Martin Dornheim
The Leverhulme International Professor of Hydrogen Storage Materials and Systems, Faculty of Engineering
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Biography
Martin Dornheim is an internationally recognized leading scientist in the field of hydrogen technology with a special focus on hydrogen storage and compression. Being awarded by the Ernst-Hermann Kölln Foundation for exceptional attainments in mathematics and natural sciences he left high school to study Physics at the University of Hamburg. After finishing his elementary studies in Hamburg he enrolled as a scholarship holder of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation at the University of Göttingen to focus on solid state physics and materials science. In his master thesis he developed an anharmonic bond charge model to simulate the electronic forces in silicon and germanium. By using this model he was able to perform atomistic simulations of stress relaxation by the formation of two dimensional misfit dislocation networks in SiGe semiconductor heterostructures using a simulation cell of 30000 particles which was an extraordinary high number for atomistic simulations at that time. In his doctoral study he investigated the hydrogen uptake in metals, the hydrogen induced strains and stresses in the materials, their stress relaxation and their effect on the physical properties. After his PhD he led the "hydrogen in metals" group at the Institute for Material Physics for one year before moving in 2003 to the GKSS Research Centre Geesthacht, which was later renamed Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht and in 2021 Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon. In 2005, he became head of the Department of Nanotechnology with a focus on the development of hydrogen storage materials. His team discovered, investigated and optimized several new complex hydrides and Reactive Hydride Composites. He initiated and led the development of hydrogen stores and demonstrators in close collaboration with the industry to evaluate the developed materials on a larger scale and in real-size demonstrators. In 2020 he was awarded the "Science of Hydrogen and Energy Award" of the International Symposium of Hydrogen and Energy in Sapporo, Japan. In 2021 he was awarded the Leverhulme International Professorship Award of the Leverhulme Trust. Since 2022 he continues his work as Leverhulme International Professor for Hydrogen Storage Materials and Systems at the University of Nottingham.
Expertise Summary
Hydrogen Technology
Energy Conversion and Storage
Material Science