Porous Nanocomposites research group

The most important scientific results of the research group

We pioneered the development of evaporation profile based microanalytics and gained insight into the wetting properties of nanoporous materials composed of 1D nanostructures. These results have logically lead us towards wetting and wicking phenomena in other fibrous material based composites, e.g. nonwoven textiles, oil adsorbent materials, and battery AGM separators. We synthesize and develop new nanostructures for usage in nanocomposites. Recently we made progress towards understanding the redox behavior of phosphorene layers synthesized by the exfoliation of black phosphorous, and we have contributed to the development of various catalyst supports as well as double and triple perovskites. We put an emphasis on developing our measuring and data evaluation methods. Our most recent success story in this field is the development of a novel micro-CT quantification algorithm for the quantitative assessment of spatial inhomogeneity in porous bodies.

Results of the last 1 year

We participated in developing hierarchic self-similar systems (1-2) and double and triple perovskites (3-4). We succeeded in explaining the changes observable in the electric properties of phosphorene during oxidation by structural changes (5-6). We introduced a new method for calculating lacunarity, that can speed up the quantitive analysis of micro-CT datasets by three orders of magnitude.

  1. Langmuir 2021, 37, 12690−12696. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c02097
  2. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2021, 4, 4, 4070–4076. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.1c00396
  3. Chem. Mater. 2021, 33, 4688-4700. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.1c01182
  4. J. Phys. Chem. C 2020, 124, 12794-12807. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c02973
  5. J. Phys. Chem. C 2020, 124, 24066-24072. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c06542
  6. 2D Materials 2022, 9, 015003. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ac2f21
  7. Acta Materialia 2021, 214, 116970. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2021.116970 

The 5 most important publications of the research group

  • J. Gomez-Perez et al., Electronic work function modulation of phosphorene by thermal oxidation, 2D Materials, 9 (2022) 015003. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ac2f21
  • P.S. Pálvölgyi et al., Lightweight porous silica foams with extreme-low dielectric permittivity and loss for future 6G wireless communication technologies, Nano Research 14 (2021) 1450-1456.
  • D. Sebők et al., Fast and accurate lacunarity calculation for large 3D micro-CT datasets, Acta Materialia 214 (2021) 116970. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2021.116970
  • I.Y. Tóth et al., Characterization of the solvent specific evaporation from a fluoropolymer surface roughened by layered double oxide (LDO) particles, J. Mol. Liq. 305 (2020), 112826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2020.112826
  • A. Rawal et al., A critical review on the absorptive glass mat (AGM) separators synergistically designed via fiber and structural parameters, J. Power Sources 430 (2019) 175-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2019.04.108

Head of the research group: Dr. Ákos Kukovecz

Dr. Ákos Kukovecz (1974) got his MSc (1997), PhD (2001), and DSc (2019) in chemistry. He was a TEMPUS student at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. He did his postdoc at the Insitute of Experimental Physics, University of Vienna. Today, he is full professor and head of the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Szeged. He specializes in porous structures composed of 1D and 2D materials. He co-authored 312 peer-reviewed papers with more than 5300 independent citations. His h-index is 38 (Web of Science).

The most important tools

  • Bruker SkyScan 2211 micro-CT
  • Vision Research Phantom Miro LC110 rapid imaging system
  • Complex evaporation characterization rig equipped with thermal imaging and high precision measurement of electric resistance and mass changes.
  • Optical, IR, and Raman microscopy, AFM, SEM, TEM are available.
  • UV-Vis-NIR, IR, Raman spectroscopy, powder XRD, DTG, DMA, N2 adsorption are available.
  • SEM-EDS, TEM-EDS, XRF are available.
  • SEM-EBSD is available.

The most important figures connected to the research fields

Industrial partners

Contact the research group leader on the following e-mail address:
kakos@chem.u-szeged.hu