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Job opportunities for research assistants, PhD students, postdocs, and technicians are regularly posted on the TUHH job portal.
We currently have an open position for Research Associate (m/f/d). The application deadline is August 15th 2025. Please click here to find more about it.
We continuously offer positions for student assistants and student theses (Bachelor/Master) in the following research areas:
Biorefinery – Contact: Dr. Carsten Zetzl
Nanoporous Materials – Contacts: Dr. Baldur Schroeter, Dr. Pavel Gurigov
Molecular Methods for Separation Processes – Contact: Dr. Simon Müller
For currently available topics, see below or reach out to the respective group leader.
Supervisor: Dennis Arigbe
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental
Available for: HiWi, Bachelor Thesis, Master Thesis
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
For optimizing the supercritical drying of aerogels, it is crucial to understand the drying kinetics, especially on a larger scale. A new large-scale plant is installed in the technical hall to measure this. One important property that needs to be monitored therefore is the development of the CO2/solvent mixture composition throughout the entire drying process at various measuring points. Raman spectroscopy is used as the analysis tool, because it has several advantages, like a low measure volume.
To get reliable composition results, a very important step is to calibrate the measuring setup properly. For the parameters like pressure, temperature and mixture composition in the expected regions, different measuring points need to be evaluated and measured. After postprocessing of the arising data, the calibration results need to be regressed with a suitable model.
Objectives:
Supervisor: Lara Gibowsky
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental
Available for: Master Thesis
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
(Biopolymer-based) aerogels are lightweight solid materials, which are particularly suitable for applications as insulation material but also in the food and pharmaceutical industries due to their low density, high porosity and specific surface area. They have a very fine, air-filled pore structure, the properties of which are decisive for their subsequent use.
Despite the high relevance, the manufacturing process, which consists of the three steps gelation, solvent exchange and supercritical drying, still represents a cost and time challenge for the application in the industry. In order to be able to implement larger aerogel quantities in production, this often takes place in packed beds. However, this causes the disadvantage of mechanical stress on the gel particles due to their own weight as well as external forces such as pressure loss across the packed bed. In extreme cases, this stress can lead to plastic deformation of the gel particles, resulting in irreversible damage to the microstructure, loss of the characteristic properties and increased pressure drops across the packed bed.
The correlation between the process parameters of the solvent exchange and the mechanical and microstructural properties of the gel particles has not yet been clarified.
Objectives:
Supervisor: Alberto Bueno
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental and Theoretical
Available for: Master Thesis
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
In order to produce nanoporous solid materials such as aerogels it is required to dry a wet gel without disrupting the porous structure of it. Different drying techniques such as freeze drying have been developed in order to preserve the nanoporous structure. Supercritical CO₂ (scCO₂) drying has been proven to be a universal drying technique and gives the best results to produce aerogels. The misconception that scCO₂ drying is an expensive and time-consuming technique has limited this technique to just the lab scale.
Recently, it has been proven that scCO₂ drying is feasible at an industrial scale and can compete with standard drying techniques. To further attract industrial attention, better analytical tools which allow a better measurement of the drying kinetics are necessary. Measuring the scCO₂ drying kinetics has proven a challenge since the density and viscosity of the bulk fluid are changing constantly during the process.
In order to determine the real drying kinetics from the experimental data, it is required to develop mathematical algorithms which correlate the system flow dynamics with the data obtained during the drying experiments. The corrected data obtained can be applied in mathematical models in order to optimize the whole process.
Objectives:
Supervisor: Razan Altarabeen
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental
Available for: Project Work
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
One of the common approaches towards green energy is reduction of CO₂ emissions. Electricity and Heating of households generate high percentage of CO₂ and an amount of this heat is lost when conventional insulation materials are used.
Innovative insulation materials can reduce the required heating power by minimizing heat losses and thus reduce CO₂ emissions. One potential solution is the use of Aerogels which are highly porous lightweight materials (up to 99% air).
Lignin, the most second abundant carbon source which is found in the plant wall can be used as a bio-polyol to synthesize bio-based PU Aerogels. The aim of this project is to incorporate lignin in PU Hydrogels via sol gel process followed by supercritical CO₂ drying to obtain lignin-PU aerogels.
The methods used in this project include the sol-gel gelation process for hydrogel formation, supercritical CO₂ drying to preserve the porous structure, BET measurements for surface area analysis, SEM for morphological characterization, and thermal conductivity determination using the Hot Disk method.
Objectives:
Supervisor: Razan Altarabeen
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental
Available for: Project Work
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
Biopolymer aerogels, such as alginate aerogels, are nanoporous ultralight materials with high biocompatibility, which enables them to be tailored for various applications such as tissue engineering and drug delivery systems. One major challenge is their porous structure, which is prone to damage and collapse when subjected to moisture due to the surface’s hydrophilicity.
Coating can be used to prevent the penetration of moisture, thus reducing the shrinkage of aerogels. However, conventional coating strategies often involve synthetic chemicals and complex processes. Preliminary results showed lignin’s potential as a biopolymer additive for the coating of alginate aerogel particles.
In this project, the main focus is the investigation of the lignin-alginate interaction, the study of the gelation mechanism, and the analysis of the coating layer’s thickness and homogeneity.
The methods used include BET measurements for surface area analysis, SEM for morphological characterization, FTIR spectroscopy for structural analysis, and CamSizer for particle size distribution analysis.
Objectives:
Supervisor: Dr. Vasilii Korotenko
Research field: Nanoporous Material, Molecular Methods for Separation Processes
Work type: Theoretical, Computational
Available for: Bachelor Thesis, Master Thesis
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
Polymer materials in solution exhibit complex behavior that depends on solvent interactions, external stimuli (temperature, pH, electric field), and processing conditions. Some polymer networks show adaptive, memory-like responses and can even mimic neural networks under electric fields. Understanding and predicting these effects is critical for applications in biomedicine, flexible electronics, and soft robotics.
This research explores how molecular-level interactions determine macroscopic properties such as porosity, swelling, elasticity, and phase behavior. Students will apply a range of computational methods depending on the focus of their thesis. All topics combine theory, simulation, and modern data analysis in collaboration with experimental partners.
Supervisor: Alberto Bueno Morales
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental
Available for: Bachelor Thesis, Master Thesis
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
Cellulose is one of the most abundant polymers on earth which is readily available from many sources including waste streams from many processes. The upcycling of this streams into a high performance product which will in turn increase the thermal efficiency of processes, building etc. will have a huge impact on the near future. By taking advantage of the cellulose properties together with the amazing attributes that aerogels can bring, the development of a high performance thermal insulation that outperforms any commercial available thermal insulation can be achieved.
Objectives:
Supervisor: Alberto Bueno Morales
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental
Available for: Master Thesis
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
The production of green aerogels consumes large quantities of ethanol. To develop an efficient and cost effective aerogel production process the energy required to recover the ethanol streams should be reduced to a minimum. During this master thesis the student will have the opportunity to develop an innovative adsorption process for the dehydration of an ethanol stream. Using a mixture of experiments and modelling the optimal process architecture and parameters are going to be derived
Objectives:
Supervisor: Erik Manke
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental
Available for: Hiwi,Bachelor Thesis, Master Thesis
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
So far, supercritical drying of Aerogels is carried out in time-consuming batch processes, which are energy and cost-inefficient. A more efficient approach is the continuous supercritical drying of wet gel particles. A deeper understanding of the system needs to be developed to improve the process and make it even more efficient. Crucial for a successful drying is the residence time of the particles in the column, which needs to be longer than the drying time on the one hand. But short enough to provide an efficient process on the other hand. Many parameters influence the residence time, e.g. the process parameters like pressure, temperature, CO2 flow, or particle flow. Additionally, particle parameters like density, porosity and particle diameter play a major role. Two view cells at the top and bottom of the column are installed to determine the residence time. With the help of fluorescent particles, which are used as tracers and a python program to track those particles, the residence time can be experimentally determined.
Objectives:
Supervisor: Kathrin Marina Eckert
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental
Available for: Hiwi, Project Work, Bachelor Thesis,Master Thesis
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
Stimuli-responsive gels undergo significant but reversible configurational changes caused by external influences. Solvent uptake leads to expansion of the polymer chains and the gel swells, while suppression of the solvent out of the polymer matrix leads to shrinkage of the gel.
The conformational change of the gels takes place as a response to external stimuli, such as changes in temperature or the solvent composition in the bulk phase. This characteristic behavior offers a wide range of applications, however, due to the insufficient understanding of the special swelling behavior of the gels, the final application of stimuli-responsive gels in various (separation) processes has so far only been established in a few areas.
Objectives:
Supervisors: Kathrin Marina Eckert and Patrick Kißling (mail & phone)
Research field: Nanoporous Material
Work type: Experimental
Available for: Bachelor Thesis,Master Thesis
Start date: Flexible
Project brief:
Stimuli-responsive gels undergo significant but reversible configurational changes caused by external influences. Solvent uptake leads to expansion of the polymer chains and the gel swells, while suppression of the solvent out of the polymer matrix leads to shrinkage of the gel.
The conformational change of the gels takes place as a response to external stimuli, such as changes in temperature or the solvent composition in the bulk phase. This characteristic behaviour offers a wide range of applications, however, due to the insufficient understanding of the special swelling behaviour of the gels, the final application of stimuli-responsive gels in various (separation) processes has so far only been established in a few areas.
Due to their chemical inertia and high temperature stability, carbon nano tubes (CNTs) along with ceramics, are widely used as support materials for catalysts in heterogeneous catalysis. In order to further develop heterogeneous catalysis, renewable raw materials shall be implemented as educts, but these have varying quality. To conserve the catalyst, it must be protected e.g. by an electro-responsive polymer.
Objectives: