Modern energy- and pollution-control technologies are necessary to ensure our present quality of life. Our goal is to discover and develop novel functional materials by means of innovative solid state chemistry methods.... more

Research Activities

• Solid State Chemistry : Thermoelectricity, Substitution- and New Materials
• Heterogeneous Catalysis
• New/Substitution Materials

Our services in materials and environmental analysis

• Sample composition using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF)
• Determination of specific surface area using the BET method
• Investigation of the sample morphology using light and electron microscopy
• Determination of phase content using X-ray powder diffraction and Raman microspectroscopy
• Investigation of thermal properties (reactivity and stability) of materials including gas-solid reactions, phase transformations, heat capacity, using thermogravimetry-mass spectrometry over a wide temperature range
• Thermal diffusivity and conductivity of materials using the Laser-flash method up to 1000°C
• Determination of electric conductivity and thermoelectric properties of materials (resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, Figure of merit) up to 1000°C
• Determination of catalytic activity in a lab scale rig
• Investigation of surface properties of noble metals and under reaction conditions using infrared spectroscopy
• Investigation of materials under reactive conditions (TPD, TPO, TPR, TPSR)

contact:

• Prof. Dr. Anke Weidenkaff, Head of laboratory
  Stéphanie Looser, Assistant
  Empa - Materials Science & Technology
  Überlandstrasse 129,
  CH-8600 Dübendorf
  e-mail: stephanie.looser@empa.ch
  Tel.: +41 44 823 4400

 Seminars of the lab take place every second Wednesday at 10 a.m. in LA373. Guests are welcome.

• Organic semiconductors - electronics, opto-electronics and thermoelectricity,  Bertram Batlogg,  7.06.11,  16.00,  VE102
• Redox-Based Resistive Switching,  Rainer Waser; RWTH Aaachen,  4.4.11,  10.00 VE102
• Multifunctional properties in HEUSLER compounds: from topological insulators to spintronics,  Claudia Felser, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, 22.02.11,  16.15,  VE102
• Merging theory and experiments for state-of-the-art heterogeneous catalysis
• Synthesis and properties of thermoelectric cobalt oxides
• Structural changes produced in diesel soot by the addition of ferrocene fuel
• TEM workshop - Diffraction, high resolution image and interpretation
• Modelling for understanding the complexities originating from the interaction between oxide catalysts and the support
• Important research steps towards a full-scale battery and capacitor
• Workshop on electronic structure calculation
• Characterisation of treated SrTiO₃
• Screening of different ligands for the soft-chemistry synthesis of BaTiO3
• Investigating catalysts at work
• New solids and nanoparticles for future materials and applications
• Looking at heterogeneos liquid-phase catalysts at work - An ATR-IR approach
• Synchrotron-XRF in air pollution science: The APART project