Simulation of Electrochemical Processes

The group is active in modeling and simulating electrochemical processes including related gas-evolution at different length scales by different numerical tools.

Current Topics

• gas evolution in electrolysis processes
• wetting phenomena of bubbles and droplets at solid surfaces
• bubble colaescence and bubbles in shear flows
• Euler-Euler modeling of electrochemical processes (in cooperation with FWDC)
• nanoscale modeling of nucleation and nanobubble dynamics
• electrochemical deposition of metal under control of magnetic field

Funded Projects

• capillary and electrical effects on gas evolution in electrolysis (project MADAGAS)
• nucleation, growth, departure, coalescence of gas bubbles in electrochemical processes (project SineWave/OxySep)
• Euler-Euler modeling of alkaline electrolysis (project ALKALIMIT)
• electrodeposition of metal towards nano-structured surfaces (project NanoCones)

Team

• Dr. Gerd Mutschke (Group Leader)
• Dr. Yifan Han
• Dr. Mengyuan Huang

Former group members:

• Dr. Sahil Hossain

Recent Publications

• Y. Han, G. Mutschke, K. Eckert, A geometric interpolation scheme for applying dynamic wetting to three-dimensional VOF simulations. Journal of Computational Physics 561 (2026) 114969.
• M. Huang, Ming Xu, Yifan Han, Xianren Zhang, Martin Rudolph, Kerstin Eckert, Gerd Mutschke; Numerical simulation of surface bubble growth nucleating at micro-cavities, Chem. Eng. Sci. 321 (2026) 122856.
• Zhenlei Wang, Hao Jiang, Mengkai Qin, Mengyuan Huang, Gerd Mutschke, Yawei Liu; Computational Insights of Bubble Evolutions in Water Electrolysis, Sustainable Chemistry for Energy Materials 2 (2025) 100025.
• Y. Han, M. Huang, K. Eckert, G. Mutschke, Numerical method of oversaturation-driven bubble growth on solid surfaces with dynamic wetting, Int. J. Multiphase Flow 192 (2025) 105343.
• Hannes Rox, Fabian Ränke, Lis Geraldine Zschach, Xuegeng Yang, Gerd Mutschke, Kerstin Eckert, Andrés Fabián Lasagni, and Robert Baumann, Dual wetting electrode surfaces for alkaline wa-ter electrolysis, J. Hydrogen Energy 149 (2025) 149928.
• A. Babich, A. Bashkatov, M. Eftekhari, X. Yang, G. Mutschke and K. Eckert; Solutal Marangoni Convection at Growing Oxygen Bubbles during Water Electrolysis, Phys. Rev. Research, 7 (2025), 023189.
• M. Wojnicki, X. Yang, P. Zabinski, G. Mutschke, Enhanced mixing in microflow systems by magnetic fields - experimental and numerical analysis; Micromachines 16 (2025) 422, doi:10.3390/mi16040422.
• M. Huang, C. Sun, K. Eckert, X. Zhang, G. Mutschke; Dynamic equilibrium states of electrochemical bubble growth at microelectrodes; Journal of Fluid Mechanics 1011 (2025) A23.
• A. Bashkatov, F. Bürkle, Ç. Demirkır, W. Ding, V. Sanjay, A. Babich, X. Yang, G. Mutschke, J. Czarske, D. Lohse, D. Krug, L. Büttner and K. Eckert, Electrolyte spraying within H2 bubbles during water electrolysis, Nature Communications (2025) 16:4580.
• F. Sgarbi Stabellini, A. Singh, I. Soldatov, R. Schäfer, M. Huang, G. Mutschke, V. Neu, A. Gebert, K. Leistner, Downscaling magnetic field gradients for structured copper magnetoelectrodeposition on the micrometer scale, Electrochim. Acta, 2025, 10.1016/j.electacta.2025.145994
• M. Huang, L. Krause, X. Yang, K. Eckert, G. Mutschke; Magnetohydrodynamic effect during electro-deposition at conically structured electrodes; Physics of Fluids 37 (2025) 037188.
• Alexander Babich, Aleksandr Bashkatov, Milad Eftekhari, Xuegeng Yang, Peter Strasser, Gerd Mutschke and Kerstin Eckert; Oxygen vs. Hydrogen Bubble Dynamics During Water Electrolysis at μ-Electrodes; PRX Energy 4 (2025) 013011.
• Rox, Hannes; Ränke, Fabian; Mädler, Jonathan; Marzec, Mateusz; Sokołowski, Krystian; Baumann, Robert; Hamedi, Homa; Yang, Xuegeng; Mutschke, Gerd; Urbas, Leon; Lasagni, Andrés Fabián; Eck-ert, Kerstin: Boosting electrode performance and bubble management via Direct Laser Interference Patterning, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 17(2025)9364-9377.
• M. Xu, M. Huang, Y. Han, X. Yang, G. Mutschke, K. Eckert; Dynamics of air bubbles growing at a microcavity of functionalized silicon surfaces in an oversaturated solution, J. Coll. Int. Sci. 683 (2025) 879-899.
• Gerd Mutschke; Magnetic Control of Flow and Mass Transfer in Weakly Conducting Fluids, In: B. Doudin, M. Coey, A.Cēbers (Eds.), Magnetic Microhydrodynamics - An Emerging Research Field, pp. 23-32; Springer, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-58376-6
• G. Mutschke & T. Weier, Directed transfer of liquid metal droplets between electrodes; Nature Chemical Engineering, April 2024, DOI: 10.1038/s44286-024-00046-0.
• H. Zhang, Y. Ma, M. Huang, G. Mutschke, X. Zhang; Solutal Marangoni force controls lateral motion of electrolytic gas bubbles; Soft Matter, 2024, DOI: 10.1039/D3SM01646C.
• Y. Han, A. Bashkatov, K. Eckert, G. Mutschke; Impact of tracer particles on the electrolytic growth of hydrogen bubbles; Phys. Fluids 36 (2024) 012107.
• Y. Ma, M. Huang, G. Mutschke, X. Zhang; Nucleation of surface nanobubbles in electrochemistry: Analysis with nucleation theorem; J. Coll. Int. Sci. 654 (2023) 859-867.
• A. Babich, A. Bashkatov, X. Yang, G. Mutschke, K. Eckert, In-situ measurements of temperature fields and Marangoni convection at hydrogen bubbles using schlieren and PTV techniques, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 215 (2023) 124466.
• M. Huang, N. Weber, G. Mutschke, A simulation framework for electrochemical processes with electrolyte flow, J. Electrochem. Soc. 170 (2023) 073502.
• L. Krause, K. Skibińska, H. Rox, R. Baumann, M.M. Marzec, X. Yang, G. Mutschke, P. Żabiński, A.F. Lasagni, K. Eckert – Hydrogen bubble size distribution on nanostructured Ni surfaces: electrochemically active surface area versus wettability, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 15 (2023) 18290-18299, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c22231
• A. Bashkatov, A. Babich S.S. Hossain, X. Yang, G. Mutschke, K. Eckert; H2 bubble motion reversals during water electrolysis; J. Fluid Mech. 958 (2023) A43.
• M. E. Ivanova, R. Peters, M. Müller, S. Haas, F. Seidler, G. Mutschke, K. Eckert, P. Röse, S. Calnan, R. Bagacki, C. Grosselindemann, L.-A. Schäfer, A. Weber, R. van de Krol, F. Liang, F. F. Abdi, S. Brendelberger, N. Neumann, J. Grobbel, M. Roeb, C. Sattler, I. Duran, B. Dietrich, C. Hofberger, L. Stoppel, N. Uhlenbruck, T. Wetzel, D. Rauner, A. Hecimovic, U. Fantz, N. Kulyk, J. Harting, O. Guillon, Technological Pathways to Produce Compressed and Highly Pure Hydrogen from Solar Power, Angew. Chemie Int. Ed. 2023, e202218850, DOI: 10.1002/anie.202218850
• H. Rox, A. Bashkatov, X. Yang, S. Loos, G. Mutschke, G. Gerbeth, K. Eckert; Bubble size distribution and electrode coverage at porous nickel electrodes in a novel 3-electrode flow-through cell; Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 48 (2023) 2892-2905, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.10.165.