Dr. Hans-Jürgen Butt is a world-renowned physical chemist and leading authority in interfacial science whose pioneering work has fundamentally transformed our understanding of surface phenomena and soft matter behavior. He currently serves as Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz where he leads the Department of Experimental Physics of Interfaces. Born in Hamburg in 1961, he received his physics education at the Universities of Hamburg and Göttingen, completing his diploma with a thesis on high energy physics in 1986. Following doctoral studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt where he earned his PhD in 1989, he conducted influential postdoctoral research with Paul Hansma at the University of California Santa Barbara, becoming one of the early adopters of atomic force microscopy technology.
Dr. Butt's groundbreaking research on the structure and dynamics of soft matter interfaces has established new paradigms for understanding wetting phenomena, surface forces, and interfacial behavior of complex fluids. His seminal investigations into contact angle hysteresis and superamphiphobic surfaces have provided fundamental insights with far-reaching implications across multiple disciplines, earning him over 59,000 citations according to Google Scholar. His laboratory systematically explores liquids with internal structures at varying length scales including polymer melts, solutions, dispersions, and emulsions employing an innovative suite of techniques such as scanning probe microscopies, confocal microscopy, and X-ray scattering analysis. This rigorous approach has enabled quantitative descriptions of interfacial phenomena that bridge theoretical frameworks with experimental observations transforming how scientists conceptualize and manipulate surface interactions.
As head of the German Colloid Society, Dr. Butt has played a pivotal role in fostering international collaboration and advancing the field of colloid and interface science across Europe and beyond. His department continues to develop novel methodologies that expand the accessible range of length and time scales for interfacial investigations maintaining its position at the forefront of experimental innovation. Dr. Butt's research maintains a careful balance between fundamental scientific inquiry and practical applications with implications for fields ranging from self-cleaning surfaces to advanced coating technologies. His ongoing work on photoresponsive materials confined polymer and water systems and slide electrification effects promises to further deepen our understanding of interfacial phenomena while opening new pathways for technological innovation in materials science and engineering.
