Dr. Thommes (Quantachrome's Director of Applied Science) is a renowned researcher in the area of adsorption and characterization of nanoporous materials.
Dr. Thommes received his Doctorate in Physical Chemistry with Prof. G.H. Findenegg at Ruhr University Bochum (1989-1991) and Technical University Berlin (1992/93), Topic: Pore condensation and critical-point shift of a fluid in controlled-pore glass). From 1992- 1995 Dr. Thommes was a Research Associate at the Iwan-N.-Stranski Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Technical University Berlin and Project Scientist for a microgravity experiment on critical adsorption which was carried out on the EURECA mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). From 1996 to 1997, he was an ESA fellow and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute for Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland at College Park, USA. It was in 1998 that Dr. Thommes joined Quantachrome, first as the Head of Application Department at Quantachrome GmbH in Germany, and then in 2001 as Director of Applied Science at the Quantachrome Headquarters in Boynton Beach, Florida, USA.
Dr. Thommes has authored and co-authored numerous scientific/technical publications (more than 70) including a monograph and invited book chapters on the characterization of porous materials and powders. Since 2001 he has given more than 50 presentations, invited talks, and keynote lectures at prestigious international scientific conferences and universities all over the world. He has been a member of International Advisory Committees on many conferences, and acted recently as the Co-Chairman for the 1st International Workshop on " Macro/Mesopore Analysis: Mercury Porosimetry and Alternative Liquid Penetration Techniques ( Aix en Provence, France, 30- 31 May, 2005).
| Research Interests |
- Textural characterization of advanced micro/mesoporous materials (e.g., zeolites, M41S materials, SBA-15 silica, KIT-6 silcia etc., hierachically ordered porous materials) and thin porous films.
- Investigation of the adsorption and phase behavior (e.g., pore condensation, hysteresis) of wetting and nonwetting fluids confined to novel nanoporous model materials.
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| Recent Honors
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2007 Elected to the Board of Directors of the International Adsorption Society (IAS)
2006 Taskforce Member of IUPAC (International Union for Pure & Applied Chemistry),
Project: Liquid intrusion and alternative methods for the characterizations of
macroporous solids
2006 Elected to the council of the International Mesostructured Material Association (IMMA)
2006 Invited Guest Editor for Special Issue, "Analysis of Meso- and Macroporous Systems",
Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, Vol. 23, 7 (2006)
2004 Appointed to Advisory Board of the journal Particle & Particle Systems Characterization
2004 Invited Guest Editor for Special Issue, "Characterization of Porous Systems",
Particle and Particle Systems Characterization, 21, No. 2, August (2004)
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| Professional Affiliations |
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO), since 2005 acting as the Convener of Working Group 3: Surface Area and Porosity, Committee ISO TC-24/SC4
- American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- ASTM International, active on committees C-28, E-29, B-9, D-28, since 2008 Chair of Committee C28.03 (Physical Properties of Ceramics).
- International Adsorption Society (IAS)
- International Mesostructured Material Association (IMMA)
- International Union for Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
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| Books and Chapters
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Monograph
- Characterization of Porous Solids and Powders: Surface Area, Porosity and Density; S. Lowell, J. Shields, M.A. Thomas & M. Thommes, Springer, (2004)
Invited book chapters - review articles
- R. Staudt and M. Thommes, Zeolites and Adsorption: Model materials and applications, In: Zeolites: From Model Materials to Industrial Catalysts, (J. Cejka, J. Perez-Pariente, W.J. Roth, eds) Chapter 9, pp 207-225, Transworld Research Network, (2008)
- M. Thommes; Textural Charaterization of Zeolite and Ordered Mesoporous Materials by Physical Adsoption, In: Introduction to Zeolite Science and Practice (3rd revised Edition), (Cejka, J., van Bekkum, H., Corma, A., Schüth, F., eds.), Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal.,168, Chapter 15, pp.495-525, Elsevier, (2007)
- M. Thommes; Physical Adsorption Characterization of Ordered and Amorphous Mesoporous Materials, In: Nanoporous Materials, Science & Engineering (Lu G.Q. & Zhao X.S., eds), Chapter 11, Imperial College Press, (2004)
- A. Neimark, K.S.W. Sing and M. Thommes, Surface Area and Porosity, Iin: Handbook of Catalysis, Second Edition (Ertl, Koezinger, Schueth & Weitkamp, eds), Wiley, in press (2007)
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| Selected Recent Research Papers |
- M. Thommes, R. Skudas, K.K. Unger, and D.Lubda, "Textural Characterization of Native and n-Alky Bonded Silica Monoliths by Mercury Intrusion/Extrusion, Inverse Size Exclusion Chromatography and Nitrogen Adsorption", Journal of Chromatography A, (2008), in press
- A.M. Kannan, S. Sadananda, D. Parker, L. Munukutla, J. Wertz, M. Thommes "Wire rod coating process of gas diffusion layers fabrication for proton exchange membrane fuel cells", Journal of Power Sources, 178 231(2008)
- C. Bisio, G. Gatti, E. Boccaleri, L. Marchese, G.B. Superti, H.O. Pastore and
M. Thommes, "Understanding physico-chemical properties of saponite synthetic clays", Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 107 90 (2008)
- S. Sant, M. Thommes and P. Hildgen, "Microporous sStructure and drug release kinetics of polymeric nanoparticles", Langmuir 24 280 (2008)
- F. Porcheron, M. Thommes, R. Ahmad and P.A. Monson, "Mercury porosimetry in mesoporous glasses: A comparison of experiments with results from a molecular model", Langmuir, 23 3372 (2007)
- O. Sel, A. Brandt, D. Wallacher, M. Thommes and B. Smarsly," Pore hierarchy in mesoporous silicas evidenced by in-situ SANS during nitrogen physisorption", Langmuir 23 4724 (2007)
- M. Thommes, S. Tanaka and N. Nishyama, "Novel method for the pore size analysis of thin films based on krypton adsorption at liquid argon temperature (87 K)", Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis, 165 551(2007)
- F. Hung, S. Bhattacharya, B. Coasne, M. Thommes and K.E. Gubbins, "Argon and krypton adsorption on templated mesoporous silicas: molecular simulation and experiment", Adsorption, 13 425 (2007)
- F. Kleitz, F. Berube, C-M. Yang and M. Thommes, "Large pore ordered mesoporous silicas materials with 3D cubic la3d Structure: A comprehensive gas adsorption study", Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis 170 1843 (2007)
- A. Zukal, M. Thommes and J. Cejka, "Synthesis of highly ordered MCM-41 silica with spherical particles", Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 104 52 (2007)
- J. Rathousky and M. Thommes, "Adsorption properties and advanced textural characterization of novel micro-mesoporous zeolites", Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis 170 1042 (2007)
- M. Thommes, B. Smarsly, M. Groenewolt, P.I. Ravikovitch and A.V. Neimark, "Adsorption hysteresis of nitrogen and argon in pore networks and characterization of novel micro- and mesoporous silicas", Langmuir 22 756 (2006).
- O. Sel, D. Kuang, M. Thommes and B. Smarsly, "Principles of hierachical meso- and macropore architectures by liquid crystalline and polymer colloid templating", Langmuir 22 2311 (2006)
- H. Li, Y. Sakamoto, H. Li, O. Terasaki, M. Thommes and S. Che, "Synthesis of carbon replicas of SBA-1 and SBA-7 mesoporous silicas", Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 95 193 (2006)
- B. Smarsly, M. Thommes, P. Ravikovitch and A. Neimark, "Characterization of worm-like micro- and mesoporous silicas by small-angle scattering and high-resolution adsorption porosimetry", Adsorption 11 653 (2005)
- F. Porcheron, P.A. Monson and M. Thommes, "Modeling mercury porosimetry using density functional theory", Langmuir 20 6482 (2004)
- J. Jagiello and M. Thommes, "Comparison of DFT characterization methods based on N2, Ar, and CO2 adsorption applied to carbons with various pore size distributions", Carbon 42 1277(2004)
- M. Thommes, R. Koehn and M. Froeba, "Sorption and pore condensation behavior of
pure fluids in mesoporous MCM-48 silica, MCM-41 silica, SBA-15 silica and
controlled-pore glass at temperatures above and below the bulk triple point",
Applied Surface Science, 196 1-4, 239 (2002)
- M. Thommes, R. Köhn and M. Fröba, "Sorption and pore condensation behavior
of nitrogen, argon and krypton in mesoporous MCM-48 silica materials", J. Phys.
Chem. B 104, 7932 (2000).
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Contact
Dr Thommes can be reached by email at matthias.thommes@quantachrome.com
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