Micromeritics Instrument Corp. has announced that it has awarded the University of Hamburg a 3Flex surface characterisation analyser. This is an advanced physisorption instrument. The analyser will benefit Prof. Michael Fröba’s group at the Institute of Inorganic and Applied Chemistry, which is well known for research in materials science, with a strong focus on nanoporous materials, their usage in energy storage applications, and the investigation of confinement effects.
Micromeritics President, Preston Hendrix, said that the award was granted specifically in recognition of the “valuable research contributions to material development and characterisation” by the university’s Institute of Inorganic and Applied Chemistry, under the direction of Prof. Fröba.
An expert in the field of storing renewable energies, Prof. Fröba expects the 3Flex to help with a better understanding of confinement effects in nanopores and their impact on the properties of guest compounds in the gaseous, liquid, or solid state. The design of the 3Flex allows high-resolution isotherms to be acquired and starts in the 10-6 torr range (10-9 relative pressure range for N2).
The instrument comes with a Micrometrics Vapor Sorption option, which allows Prof. Fröba to run water vapour experiments. It also includes the standard instrument warranty and application methods development support.
“We are confident the 3Flex surface characterisation analyser will be a valuable asset to the department’s research group and will provide significant and new insights for the understanding of new nanoporous materials for energy storage,” said Hendrix. “The instrument will enable the institute to do high resolution scanning of isotherms, a relatively new topic that Prof. Fröba has expressed great interest in.”
“Particularly high-quality measurements and interpretation of gas physisorption data, as well as understanding the properties of nanoconfined water, aqueous salt solutions, and solvent mixtures play an important role in our research,” explained Prof. Fröba. “The demand for highly accurate measurements has increased in the past years, even more, though, since hysteresis scanning measurements open up a much more detailed understanding of the various synthesised pore systems. Here, the 3Flex analyser offers great potential for our scientific questions in the future.”