greenhouse gases and smaller, volatile PFAS derivatives. Here, we present a fast, simple, and sustainable method for the complete degradation of PFAS leveraging mechanochemistry to break down the persistent carbon-fluorine bonds. Our findings indicate that liquid-assisted grinding conditions accelerate the degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid compared to neat grinding conditions, resulting in a significant reduction in energy consumption. Moreover, the fluoride released during the process binds to inorganic additives, allowing fluorine recovery as crystalline salts and preventing the formation of secondary toxic waste. The method has strong potential for scaling up and offers a green and viable solution for real-world application in PFAS decontamination. T2 - The International Symposium on Mechanochemistry (Mech’cheM 2025) CY - Montpellier, France DA - 04.06.2025 KW - Mechanochemistry KW - PFAS PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63956 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed A. A1 - Raab, A. R. A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Li, Z. A1 - Huber, P. A1 - Laschat, S. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Molecular mobility and electrical conductivity of amino acid-based (DOPA) ionic liquid crystals in the bulk state and nanoconfinement N2 - This study explores the molecular mobility, phase behavior, and electrical conductivity of dihydroxyphenylalanine-based ionic liquid crystals (DOPAn, with alkyl side chains n = 12, 14, 16) featuring cyclic guanidiniumchloride headgroups, in both bulk and nanoconfined states. Using broadband dielectric spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and fast scanning calorimetry, the research uncovers a complex interplay between molecular structure, self-assembly, and molecular mobility. In bulk, DOPAn shows a phase sequence from plastic crystalline to hexagonal columnar and isotropic phases, driven by superdisc formation and columnar organization. Multiple relaxation processes are identified: localized side-chain dynamics (γ-relaxation), ionic headgroup or core motions (α1-relaxation), and cooperative alkyl domain fluctuations (α2-relaxation). Conductivity decreases with increasing side chain length. Under nanoconfinement in anodic aluminum oxide membranes, phase behavior changes: the Colh–Iso transition is suppressed, and a new α3-relaxation appears, linked to dynamics in an adsorbed interfacial layer. DC conductivity drops by up to four orders of magnitude due to confinement effects, altered molecular orientation, and phase transitions—especially the emergence of a nematic-like state in DOPA16. These findings highlight the importance of molecular design, pore geometry, and surface chemistry in tuning ionic liquid crystal properties for advanced applications in nanofluidics, ion transport, and responsive materials. KW - Ionic Liquid Crystals PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639657 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5cp02406d SN - 1463-9084 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-63965 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Wimmer, Lukas A1 - Alcolea-Rodriguez, Victor A1 - Waniek, Tassilo A1 - Wachtendorf, Volker A1 - Matzdorf, Kay A1 - Ciornii, Dmitri A1 - Fengler, Petra A1 - Milczewski, Frank A1 - Otazo-Aseguinolaza, Itziar A1 - Ferrer, Manuel A1 - Bañares, Miguel A. A1 - Portela, Raquel A1 - Dailey, Lea Ann T1 - Quality-by-design and current good practices for the production of test and reference materials for micro- and nano-plastic research N2 - Understanding the environmental and human health impacts of micro- and nanoplastic pollutants is currently a high priority, stimulating intensive methodological research work in the areas of sampling, sample preparation and detection as well as intensive monitoring and testing. It is challenging to identify and quantify microplastics in complex organic matrices and concepts for nanoplastic detection are still in their infancy. All analytical techniques employed in studying micro- and nanoplastics require suitable reference materials for validation measurements, with requirements as diverse as the analytical tools used, ranging from different polymer types, size distributions and shapes of the material to the concentrations employed in different experimental set ups (ng to g amounts). The aim of this manuscript is to outline current good practices for small-scale laboratory production and characterization of suitable test and reference materials. The focus is placed on top-downfragmentation methods as well as bottom-up precipitation methods. Examples using polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate with size distribution classes of mainly 10–1000, 1–10 and <1 μm particles will be provided. Experiences and suggestions on how to produce well-characterized micro- and nano-plastics for internal research needs will ensure that studies using the materials have robust and informative outcomes. KW - Mmicroplastics KW - Nanoplastics KW - Reference materials KW - Standard validation method PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.139595 SN - 0304-3894 VL - 497 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-63958 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Stolar, Tomislav T1 - Mechanochemical Conversion Of Polyethylene Terephthalate Into Valuable Metal-organic Frameworks N2 - Single-use plastics are causing plastic pollution, and less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled globally. Here, we present a sustainable mechanochemical protocol for converting post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) textile and bottles into the porous metal-organic framework (MOF) UiO-66. We used time-resolved in situ synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy to monitor the depolymerization of PET during ball milling with sodium and potassium hydroxide and water as a liquid additive. For synthesizing UiO-66, we focused on the better performing sodium hydroxide and optimized two distinct synthetic routes to produce high-quality UiO-66. Our results demonstrate the potential of mechanochemistry to enable more circular MOF synthesis using post-consumer PET waste. T2 - International Conference on Sustainable Chemistry for Net Zero CY - St. Andrews, United Kingdom DA - 10.06.2025 KW - Mechanochemistry KW - Plastic recycling KW - Circular economy PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63944 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Stolar, Tomislav T1 - Mechanochemical conversion of polyethylene terephthalate into valuable metal-organic frameworks N2 - Single-use plastics are causing plastic pollution, and less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled globally. Here, we present a sustainable mechanochemical1 protocol for converting post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) textile and bottles into the porous metal-organic framework (MOF) UiO-66. We used time-resolved in situ synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy to monitor the depolymerization of PET during ball milling with sodium and potassium hydroxide and water as a liquid additive (Figure 1). For synthesizing UiO-66, we focused on the better performing sodium hydroxide and optimized two distinct synthetic routes to produce high-quality UiO-66. Our results demonstrate the potential of mechanochemistry to enable more circular MOF synthesis using post-consumer PET waste. T2 - The International Symposium on Mechanochemistry (Mech’cheM) 2025: New forces in Mechanochemistry CY - Montpellier, France DA - 04.06.2025 KW - Mechanochemistry KW - Plastic recycling KW - Circular economy PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63943 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Böttcher, Katrin A1 - Kraft, Sebastian A1 - Weise, Matthias A1 - Bonse, Jörn A1 - Krüger, Jörg T1 - X-ray emission during ultrafast laser grooving N2 - Ultrashort pulse lasers offer the possibility to process materials with minimal heat input and high precision. However, the X-ray emission at high laser peak intensities represents an undesirable side effect. A laser system (1030 nm wavelength, 40 W maximum average laser power, 925 fs pulse duration, 100 μJ maximum pulse energy, 400 kHz pulse repetition frequency) was used to analyze the X-ray skin dose rates for applied peak intensities between 9.2 × 10^12 W/cm^2 and 1.3 × 10^14 W/cm^2 for mild steel, stainless steel and tungsten during groove processing. The lowest laser peak intensity at which X-ray emission could be measured was 9.2 × 10^12 W/cm^2 for processing of stainless steel. The X-ray emission showed a characteristic evolution in dependence on the number of overscans at the same line positions. For low peak intensities, a measurable X-ray emission only begins after a few passes. The number of scans to reach the maximum dose rate increases with lower laser peak intensity. Analysis of the evolving surface topography by white light interference microscopy in connection with ray-tracing simulations led to the interpretation that the increase in X-ray emission is due to the local intensity redistribution by multiple reflection within the laser-generated grooves which is promoted by a particular choice of the linear laser polarization. KW - Ultrashort pulsed laser KW - Laser-induced X-rays KW - X-ray hazard KW - X-ray emission PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639483 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-025-08728-z SN - 1432-0630 VL - 131 IS - 8 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-63948 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yildirim, Arda A1 - Haug, T. C. V. A1 - Fröba, M. A1 - Huber, P. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Molecular fluctuations in mixed-metal MOF-74: influence of the metal composition N2 - A selected series of metal–organic frameworks M-MOF-74 (M = Mg, Co, Ni) and mixed metal MM-MOF-74 (Mg/Co or Mg/Ni) with different compositions of metal atoms have been prepared and further investigated by broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) in a wide temperature range. The dielectric spectra show at least two relaxation processes. Process-A is observed only for the Ni-containing MOFs and is attributed to localized fluctuations of the metal oxide corners. Relaxation processes-B and -C are observed for all prepared MOFs, except that process-B is not observed for Ni-MOF-74. Large-angle fluctuations such as free rotations of the linkers can be excluded due to the structure of MOF-74, but small-angle fluctuations such as torsions are possible. According to numerical simulations carried out for MOF-74, process-B can be attributed to inward and outward fluctuations of the linkers relative to the pore center. Process-C is related to small-angle rotational fluctuations of the linker together with co-rotations of the metal nodes. The latter interpretation is supported by the dependence of the activation energy of the relaxation rate of process-C on the metal composition of the MOFs, which is discussed in terms of the bond lengths between the metal atoms and the linker which decrease in the sequence Mg, Co and Ni. KW - Metal Organic Frameworks PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639378 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ra05357a SN - 2046-2069 VL - 15 IS - 35 SP - 29109 EP - 29118 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) AN - OPUS4-63937 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - INPR A1 - Ueltzen, Katharina A1 - Naik, Aakash A. A1 - Ertural, Christina A1 - Benner, Philipp A1 - George, Janine T1 - Can simple exchange heuristics guide us in predicting magnetic properties of solids? N2 - A popular heuristic derived from the Kanamori-Goodenough-Anderson rules of superexchange connects bond angles and magnetism in certain transition metal compounds. We evaluate the fulfillment of this heuristic on databases of magnetic structures. The heuristic is partly satisfied in magnetic structures from experiment, and exceptions can be rationalized. We further show that incorporating this heuristic into machine learning models for magnetism improves the prediction. KW - Magnetism KW - Transition Metal Compounds KW - Materials Design KW - Sustainable Materials Design KW - Machine Learning KW - Materials Understanding PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-639290 DO - https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-xj84d VL - Version 1 SP - 1 EP - 43 AN - OPUS4-63929 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Kittner, Maria A1 - Altmann, Korinna A1 - Hamann, Sven A1 - Weyer, Rüdiger A1 - Kalbe, Ute T1 - Bewertung der Freisetzung von Mikroplastik aus Sportböden auf Kunststoffbasis - Abschlussbericht N2 - Die Europäische Kommission hat 2023 ein Verbot zum bewussten Austrag von Mikroplastik (MP) in die Umwelt beschlossen, das auch für die Verwendung von synthetischen Gummi-Granulaten (v. a. EPDM) in Sportböden gilt. In Deutschland gibt es laut DFB ca. 5100 Kunstrasenplätze. In der EU beläuft sich die Anzahl laut ECHA auf 13,000 Kunstrasen- und 47,000 Bolzplätze, Tendenz steigend. Das Hauptziel des Projektes war es daher, eine Massenbilanz für die Freisetzung von MP zu erstellen, um so eine Schätzung des MP-Austrags pro Kunstrasenplatz und Jahr zu ermöglichen. Dafür werden die MP-Emissionen von drei Kunstrasenszenarien in verschiedenen Zuständen (ungealtert, künstlich gealtert und in Echtzeit gealtert) verglichen: die Vergangenheit (Kunstrasen: fossilbasiert, EPDM-Füllung), die Gegenwart (der in Europa am häufigsten installierte Rasen) und die Zukunft (Rasen mit recycelten Grasfasern, keine synthetische Füllung sondern z.B. Quarzsand oder Korkschrott). Dazu werden fabrikneue Kunststoffrasen und EPDM-Granulat unter Laborbedingungen beschleunigt gealtert, um die Freiland-Beanspruchung eines Kunststoffrasens in circa 15 Jahren abzubilden. Die Verwendung spezieller Mikrofiltertiegel in Lysimeter-Experimenten ermöglicht die Abschätzung der Partikelgrößen des emittierten MP, was eine Grundbedingung für die Bewertung einer potenziellen Gesundheitsgefährdung für Menschen ist. Ergänzend wurden weitere umweltrelevante Schadstoffausträge aus den Kunststoffrasen quantifiziert. KW - Mikroplastik KW - Kunststoffrasen KW - Schadstoffe KW - Bewitterung KW - Lysimeter PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-633114 DO - https://doi.org/10.26272/opus4-63311 N1 - Das Projekt wurde gefördert vom Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (BBSR) im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wohnen, Stadtentwicklung und Bauwesen (BMWSB) aus Mitteln des Innovationsprogramms Zukunft Bau. Aktenzeichen: FKZ 10.08.18.7-22.02. Projektlaufzeit: 09.2022 bis 03.2025. SP - 1 EP - 75 PB - Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-63311 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quosdorf, Heike T1 - A Digital Object Identifier for Additively Manufactured Parts as Open Source Software Package N2 - A method to uniquely identify samples without printed or handwritten labels is an advantage not just for additively manufactured parts. To kickstart industry use cases it is important to provide a ready made implementation kit. Following an open science and open source software approach Germanys Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing BAM seeks to promote digital solutions of ongoing Research projects. With this software package a novel method based on microstructural features as identifiers DOI4AM (digital object identifier for additively manufactured parts will be explained alongside its implementation as open source Python software package. The digital object identifier (DOI) links product data clearly and forgery proof with real components. Its implementation helps to identify and securely authenticate additively manufactured components during its product life cycle by using characteristic microstructure features just like a fingerprint. To calculate the DOI fingerprint, a few preprocessing steps need to be performed to detect the uniquely distributed microstructure features that occur during the 3D printing process. A go through guide show s the preprocessing steps that include computer tomography (CT) image capturing, feature segmentation and data distribution via CSV files. While all steps can be followed along in a Jupyter notebook with sample data, the software package includes functions to create and compare fingerprints, as well, as an application programming interface (API) for integration in existing software platforms. A quick showcase of our industry partners implementation of the algorithm as containerized micro service in their digital product passport (DPP) web solution PASS X proves the first successful technology transfer of this project. T2 - MSE Research Data Forum 2025 CY - Siegburg, Germany DA - 08.07.2025 KW - Open Science KW - Authentication KW - Unique identification KW - Digital fingerprint KW - X-ray Computed Tomography KW - Additive manufacturing KW - Open Source Software PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63904 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kamoun, E. A1 - Afifi, K. A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Fahmy, Alaa T1 - Structure-property relationship of cross-linked chitosan-ethyl cellulose membranes N2 - Intensive research is focused on creating cost-effective, high-performance polyelectrolyte membranes (PEMs) for electrochemical devices designed to generate and/or store electrical energy. On the other hand, biopolymer materials have been utilized in a wide range of applications across medical and engineering fields, as well as in the textile and energy sectors. Therefore, in this study, chemically cross-linked chito-san/ethyl cellulose-citric acid (CS-EC-CA) membranes were prepared by a casting technique. The structure-property relationship of CS-EC/CA has been discussed based on the molar ratio of CS. The structural properties of the resultant membrane were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy, thermal stability was assessed using thermogravimetric analysis. Moreover, the ion exchange capacity (IEC) and water uptake of the membrane were studied. FTIR analysis revealed a significant broadening of absorption peaks in the range of 3200–3500 cm-1 , corresponding to -OH groups, presence of CA. A new peak at 1725 cm-1 confirmed the formation of chemical linkages between CA and CS-EC. The results of the thermal analysis revealed that a thermally stable membrane was obtained when it was chemically cross-linked compared to non-cross-linked membranes. The IEC values of the modified membranes were enhanced significantly, increasing from 0.08 mmol/g for pure CS to 0.5 mmol/g for CS (50%) and 0.8 mmol/g for CS (50%) cross-linked withCA. Furthermore, the cross-linked membranes demonstrated the lowest water and ethanol uptake values, emphasizing their suitability for fuel cell applications. KW - Polyelectrolyte membranes PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0279022 SN - 1089-7666 VL - 37 IS - 8 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - AIP Publishing AN - OPUS4-63890 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Jaunich, Matthias A1 - Kömmling, Anja A1 - Böhning, Martin A1 - Silbernagl, Dorothee T1 - Comparison of ageing behavior of O-ring seals under hydrogen and air N2 - Elastomeric seals are essential components in the infrastructure which prevent leakage of gas and ensure proper function of technical devices and are therefore highly safety relevant. For proper function a remaining resilience and tolerance to pressure changes is required. The ageing of elastomers is an undesirable but inevitable process leading to a limited lifetime of rubber products such as seals. Independent of the application, as e.g. automotive, piping or container applications, a long lifetime or at least a timely exchange of a seal before occurrence of critical failure is desired. Hydrogen is a key element for the energy turnaround and therefore the compatibility of seals with hydrogen is essential. In addition to the effect of hydrogen uptake and release, which might also cause destructive effects such as rapid gas decompression, ageing at high temperature under hydrogen atmosphere is of interest too. Most of the existing work is addressing the performance of new materials and comprises only very limited investigations concerning long-term use and the behaviour of aged materials in contact with hydrogen. As ageing can lead to substantial changes of material properties, it must be evaluated whether these changes are beneficial or deteriorating for the component function. In this work we present and compare results of the characterization of three sealing materials (EPDM, HNBR, FKM) after ageing at high temperature under hydrogen and air. Despite the common assumption that ageing under hydrogen atmosphere should be less severe for the material in comparison to air ageing, this is not the case for every material. T2 - ASME PVP2025, Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference CY - Montreal, Quebec, Canada DA - 20.07.2025 KW - Aging KW - Seal KW - Compression set KW - Atomic force microscopy PY - 2025 SP - 1 EP - 7 AN - OPUS4-63889 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Jaunich, Matthias T1 - Comparison of Ageing Behavior of O-Ring Seals Under Hydrogen and Air N2 - Elastomeric seals are essential components in the infrastructure which prevent leakage of gas and ensure proper function of technical devices and are therefore highly safety relevant. For proper function a remaining resilience and tolerance to pressure changes is required. The ageing of elastomers is an undesirable but inevitable process leading to a limited lifetime of rubber products such as seals. Independent of the application, as e.g. automotive, piping or container applications, a long lifetime or at least a timely exchange of a seal before occurrence of critical failure is desired. Hydrogen is a key element for the energy turnaround and therefore the compatibility of seals with hydrogen is essential. In addition to the effect of hydrogen uptake and release, which might also cause destructive effects such as rapid gas decompression, ageing at high temperature under hydrogen atmosphere is of interest too. Most of the existing work is addressing the performance of new materials and comprises only very limited investigations concerning long-term use and the behaviour of aged materials in contact with hydrogen. As ageing can lead to substantial changes of material properties, it must be evaluated whether these changes are beneficial or deteriorating for the component function. In this work we present and compare results of the characterization of three sealing materials (EPDM, HNBR, FKM) after ageing at high temperature under hydrogen and air. Despite the common assumption that ageing under hydrogen atmosphere should be less severe for the material in comparison to air ageing, this is not the case for every material. T2 - ASME PVP2025, Pressure Vessels & Piping Conference CY - Montreal, Canada DA - 20.07.2025 KW - Aging KW - Seal KW - Compression set KW - Atomic force microscopy PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63888 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė T1 - Structural evolution of ZrV2O7: supercell persistence revealing local and global structure duality N2 - In the AM2O7 family of negative thermal expansion materials (NTE), evidence of supercell at room temperature was reported following the Völlenke et al. discovery of missed superlattice due to the apparent linearity of the M-O-M bond in GeP2O7. Korthuis et al. and Khosrovani et al. demonstrated it to be true for cubic ZrV2O7 as well. It was concluded that at room temperature, the structure consists of 27 'subcells' with bent M2O7 groups that appear to form a linear configuration due to refinement of averaged position. However, around 100 °C, the transition to the “parent” cell was reported, where the cell volume increases, and the M-O-M angles are constrained by the Pa-3 space group symmetry to be 180°. We followed structural changes in the ZrV2O7 at high temperatures to demonstrate partial disorder within the crystal, local and global structural duality and supercell persistence at high temperatures. Total scattering measurements and Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis revealed that the experimental pattern cannot be fitted with the “parent structure” model, and only the 3×3×3 supercell model can correspond to local and global structures throughout the full 25-700 °C temperature range. We also show how short and long-range order within the crystal changes when approaching the phase transition, which might indicate the existence of coherent structural domains that evolve between order and disorder with increasing temperature. We further hypothesize how this can be related to the negative thermal expansion mechanism and the interpretation of structure solutions presenting data from high-temperature X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) measurements. T2 - 5th International Symposium on Negative Thermal Expansion and Related Materials (ISNTE-5) CY - Porto, Portugal DA - 29.07.2025 KW - NTE KW - Ab initio KW - PDF KW - CSM PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63874 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Miliūtė, Aistė T1 - Theoretical and experimental development of negative thermal expansion material ZrV2O7 N2 - Zirconium vanadate (ZrV2O7) is a well-known negative thermal expansion (NTE) material which stands out for its remarkable isotropic unit cell contraction over a broad temperature range (130°C < T < 800°C). This enables the fabrication of composites where the overall expansion coefficient can be tailored to a specific negative, positive, or neutral value. Consequently, such composite materials are attractive for many device applications because they can compensate for damage caused by thermal expansion. They are relevant to optical systems, electronic and biomedical applications. In this study, we implement ab-initio-based vibrational computations with partially treated anharmonicity (quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA), temperature-dependent effective harmonic potentials (TDEP)[5]) in combination with experimental methods to follow and rationalize the negative thermal expansion in this material, including the influence of the local structure disorder, microstructure, and defects. In analytical techniques that can provide structural information such as pair distribution function analysis (PDF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS), molecules and atoms are fit geometrically without consideration of atom interactions. Therefore, in combination with these methods, we also consider potential energy surfaces and conclude what structures are likely to form energetically in the full NTE temperature range, in addition to fitting experimental data geometrically. We also optimise experimentally fitted structures to their lowest energy configurations and re-generate comparative data to observe what differences would be visible experimentally. T2 - XLVIII International Congress of Theoretical Chemists of Latin Expression CY - Cartagena de Indias, Colombia DA - 13.07.2025 KW - NTE KW - Ab initio KW - QHA KW - TDEP KW - anharmonicity PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63873 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - THES A1 - Cakir, Cafer Tufan T1 - Optimization of depth resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy in grazing emission mode for characterizing compositionally complex alloys N2 - Layered materials are fundamental to technological advancements, offering distinct properties that differentiate them from bulk materials. In electronics, for instance, thin-film transistors (TFTs) are used to enhance charge transport and flexibility, thereby improving device performance. In the same way, thin-film photovoltaic devices used in renewable energy use strategic layering to absorb light more efficiently and separate electron-hole pairs more effectively, which leads to higher energy conversion efficiency. In recent decades, the development of new alloys has highlighted the importance of layered materials in another context. Compositionally complex alloys, for example, form multiple oxide layers on their surfaces when they oxidize. Studying these corrosion layers is crucial for understanding material-environment interactions. Typical surface analysis techniques, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and Meitner-Auger electron spectroscopy (MAES), provide valuable insights but are constrained by their requirements for high Vacuum conditions and their limited depth analysis. In contrast, X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy presents a versatile and advantageous alternative. It operates effectively under ambient conditions and allows time-resolved measurements, enhancing the analysis of materials in real-time as they undergo structural and compositional changes. This adaptability broadens the scope for material analysis, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of dynamic processes. Grazing Emission X-ray Fluorescence (GEXRF) spectroscopy stands out as a nondestructive, depth-resolved, element-specific characterization technique important for collecting depth-resolved information at the nanometer scale. Its ability to collect in-Depth resolved information based on the grazing emission angle of the fluorescence Radiation makes it ideal for investigating thin films, corrosion layers, and interfaces within layered materials. The integration of XANES in emission mode with GEXRF enables detailed exploration of the chemical states of the analyzed atom and provides depth-resolved information. This study discusses grazing emission X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy (GEXANES), a novel layer analysis technique that is created by integrating these two methods. This study also innovatively combines machine learning with GEXANES spectroscopy to reduce experimental times. By using active learning, a subset of machine learning, it refines the data acquisition process, enabling more efficient and streamlined methods. The application of active learning in this context illustrates the potential of data-driven approaches to transform experimental methodologies, particularly in resource-limited environments such as synchrotron facilities, thereby accelerating scientific research and discovery. KW - Angle resolved XRF KW - GEXRF KW - BO KW - Active Learning KW - XRF PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.34726/hss.2025.101302 SP - 1 EP - 129 CY - Technische Univeristät Wien AN - OPUS4-63793 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina T1 - Bio-Based Vitrimers: Cracking the Code of Recyclability, Exchange Reactions and Flame Retardancy N2 - Vitrimers are a promising class of sustainable materials that offer an alternative to traditional epoxy thermosets in line with circular economy principles. Built on covalent adaptive networks (CANs), they can rearrange their chemical bonds in response to external stimuli, giving them properties like recyclability, shape-memory, and self-healing. These materials combine the strength of thermosets with the reprocessability of thermoplastics, making them attractive for next-generation applications. This study focuses on a bio-based vitrimer made from glycerol triglycidyl ether (GTE) and a vanillin-derived imine hardener (VA), which reacts through catalyst-free imine metathesis. To better understand the recyclability mechanisms of such systems, especially the dynamic bond exchange, we apply a comprehensive suite of techniques including dielectric spectroscopy, neutron scattering, mechanical analysis, and calorimetry. By linking molecular dynamics with macroscopic performance, the work aims to support the development of vitrimers as practical, recyclable materials. T2 - EPF2025 - European Polymer Congress CY - Groningen, The Netherlands DA - 22.06.2025 KW - Polymer recycling PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63859 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina T1 - Nanoscale Confinement Effects in Thin Films of Rigid-Backbone Polymers N2 - Thin polymer films play a crucial role in modern technologies, with applications spanning flexible electronics, membranes, coatings, and nanodevices. Their reduced dimensions result in unique physical behavior, often deviating significantly from bulk properties due to confinement and interfacial effects. In this study, we investigate how nanoscale confinement and polymer–substrate interactions influence the structural and dynamic properties of supported thin films of two rigid-backbone polymers: poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (PBAC) and polysulfone (PSU). Emphasis was placed on the development of adsorbed interfacial layers, molecular mobility, and the glass transition behavior as functions of film thickness and thermal history. Using a multimodal experimental approach—including Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS), Differential and Fast Scanning Calorimetry (DSC, FSC), and Ellipsometry—we characterized adsorption kinetics, desorption processes, and segmental dynamics across a wide range of thicknesses and annealing conditions. Special attention was given to the formation and growth regimes of the adsorbed polymer layers, including a newly observed pre-growth stage, and their effect on thermal and dielectric relaxation behavior. To probe dynamics in ultrathin films, two dielectric electrode configurations—crossed electrode capacitors and nanostructured electrodes—were employed, enabling measurements down to 10 nm and isolated adsorbed layer. This comprehensive analysis provides insight into how one-dimensional confinement and interfacial interactions modulate macromolecular behavior, which is critical for the design of functional nanostructured polymeric systems in advanced applications. T2 - 10th International Discussion Meeting on Relaxations in Complex Systems (10thIDMRCS) CY - Barcelona, Spanien DA - 20.06.2025 KW - Thin films PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63858 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Syed, F. W. A1 - Saikia, Ujjal A1 - Sun, B. A1 - Kiranbabu, S. A1 - Tehranchi, Ali A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Zaefferer, S. A1 - Ponge, D. T1 - Interfacial segregation of carbon atoms: the competition between grain boundaries and phase boundaries N2 - The microstructure of a two-phase medium manganese steel is decorated by interfaces whose character is defined by crystallography and the misorientation between adjacent grains, which in turn influences elemental segregation and shapes the resulting decorations. This study investigates how adjacent grain and phase boundaries impact a boundary’s segregation behavior, with a focus on the competition for carbon (C) enrichment in a laminated ferrite (α)- austenite (γ) microstructure subjected to a series of heat treatments. It was found that semicoherent α-γ Kurdjumov-Sachs (KS) phase boundaries show less carbon segregation than general γ grain boundaries. Furthermore, when a γ grain boundary is present at a junction with the phase boundaries, it acts as an extracting agent for C. DFT calculations support these observations, demonstrating that carbon segregation is energetically more favorable at the γ grain boundary compared to the α/γ phase boundary, due to the more negative segregation energy at the former. KW - Defects PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2025.116842 SN - 1359-6462 VL - 268 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - Elsevier Inc. AN - OPUS4-63840 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -