Books

Soil moisture is a key variable in the water and energy cycles at the atmosphere-land-vegetation interface. Accurate and continuous soil moisture data are essential for many applications, including water resources management, drought monitoring, and agricultural forecasting. [...]

As the world seeks cleaner and more efficient energy solutions, solar power has emerged as a key renewable option. Among the various technologies, III-V multi-junction solar cells absorb an extended range of the solar spectrum and thus achieve the highest conversion efficiencies in photovoltaics today. [...]

Proton-conducting electrolysis cells (PCECs) are critical to sustainable energy technologies, as they enable the production of undiluted hydrogen that can be readily compressed and stored. These cells are essential for establishing a hydrogen economy. [...]

Recently, a novel solid oxide cell was developed for the production of green hydrogen via water electrolysis and electricity from hydrogen respectively. The cell is fuel electrode supported and utilizes a Ni-CGO composite as fuel electrode instead of Ni-YSZ as used in state-of-the-art cells. [...]

As a new class of quantum matter, topological insulators (TIs) have attracted significant attention in the field of condensed matter physics due to their exotic intrinsic physical properties. TIs, which exhibits either two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) topology, are materials that are insulating in the bulk and conducting at the edge or surface. [...]

Thermal loading during on-orbit operations can induce significant structural deformations, which in turn can degrade the performance of optical devices used for scientific analyses. Accurate Structural-Thermal-Optical-Performance (STOP) analyses are therefore vital to predict image quality under coupled thermal and mechanical influences. [...]

The properties of modern nanomaterials are governed by their atomic structure, as well as by electronic interactions at their surfaces and internal interfaces. The present thesis is situated within this contemporary field of research and focuses on the synthesis and analysis of two model systems of functional surface structures. [...]

The European Union acknowledges climate change as an existential threat and is pursuing a growth strategy through the European Green Deal that envisions the development of a resource-efficient and competitive economy while at the same time adhering to climate protection measures [1, 2]. These measures include Europe achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. [...]

Im Kampf gegen die Klimakrise ist der Aufbau treibhausgasneutraler Energie- und Wirtschaftssysteme von zentraler Bedeutung. Fluktuierende erneuerbare Energien, Sektorkopplung und steigender Speicherbedarf führen zu einer erheblichen Zunahme der Systemkomplexität zukünftiger Energiesysteme. [...]

This thesis deals with the 2D material graphene, which has been the subject of intense research in recent years due to its unique properties. The main focus is on different ways to tune the properties of graphene. [...]