Latest Updates
Exner Lectures 2023
Jakob Smith Presents "Crystals and Gases Unite to Save Energy" at Exner Lectures 2023
Vienna, May 22, 2023
The highly anticipated Exner Lectures 2023 featured a captivating presentation titled "Crystals and Gases Unite to Save Energy" by Jakob Smith, representing Peter Weinberger at the event. Jakob's talk shed light on pressing solutions required to combat catastrophic climate change and emphasized the crucial role of waste heat recovery in improving energy efficiency.
He addressed the need to consider the entire energy journey, highlighting Austria's alarming conversion losses, where over half of the energy is dissipated. To address this challenge, the research group led by Peter Weinberger at TU Wien has been devoted to finding ways to recuperate waste heat effectively. One promising technology explored by the group is thermochemical energy storage. By storing waste heat as chemical potential energy in readily available powders such as calcium oxalate, magnesium oxide, and copper sulfate, these materials can store energy indefinitely. Subsequently, they can release substantial amounts of energy through reversible reactions with gases like oxygen, water, or ammonia. This energy can be utilized for heating homes in winter and presents a pathway to a more energy-efficient future.The presentation underscored the urgent need for innovative approaches in energy consumption and production. The Exner Lectures served as an ideal platform to share groundbreaking advancements, and Jakob's talk exemplified the group's dedication to revolutionizing energy efficiency.
For more information about the Exner Lectures and a recording of the talk please visit the official event website.
TECHEBAKOV Meeting
Traunreut, October 19, 2022
Our latetest project meeting was at the B/S/H/ site in Traunreut, Bavaria. Participants discussed project updates and enjoyed an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the cutting-edge production plant, fostering stronger industry-academia ties. Advancements in sustainable technologies take center stage, igniting optimism for future breakthroughs.
Awards
Best Oral Presentation Award at 1st StoRIES Summer School on Energy Storage
Our PhD-student Jakob Smith receives 'Best Oral Presentation Award' at 1st StoRIES Summer School on Energy Storage in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Nicosia, June 1, 2023
Jakob Smith has been honored with the prestigious 'Best Oral Presentation Award' at the 1st StoRIES Summer School in Nicosia, Cyprus. The event, organized by ITAS (Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis) at KIT-Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, focused on the theme "REPowerEU and the need for energy storage in Europe." During the Summer School, experts delved into various aspects of energy storage, including technology, sustainability, legal matters, and economic parameters.
Smith's outstanding presentation titled "Salt Hydrates as Low-Temperature Thermochemical Energy Storage Materials" captivated the audience. His research shed light on the potential of salt hydrates as efficient energy storage solutions, offering a promising avenue for addressing Europe's energy storage needs. The award highlights Smith's contributions to the field and signifies his growing prominence in the scientific community.
Fundamental Milestone Awards of the 2023 Exner Lectures
Vienna, July 19, 2023
Jakob Werner has been awarded the prestigious "Fundamental Milestone Awards of the 2023 Exner Lectures" for his groundbreaking contribution titled "From Waste to Resource: Using Salt Hydrates as Thermochemical Energy Storage Materials for Low-Grade Heat Storage." This remarkable achievement revolutionizes the field of low-grade heat storage, offering innovative solutions to convert waste into valuable resources.
Science2business award 2019
Our Post-Doc Danny Müller was able to prevail in the nationalwide competion for the project "Industrial applications for thermochemical energy storage".
Vienna, September 5, 2019
He was awarded the science2business award in category B (research projects with planned future business cooperation). The jury emphasised the importance, topicality and the high degree of prospects of the project. A total of 44 other projects from 14 universities and 100 companies were competing against each other in two categories.
The award is realised by the life-science career services within the annual life-science-success conference. The prize is supported and provided by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs.
The project
The problem of industrial waste heat that mostly evaporates unused is omnipresent. Thermochemical energy storage can help - it enables the storage and subsequent use of previously unused waste heat. For industrial companies this potentially means more energy- and cost-efficient production.
Theodor Körner Prize 2019
Danny Müller was awared the Theodor-Körner Prize for his project on thermochemical energy storage systems.
Vienna, May 10, 2019
Electrical energy is not always needed exactly when it is produced. Decoupling power consumption and power generation is one of the major challenges for our energy supply. One approach to solving this problem is offered by heat storage technologies that store waste heat and release it again at a later point in time when it is needed.
Dr. Danny Müller has developed a thermochemical heat storage material that is ideally suited for applications such as waste heat recycling or solar thermal energy. The Theodor Körner Fonds has now awarded him a promotional prize. This means that Danny Müller can now implement his current project: A demonstration model of the heat storage technology is being built, with which stakeholders from industry of the potential of heat storage technology shall be convinced in a practical way.
"We were able to develop and patent a storage system in advance, which proved to be extremely promising in terms of reaction times, reversibility and reaction conditions. In order to now convince stakeholders and decision-makers from industry and business of the potential of this technology, the next step is the practical demonstration by means of a prototype on a very small scale," explains Danny Müller.
On Friday, May 10, 2019, Dr. Danny Müller and 17 other scientists and artists were presented with this year's Theodor Körner Award. The prize was established by the workers organization on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Austrians Federal President Theodor Körner and was first awarded in 1954. Since then the prize has been awarded annually to scientists and artists who have already done excellent work.
Loschmidt Prize 2018
Danny Müller's research on bistable iron complexes was awarded by the Chemical-Physical Society Vienna.
Vienna, November 13, 2018
The Loschmidt Prize is anually awarded for outstanding dissertations, this year it was awarded to Danny Müller's disseration on "Iron(II) spin crossover complexes - from chirality to multifunctionality".
The electronic components used in data storage or for new sensors are becoming smaller and smaller. Today, chemistry also plays an important role in this miniaturisation. The laureate is researching so-called "bistable iron complexes", which can be switched back and forth between different states in a targeted manner.
These individually controllable states are retained even if the molecules are anchored individually on a surface. This means that these iron complexes open up the possibility of realising novel sensor or data storage concepts on the scale of individual molecules.
Depending on temperature, pressure, exposure to light or other physical quantities, the bistable iron complexes can change certain properties, for example their colour, their magnetic moment or their dielectric constant. This change can be reversed in the same way, so that the molecules can be switched back and forth between different states as often as desired, similar to a light switch.
In order to use these molecular switches technologically, a suitable method of reading out their current state is needed. However, the classic laboratory methods that are normally used for this are very complicated and take too long. "Therefore, we decided to use polarised light for this purpose," says Danny Müller. "We were able to show that the two different states of our iron compounds interact in different ways with polarised light. So we found a feasible way to solve this problem with known technology". Danny Müller's dissertation has already resulted in several patents, which now form the basis for further research in this field.
Dr. Ernst Fehrer Prize 2017
Christian Knoll was awarded with the TU Wien's Fehrer Prize for the project "New technologies for energy storage".
Vienna, December 6, 2017
His work looking for a way to store energy was awarded the prize which is sponsored by Dr. Rosemarie Fehrer, widow to the inventor and industrialist Dr. Ernst Fehrer. It is awarded for outstanding technical research services with practical applications every year and was presented to the laureate by the benefactress herself.
The project
It is one of the major problems of our time: How can energy be stored and reused efficiently? One possible solution comes from chemistry; by supplying energy a chemical reaction can take place, thus the storage of the resulting material is possible until the reaction is reversed and the stored energy is released again in the form of heat.
The use of chemical instead of physical storage comes to mind. "The simplest concept is used at home: hot water tanks which are heated with night-time electricity. If it is well insulated the energy is used during the day - but a continuous loss is inevitable," says Christian Knoll, "There are also special physical energy storage systems that use the heat of crystallization during the phase transition between solid and liquid. But chemical energy storage systems such as those we are developing are not yet available".
The search for suitable substances was long, but promising candidates such as calcium oxalate monohydrate were identified. Exposure to heat results in removal of the chemically bound water from calcium oxalate, which can be stored for long periods in its anhydrous form. By adding water vapor, heat is generated, and the material can be reused for energy storage.
One of the key questions was whether the material is capable of surviving a large number of charging and discharging cycles. The results are promising: "We were able to run over a hundred cycles and did not detect any signs of wear - not even under the electron microscope," says Knoll.
Conference Contributions
Keynote Lectures
"Queer in Science";
Hauptvortrag: I, Scientist - Gender, career paths & networking, TU Berlin (eingeladen); 20.09.2019 - 21.09.2019; in: "Conference Booklet", Lise-Meitner-Gesellschaft (Hrg.); (2019), S. 13.
"Materialforschung für thermochemische Energiespeicher";
Hauptvortrag: Science Brunch, TechGate Vienna (eingeladen); 06.06.2014; in: "future and emerging technologies", Klima- und Energiefonds, 05/2014, Wien (2014), S. 10 - 15.
"Temperaturabhängige FIR/MIR-Spektroskopie in ATR-Technik zur Charakterisierung von magneto-optischen Materialien";
Hauptvortrag: Material 2014 - Von Anwendern für Anwender, Wien (eingeladen); 11.06.2014.
"The Spin Crossover Phenomenon and its Possible Application - Challenges and Chances";
Hauptvortrag: 32. Workshop Novel Materials and Superconductivity, Obertraun (eingeladen); 12.02.2017 - 18.02.2017.
"The Spin Crossover Phenomenon and its Possible Application ‐ Challenges and Chances";
Hauptvortrag: EBRI Seminar Series, Aston University Birmingham, Birmingham, UK (eingeladen); 02.05.2017.
Lectures
"Systematic Studies on Structural and Electronic Influences on the Spin Transition properties of Fe(II) Spin-Crossover Compounds";
Vortrag: 7th Asian Conference on Coordination Chemistry (ACCC7) 2019, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (eingeladen); 15.10.2019 - 18.10.2019; in: "Programme", Institut Kimia Malaysia (Hrg.); (2019), S. 38.
"Spin-switchable Hofmann-type networks based on tetrakis(cyanoacetylides): Larger pores for larger guests";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 504, 1 S.
"1-Dimensional Fe(II) spin crossover polymers - An infight between rigidity, solvate and anion";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 873, 1 S.
"Chirality as key for determining the spin-state in Fe(II) spin crossover complexes";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 917, 1 S.
"Thermochemical energy storage materials for combination with solar thermal collector systems";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 895, 1 S.
"5,5´-Azobistetrazolate in lanthanide coordination chemistry - The impact of CO2 and traces of 241Am";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 1137, 1 S.
"Tetrazoles as versatile ligands establishing structure-property relationships in Fe(II) SCO chemistry";
Vortrag: 43rd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, Sendai (Japan); 30.07.2018 - 04.08.2018; in: "ICCC2018 Sendai Japan", Science Council of Japan (Hrg.); (2018), S. 23.
"Calcium doped Magnesium Oxide as improved Material for Thermochemical Energy Storage";
Vortrag: International Conference on Renewable Energy ICREN 2018, Barcelona, Spanien; 25.04.2018 - 27.04.2018; in: "Practical Informations", Prem C (Hrg.); (2018), S. 67 - 68.
"Transition Metal Ammoniates - A Novel Class of High-Performance Thermochemical Energy Storage materials";
Vortrag: International Conference on Renewable Energy ICREN 2018, Barcelona, Spanien; 25.04.2018 - 27.04.2018; in: "Practical Informations", Prem C (Hrg.); (2018), S. 65 - 66.
"Lanthanide complexes with 5,5´-Azobistetrazolate as ligand - astounding effects influencing the coordination behavior";
Vortrag: 43rd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, Sendai (Japan); 30.07.2018 - 04.08.2018; in: "ICCC2018 Sendai Japan", Science Council of Japan (Hrg.); (2018), S. 39.
"2nd generation Hofmann-type networks - Introducing multifunctionality into spin-switchable frameworks";
Vortrag: 43rd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, Sendai (Japan); 30.07.2018 - 04.08.2018; in: "ICCC2018 Sendai Japan", Science Council of Japan (Hrg.); (2018), S. 14.
"Pressure-induced high-spin/low-spin transition of octahedral Fe2+ centres in [Fe(PX)3](BF4)2 ∙ PC single crystals";
Vortrag: 43rd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, Sendai (Japan); 30.07.2018 - 04.08.2018; in: "ICCC2018 Sendai Japan", Science Council of Japan (Hrg.); (2018), S. 35.
"Iron(II) spin-crossover complexes with chiral ligands - towards a non-destructive read-out of spin states";
Vortrag: 43rd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, Sendai (Japan); 30.07.2018 - 04.08.2018; in: "ICCC2018 Sendai Japan", Science Council of Japan (Hrg.); (2018), S. 38.
"Functionalization of N-substituted 1H-tetrazoles: towards an easy library synthesis";
Vortrag: ECOSTBio: 7th Scientific Workshop, Trinity College Dublin; 14.12.2017 - 15.12.2017; in: "Booklet", (2017), S. 12.
"UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy in diffuse reflection and FIR-MIR spectroscopy in ATR-technique as valuable tools for thermo- and magnetochemical investigations";
Vortrag: COSP 2017 (Colloquium Optische Spektroskopie), Bundesanstalt für Materialprüfung Berlin (eingeladen); 27.11.2017 - 29.11.2017; in: "abstracts", (2017).
"Halogenated alkyltetrazoles for rational design of Fe(II)-spin crossover materials-fine tuning of the ligands size";
Vortrag: ECOSTBio: 7th Scientific Workshop, Trinity College Dublin; 14.12.2017 - 15.12.2017; in: "Booklet", (2017), S. 10.
"Thermochemical Energy Storage Concept based on a Reactor Cascade with different Storage Materials";
Vortrag: International Conference & Workshop REMOO-2017 "Energy for Tomorrow", Venedig, Italien; 10.05.2017 - 12.05.2017; in: "Proceeding", (2017), ISBN: 978-3-9818275-5-2; Paper-Nr. 06.051, 14 S.
"Variable Temperature ATR-IR Spectroscopy as a Valuable Tool for the in situ Spin State Detection of Iron(II) Spin Crossover Complexes";
Vortrag: ECOSTBio: Fourth scientific workshop, Prague; 13.04.2016 - 15.04.2016; in: "Book of abstracts", (2016), S. 29.
"Zero- to three-dimensional iron(II) spin crossover coordination compounds - from ligand design to tunable spin switching behaviour";
Vortrag: 42nd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (ICCC), Brest (Frankreich); 03.07.2016 - 08.07.2016; in: "Programme Book", (2016).
"Rigidity in iron (II) tetrazole spin crossover chains";
Vortrag: 42nd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (ICCC), Brest (Frankreich); 03.07.2016 - 08.07.2016; in: "Programme Book", (2016).
"Propargyl-1H-tetrazole as promising ligand for post-functionalization of spin switchable iron(II) complexes";
Vortrag: 42nd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (ICCC), Brest (Frankreich); 03.07.2016 - 08.07.2016; in: "Programme Book", (2016).
"Oxalate and carbonate based thermochemical energy storage materials - reaction kinetics and material optimization";
Vortrag: 27th International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC) 2016, Melbourne (Australia); 17.07.2016 - 22.07.2016; in: "Book of abstracts", (2016), S. 43.
"Novel materials for thermochemical energy storage - from hydroxides to ammoniates";
Vortrag: 27th International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC) 2016, Melbourne (Australia); 17.07.2016 - 22.07.2016; in: "Book of abstracts", (2016), S. 45.
"Elucidating structural features of rigid spin crossover coordination polymers using HPC";
Vortrag: AHPC16, Grundlsee; 22.02.2016 - 24.02.2016; in: "Austrian HPC Meeting 2016 - AHPC16", VSC - Vienna Scientifc Cluster (Hrg.); (2016), S. 50.
"Variable Temperature ATR-IR Spectroscopy as a Valuable Tool for the In Situ Spin-State Detection of Iron(II) Spin Crossover Complexes";
Vortrag: ICAVS 8, Wien; 12.07.2015 - 17.07.2015; in: "ICAVS8 Abstracts Oral", (2015), ISBN: 978-3-200-04205-6; S. 164 - 165.
"Kinetic analysis ofthe decomposition of H3B03 and FeS04*7H20 for thermochemical energy storage";
Vortrag: 1st Chemistry in Energy Conference, Edinburgh, UK; 20.07.2015 - 22.07.2015; in: "Proceedings", (2015).
"Systematic Identification of Low-Temperature-Energy Storage Materials";
Vortrag: Vienna Young Scientists Symposium 2015, Wien; 25.06.2015; in: "VSS VIENNA young SCIENTISTS SYMPOSIUM", (2015), ISBN: 978-3-9504017-0-7; S. 92 - 93.
"MgO/Mg(OH)2 as a Possible Thermochemical Energy Storage Material";
Vortrag: ERIN, The 9th International Conference for Young Researchers and PhD Students, Moninec, Tschechische Republik; 04.05.2015 - 06.05.2015; in: "Proceedings of the 9th International Conference for Young Researchers and PhD Students", (2015), Paper-Nr. 1, 5 S.
Poster Presentations
"In-situ carbonation of SrO at 298 K and controlled humidity for Thermochemical Energy Storage";
Poster: 32nd European Crystallographic Meeting, Wien; 18.08.2019 - 23.08.2019; in: "Programme Book", Europ. Crystallogr. Assoc. (Hrg.); (2019), S. 66.
"Spin-switchable Hofmann-type networks based on tetrakis(cyanoacetylides): Larger pores for larger guests";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 504, 1 S.
"1-Dimensional Fe(II) spin crossover polymers - An infight between rigidity, solvate and anion";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 873, 1 S.
"Chirality as key for determining the spin-state in Fe(II) spin crossover complexes";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 917, 1 S.
"Thermochemical energy storage materials for combination with solar thermal collector systems";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 895, 1 S.
"5,5´-Azobistetrazolate in lanthanide coordination chemistry - The impact of CO2 and traces of 241Am";
Vortrag: ACS Spring Meeting 2019, Orlando; 31.03.2019 - 04.04.2019; in: "Chemistry for New Frontiers", American Chemical Society (Hrg.); (2019), ISBN: 978-0-8412-3433-8; Paper-Nr. 1137, 1 S.
"In-situ carbonation of SrO/BaO and Sr(OH)2 . x H2O/ BA(OH)2 . x H2O at 298K and controlled humidity";
Poster: 16th European Powder Diffraction Conference, Edinburgh, UK; 01.07.2018 - 04.07.2018; in: "EPDIC 16", (2018), S. 55.
"N1-substituted tetrazole ligands as versatile building blocks for Fe(II) spin crossover compounds";
Poster: ECOSTBio: Final scientific workshop, Berlin; 09.04.2018 - 11.04.2018; in: "Final scientific workshop Berlin", K. Ray, C. Limberg (Hrg.); (2018).
"New Synthetic Protocols for aryl-substituted tetrazoles for Fe(II) Spin-Crossover Complexes";
Poster: ECOSTBio: Sixth scientific workshop, Lissabon; 30.03.2017 - 31.03.2017; in: "Book of Abstracts", R. Louro, P. Martinho (Hrg.); (2017), S. 49.
"Thermochemical Energy Storage Concept based on a Reactor Cascade with different Storage Materials";
Vortrag: International Conference & Workshop REMOO-2017 "Energy for Tomorrow", Venedig, Italien; 10.05.2017 - 12.05.2017; in: "Proceeding", (2017), ISBN: 978-3-9818275-5-2; Paper-Nr. 06.051, 14 S.
"Porous spin crossover networks for multifunctional materials";
Poster: 42nd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (ICCC), Brest (Frankreich); 03.07.2016 - 08.07.2016; in: "Programme Book", (2016).
"Green Suzuki cross coupling of 4-bromobenzyl-(1H)-tetrazole under atmospheric conditions";
Poster: 27th International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC) 2016, Melbourne (Australia); 17.07.2016 - 22.07.2016; in: "Program", (2016).
"Aryl spaced bis-(1H)-tetrazoles as rigid bridging ligand systems for iron(II) spin crossover polymers";
Poster: 27th International Conference on Organometallic Chemistry (ICOMC) 2016, Melbourne (Australia); 17.07.2016 - 22.07.2016; in: "Program", (2016).