The Institute of Physical Chemistry (long)

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

The Institute of Physical Chemistry

Although physical-chemical aspects played a role in both teaching and research, particularly in the metallurgical disciplines, the Institute of Physical Chemistry was only founded at the Freiberg Mining Academy in 1952. The first Director and Chair of Physical Chemistry was Walter Mannchen until 1970. Before 1952, the subject area was only represented by a few courses at other institutes. For example, the practical course in physical chemistry was held at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry. A 2-hour lecture on thermodynamics was given by physicist Prof Dr Richter and an equally extensive lecture on electrochemistry by inorganic chemist Prof Dr Geyer.

Before his appointment, Walter Mannchen had been head of department at the magnesite plant in Aken. However, his scientific working style was largely characterised during his doctoral studies at Göttingen University. His teacher there was the world-renowned physical chemist Arnold Eucken.

With the founding of the institute, teaching had to be organised relatively flexibly, as the requirements of the individual disciplines were very heterogeneous. At the beginning of 1960, there was a range of eight lectures with different content and a practical course with a fund of around 40 experiments. This was an extraordinarily impressive achievement, as there were only nine doctoral students, four technical staff and four in the workshop in addition to the chair holder.

A plant for the production of liquid air was installed in 1957 and a plant for the production of liquid hydrogen shortly afterwards, in line with a profile-defining field of work: physico-chemical measurements at low temperatures. At the time, this was a pioneering achievement that was highly recognised in various places. In 1964, the facilities were significantly expanded with a new building so that other institutions of the university and the territory could also be supplied. To this day, the central supply of liquid nitrogen to the Freiberg region has been preserved.

Walter Mannchen has cultivated three main areas of work:

1. Solidification processes in metals, in particular nucleation, which was investigated experimentally by determining the statistics of the undercooling of melts as a function of the gas atmosphere, overheating, the presence of trace elements and other factors.
2. Determination of hydrogen in metals, determination of diffusion coefficients and activation energies of the escape of hydrogen from metals into the vacuum.
3. Calorimetric measurement of the heat capacity of metals and alloys in the temperature range from 10 to 300 K and the theoretical interpretation of the temperature curve of the heat capacities.

All three fields of work were characterised by complex but very solid apparatus and measuring techniques, most of which were built in-house with the help of the workshops. The roots from the institute's "youth" are still partially recognisable in the institute's current fields of work.

W. Mannchen initially played a significant role in the "3rd university reform" in 1968. He was appointed the first director of the institutes merged into the Chemistry Section. However, his commitment and willingness to reform were soon overshadowed by arbitrary political measures and overemphasis, so that he resigned and only took on teaching and research tasks at the institute.

The formation of the section resulted in the formal dissolution of the institute. Most of the personnel and technical capacity went into the "Thermodynamics" working group (WG 2), the smaller part into the "Kinetics" working group (WG 3). In 1974, the group was merged again within the scientific field of analytical and physical chemistry. In 1970, the outstanding Mannchen student Dr Gert Wolf, who had already been in charge of a large part of the group's activities before this time, became head of working group 2. Under his leadership, teaching and in particular the practical course were comprehensively modernised and expanded.

Filling the chair after Mannchen's retirement in 1970 was only successfully completed with the appointment of Paul Brand in 1973. This time gap was filled by a 1 ½ -year guest professorship held by Professor Bogdan Baranowski. Baranowski, from the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, significantly promoted the field of hydrogen in metals and the superconductivity of hydride systems and introduced and represented the field of "Irreversible Thermodynamics" in Freiberg in teaching.

Paul Brand established a new field of work at the institute, which focused on the synthesis and characterisation of basic aluminium chlorides. This field of work was closely linked to the development and construction of a pilot plant in Lauta for the extraction of alumina from local clay. The qualification work in particular resulted in new findings on the formation conditions, stability and structural properties of basic salts. This was accompanied by important statements on sol-gel transitions and the associated properties.

Although Gert Wolf was denied an occasionally announced appointment, he was always able to maintain his scientific independence with a small group. In the 1970s, his findings on superconducting materials (hydrides, chalcogenides and oxides) attracted a great deal of international attention. One consequence of this was his three-year, very successful stay at the Moscow Academy Institute for Physical Problems (Director: Nobel Prize winner Kapitza) and the collaboration with the International Laboratory for High Magnetic Fields and Low Temperatures in Wroclaw. This successful work had to be essentially terminated around 1980. The same applied to promising work on hydrogen storage, which had emerged from the Institute's original research directions. G. Wolf then devoted himself mainly to methodological development in the field of calorimetry and carried out experimental work on the physical chemistry of concentrated electrolyte solutions.

In 1978, a lectureship in physical chemistry was established alongside the professorship. After a guest role by Frank Kuschel from Halle, the lectureship was transferred to Wolfgang Voigt in 1982. He was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry in 1989. The focus of the lectureship and professorship was on aqueous concentrated electrolyte solutions and internationally acclaimed activity and solubility measurements as well as crystallisation studies. There was close cooperation with salt chemistry research at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry.

The second professorship in physical chemistry was filled by Hans-Jörg Mögel from Halle. His field of work is interfacial and colloid chemistry with pronounced tendencies towards theoretical chemistry.

As in all other areas, the historically significant year of 1990 was associated with lasting changes. Dr Gert Wolf was appointed to the Corner Professorship of Physical Chemistry. In this capacity and as Director of the officially re-established Institute of Physical Chemistry, he played a significant and decisive role in the democratic renewal of the University and the Department of Chemistry. Initially as Vice Dean, and from October 1991 as Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and thus a member of the Senate, as well as a member of the Personnel and Specialist Commission, he had to make and support serious and forward-looking decisions.

As elected Director, he succeeded in developing a sustainable profile for the Institute of Physical Chemistry in an astonishingly short time, which was reflected in the following years in a remarkable increase in scientific staff on the basis of third-party funding contracts, technical equipment, publications and lectures. In 1993, he was again elected Dean of the newly established Faculty of Chemistry and Physics for a term of three years.

As part of the university's reorganisation, two further professorships in Physical Chemistry were advertised. Hans-Jörg Mögel was appointed to the Professorship of Physical Chemistry II and Klaus Bohmhammel to the Professorship of Applied Physical Chemistry in a process lasting just four weeks. Like Gert Wolf, Bohmhammel is a Mannchen student. His current field of work is roughly outlined with thermodynamic and kinetic investigations of gas-solid state reactions, with silicon at the centre of his work.

One of the main pillars of the institute is also the extremely efficient scientific staff, consisting of Dr Regina Hüttl, PD Dr Johannes Lerchner, PD Dr Peter Schiller and Dr Jürgen Seidel. The colleagues Dipl.-Ing.(FH) Margit Seifert, Dipl.-Ing.(FH) Matthias Jobst, the laboratory assistants Jutta Lange, Regina Härtel and Dagmar Süßner as well as the secretary Christine Böhme are also essential for the functioning of the institute. There are also undergraduates and doctoral students.

Prof Florian Mertens has been Prof Gert Wolf's successor since October 2005. He studied physics in Frankfurt/Main and completed his doctorate under Ertl at the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin. After working in industry at Adam-Opel AG and General Motors, he was most recently the research manager of a project on chemical hydrogen storage.

Teaching

On the basis of the diploma and study regulations for the Chemistry degree programme and the Applied Natural Sciences degree programme established in 1996, extensive teaching tasks also had to be fulfilled for the subsidiary degree programmes. In the undergraduate programme, these are the classic courses in physical chemistry. In the main degree programme, on the other hand, a separate profile was generated, which is characterised by courses (lectures, exercises and practicals) such as Thermodynamic Material Data, Physical Chemical Measurement Methods, Interface and Colloid Chemistry, Fractals in Chemistry, Irreversible Thermodynamics, Statistical Thermodynamics, Physical Chemical Sensors, Signals and Information, Biophysical Chemistry and others. The content of the practical courses has been expanded and the technical equipment has been modernised as far as possible.

The qualification work (diploma and doctorate) is supported by numerous third-party funded projects (DFG, 2 special research areas, AiF, SAB, industry). The significant increase in personnel capacity on this basis also has a positive effect on the fulfilment of teaching tasks. Several successful applications within the framework of the HBFG led to a considerable increase in equipment. Among other things, modern calorimetric measuring equipment should be highlighted, which meets a wide range of requirements, such as biotechnology, silicon chemistry, hydrogen storage, material synthesis and material characterisation.

The long-standing tradition and modern focus in the field of thermophysical measurement methods, the associated extensive publication activity and the commitment of Gert Wolf were the basis for continuing the tradition of the biennial Ulm Calorimetry Days from 1995 as the Ulm-Freiberger Calorimetry Days with increased resonance. Six successful symposia have provided sufficient motivation to organise the next one in March 2007.

Research projects

The research profile of the institute can be characterised as follows:

• Investigation of heterogeneous and heterogeneously catalysed reactions using experimental and theoretical methods.
• Development and use of thermophysical measurement methods for the thermodynamic and kinetic characterisation of chemical and chemical-biological material conversion processes.
• Thermodynamic and kinetic modelling and optimisation of material conversion processes using phenomenological and quantum mechanical methods.
• Transition from homogeneous to heterogeneous catalysis by immobilisation.
• Physical-chemical analysis on an experimental and theoretical basis of the synthesis of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), silanes and complex hydrides.
• Study of the structure formation of amphiphilic molecules on surfaces using Monte Carlo calculations.
• Study of particle interactions in suspensions and their influence on material properties.

In addition to the extensive modern experimental funds, the core of experienced staff and the cooperative relationships at national and international level also guarantee that the Institute of Physical Chemistry will continue to be very successful in teaching and research under Mertens' leadership.

As one of the three core chemical subjects, physical chemistry will also continue to play an important role in the forthcoming reform of the two degree programmes (Bachelor's and Master's degrees). The Institute of Physical Chemistry has all the potential to master the future challenges in any case.