Energy technology is an interdisciplinary engineering science dealing with with the extraction, conversion, transportation, storage and use of energy, targeted towards yielding high efficiency whilst abating side effects on humans, nature and the environment. The approach is to combine advanced experimental, analytical and numerical techniques to investigate fundamental topics in heat transfer. In this way the research also contributes to the educational program of the mechanical engineering department. The research is concentrated on two topics:

Microscale interface processes, where the system length scale is typically smaller than the length scale of the transport process over the considered interface. Applications are electrokinetic flows, micromixing, membrane technology, electronics cooling, condensation phenomena in (natural) gases, and hemodialysis. We also study fracture initiation and propagation in porous media and interfacial aspects of ionized porous media.

Small-scale renewable energy systems, addressing the energy system as a whole rather than the individual process. Two renewable examples are hybrid PhotoVoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) systems and Heat Storage Systems. Also thermochemical treatment of biomass is investigated. On the smallest scales the physical processes are studied by coupling Molecular Dynamics analysis with a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo model.