Apl. Prof. Dr. Doris Vollmer

Doris Vollmer studied physics at the University of Bielefeld, the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands). She completed her PhD at the University of Basel in physical chemistry. For her habilitation (2000) she moved to Mainz and joined the group of Prof. Manfred Schmidt. From 2001-2002 she worked at the Institute of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh (Great Britain) as a Marie Curie Fellowship. In 2002 she joined the group of Hans-Jürgen Butt and became group leader in May 2003. In 2015 she obtained a associate professorship at the Physics Department of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. She coordinated the Innovative Training Network (ITN) on "Lubricant Impregnated Slippery Surfaces" (LubISS) (http://www.lubiss.eu/).

Research Interests

Robust easy-to-clean surfaces

The goal of our research is to contribute to the solution of the climate crisis. This requires that we generate renewable energy as effectively as possible and consume less energy. The efficiency of solar modules decreases significantly when modules become dirty. Therefore, we are developing stable coatings and testing their self-cleaning properties. Easy-to-clean properties are also essential for infrared radiation reflective coatings. Infrared radiation causes buildings to heat up in the summer months and promotes the use of air conditioning.

We use a variety of experimental techniques to characterize surface and wetting properties. These include confocal microscopy, adhesion and friction force measurements, and a variety of spectroscopic methods. We complement the experimental information with mean-field theory descriptions and simulations.

Selected Publications

Vollmer, D.; Bednarz, R. J.-R.; Seiffert, S.; Bednarz, B.: The benefits of Nobel Prizes. Nature Physics 18, pp. pages 1383 - 1384 (2022)
Naga, A.; Kaltbeitzel, A.; Wong, W. S. Y.; Hauer, L.; Butt, H.-J.; Vollmer, D.: How a water drop removes a particle from a hydrophobic surface. Soft Matter 17 (2021) (7), pp. 1746 - 1755 (2020)
Wong, W. S. Y.; Naga, A.; Hauer, L.; Baumli, P.; Bauer, H.; Hegner, K. I.; D'Acunzi, M.; Kaltbeitzel, A.; Butt, H.-J.; Vollmer, D.: Super liquid repellent surfaces for anti-foaming and froth management. Nature Communications 12 (1), 5358 (2021)
Geyer, F.; D'Acunzi, M.; Sharifi-Aghili, A.; Saal, A.; Gao, N.; Kaltbeitzel, A.; Sloot, T.-F.; Berger, R.; Butt, H.-J.; Vollmer, D.: When and how self-cleaning of superhydrophobic surfaces works. Science Advances 6 (3), eaaw9727 (2020)
Wong, W. S. Y.; Hegner, K. I.; Donadei, V.; Hauer, L.; Naga, A.; Vollmer, D.: Capillary Balancing: Designing Frost-Resistant Lubricant-Infused Surfaces. ACS Nano 20 (12), pp. 8508 - 8515 (2020)
Geyer, F.; Schönecker, C.; Butt, H.-J.; Vollmer, D.: Enhancing CO2 Capture using Robust Superomniphobic Membranes. Advanced Materials 29 (5), 1603524 (2017)
Deng, X.; Mammen, L.; Butt, H.-J.; Vollmer, D.: Candle Soot as a Template for a Transparent Robust Superamphiphobic Coating. Science 335 (6064), pp. 67 - 70 (2012)
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