Peter Stephan

Prof. Peter Stephan is a Full Professor of Technical Thermodynamics and Director of the Institute for Technical Thermodynamics at Technische Universität Darmstadt. He holds leadership roles in multiple research initiatives, including the Cluster of Excellence 259 (Smart Interfaces), Collaborative Research Centre 1194 (Transport and Wetting Processes), and the Research Field Energy and Environment. Stephan's expertise spans heat and mass transfer, energy conversion, and interfacial transport phenomena.

Education: He earned his Dipl.-Ing. in Mechanical Engineering (1988) from TU München and his Dr.-Ing. from Universität Stuttgart (1992). His professional experience includes roles at Daimler-Benz and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre before joining TU Darmstadt in 1997.

Research focuses on energy systems, boiling/evaporation dynamics, and thermal storage. He leads experimental and numerical studies on nucleate boiling, drop impingement, and interfacial phenomena. His work also addresses sustainable energy solutions, such as hydrogen and iron-based energy carriers.

Editorial roles include Editor-in-Chief of the VDI Heat Atlas and editorial board memberships at journals like Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. He chairs multiple national and international committees, including the VDI-GVC working group on Heat and Mass Transfer.

His research emphasizes bridging microscale phenomena (e.g., microlayer formation) with macroscale applications (e.g., thermal energy storage systems). Recent studies explore exergy optimization in ironmaking and nanofiber-coated surfaces for condensation.