Humboldt Research Award Program
My research areas
My research focuses on energy and sustainability applications of nanoporous materials. We use molecular-level modeling and new tools from machine learning and AI to understand and predict the properties of these materials for applications such as energy-efficient separations, carbon capture, and atmospheric water harvesting.
Home University / Research Institute
Northwestern University, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering (USA).
Host research group
Prof. Dr. Matthias Thommes, Chair of Separation Science and Technology, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, FAU.
Research period at the Faculty of Engineering, FAU
May 1 – August 30, 2026
What is the focus of your research during your visit?
The main goal is to study the effect of confinement on the phase behavior of fluids in pores, with a particular focus on adsorption hysteresis. Adsorption hysteresis is an old and very fundamental problem in adsorption and can be associated with vapor-liquid or other phase transitions. There is much interest in this phenomenon currently due to its relevance to applications of adsorption that involve water, such as atmospheric water harvesting and CO2 capture.
I choose FAU because
… of the excellence of the research in Prof. Thommes’s group and the strong focus at FAU on molecular separation science and technology.
Further information
Prof. Dr. Matthias Thommes
Chair of Separation Science and Technology