Understanding fast phenomena of fluid transport in porous media using MHz X-ray microscopy

Patrick Huber and Stella Gries from Hamburg University of Technology and DESY are investigating how liquids are distributed in thin layers of porous silicon. He is particularly interested in the capillary forces that cause liquids to rise upwards in small, interconnected tubes, even against gravity. These processes take place so fast that they cannot be detected using standard synchrotron experiments. As silicon is opaque and the pores are highly branched, intense X-rays are needed to analyse it. The results should help to produce new customised materials, for example for energy storage, e.g. as anode material in batteries, or for new methods of energy harvesting through the repeated wetting and drying of nanoporous materials.