MCEC Member Prof. Marjolein Dijkstra (UU) has been granted an ERC Advanced Grant. This is the highest research grant of the European Research Council, annually granted to exceptional and trailblazing senior researchers. Prof. Dijkstra will receive 2.5 million euros for her project Rational Design of Soft Hierarchical Materials with Responsive Functionalities: Machine learning Soft Matter to create Soft Machines.

More information about the project can be found on the website of Utrecht University.

 

 

 

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30 March 2020

MCEC Researchers from Utrecht University Bert Weckhuysen (co-applicant a.o. Florian Meirer) and Alfons van Blaaderen (co-applicant a.o. Laura Filion) have received an ‘NWO ENW Groot’ grant.

With these grants, the NWO domain Science stimulates curiosity-driven, non-programmed fundamental research. Grants within the NWO Open Competition ENW Groot program are intended for consortia in which research groups create added value through collaboration.

More details about the two projects:

Nanoplastics: Origin, Structure and Fate
Prof B.M. Weckhuysen, Utrecht University
Troubling images, showcasing the large amount of plastic litter that contaminates our waters and threatens wildlife, have become a regular focus of the popular media. Not everyone realizes that we cannot account for a very large fraction of the plastic that escapes into the ocean. A significant portion of this “missing plastic” is hypothesized to result from the degradation of plastics and are named nanoplastics. A multidisciplinary team will now use a breakthrough approach to investigate the formation, presence, and distribution of nanoplastics in aquatic environments. They will study size, structure, and composition of nanoplastics, their transport across the ocean, as well as their interplay with and impact on the Earth’s aquatic microbiome. The reactivity of nanoplastics will also be assessed, allowing to investigate potential degradation pathways, including those involving microbial interactions.

Self-Assembled Icosahedral Photonic Quasicrystals with a Band Gap for Visible Light
Prof A. van Blaaderen, Utrecht University
Photonic crystals are important for many research areas and applications because they enhance the interaction of light with matter in an unprecedented way. Here we plan to make both periodic and quasi-periodic photonic crystals by using colloidal self-assembly, an inherently scalable and inexpensive approach. These crystals will have a so-called photonic bandgap for visible light, the equivalent of an electronic bandgap for electrons. The study of such structures, and how they can influence light, will not only provide new fundamental knowledge about quasicrystals but will also have applications in e.g. data manipulation, lighting, sensing and photocatalysis.

More information about the NWO ENW Groot Grant can be found in the pressrelease.

On Friday January 24, the first ever joint doctorate degree of the MCEC Research Center was granted to Jeroen Vollenbroek. Jeroen Vollenbroek received his PhD degree from both University of Twente and Utrecht University.

Collaboration
The PhD thesis of Jeroen Vollenbroek proofed a fine marriage between microreactor technology and catalysis. Each chapter is based on the collaboration between Prof. Albert van den Berg from the BIOS Lab-on-a-Chip group of the University of Twente and Prof. Bert Weckhuysen from the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group of Utrecht University.

MCEC
The thesis was realized in collaboration with Anne-Eva Nieuwelink (UU) who, like Jeroen Vollenbroek, conducts research at the Netherlands Center for Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversion (MCEC).

Microreactor Technology and Catalysis
Jeroen Vollenbroek: ‘The aim of the thesis was to develop microreactors using droplet microfluidics for the high-throughput screening of single catalyst microparticles. Together with Anne-Eva (Nieuwelink) we developed microreactors in which catalyst particles can be screened for their catalytic activity and the most active particles can be sorted out.’

Please find more information about the thesis of Jeroen Vollenbroek, entitled ‘Microreactors for single catalyst particle diagnostics – Measuring catalytic activity at high-throughput in multi-phase flows‘, on the website of University of Twente.

 

 

 

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30 Jan. 2020

 

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17 December 2019

Dear MCEC Member,

In our latest MCEC Newsletter you can read about:

• MCEC School 2021 Recap
• Catalysis Connected Save The Date: 15-16 September 2022
• NWO Stairway to Impact Award for David Fernandez Rivas (UT)
• Valerii Muravev (TU/e) obtained his PhD cum laude
• MCEC Lecture Series: What’s Next?
• MCEC Publications

Get in touch with us on LinkedIn!

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MCEC School 2021 Recap

This year, we were lucky the MCEC school was a live event again! Although the event was originally planned in Apeldoorn, last-minute changes caused a change in location, and we all enjoyed the nice countryside of Zwolle.

During this week, we could enjoy very nice and diverse lectures related to chemical and physical science, statistics, machine learning and data visualization. In between there was enough time to catch up or learn to know the new members.

The PhD teaches PhD session illustrated nicely how we can relatively easily learn from each other, and it also revealed that together we have a high knowledge density in complex chemistry and physics.

Two social activities, a pubquiz and karaoke on Monday evening and sport event on Wednesday afternoon, were organized by the C-team and showed the competitive sides of each and every one. Concluding, this week showed that the MCEC community is diverse, inspiring and fun, which perfectly reflects how we visualize modern science.

Text: Jim de Ruiter (UU)
Photos: Anne-Eva Nieuwelink

See more photos

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Catalysis Connected Save The Date: 15-16 September 2022

With this new date, we hope to put on an exciting conference, with great speakers and the opportunity to provide you, our guests, with the best scientific content you could wish for in two days.

We are all looking forward to having a great real-life edition of Catalysis Connected on 15-16 September 2022!

Team Catalysis Connected

Visit catalysisconnected.nl for more information.

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NWO Stairway to Impact Award for David Fernandez Rivas (UT)

MCEC Member David Fernandez Rivas has received the Stairway to Impact Award. The award is one of five prizes that the NWO domain Science (ENW) presents this week to scientists who are an inspiration in the area of societal impact, team science, excellent science, diversity and communication.

David is an adjunct professor in the Mesoscale Chemical Systems (MCS) department of the Science & Technology (ST) faculty at the University of Twente. He is mainly known for the development of an injection technique that reduces needle usage, by making the fluid itself the needle: it is ‘shot’ through the epidermis at high speed. Earlier this year, David also received the prestigious Prins Friso Ingenieursprijs Engineer of 2021, granted by the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers for his work on bubbles for practical uses.

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Every noble metal atom counts in exhaust catalysts – Valerii Muravev (TU/e) obtained his PhD cum laude

Modern society heavily relies on transportation. The internal combustion engines that power most vehicles emit gaseous pollutants that are harmful to human health and to the environment. Catalytic removal of toxic carbon monoxide (CO) from exhaust fumes is typically done with expensive noble metals as one of the key components of automotive catalytic convertors. For his PhD research, Valerii Muravev explored ways to improve the efficiency of costly catalysts by optimising the use of noble metals in convertors. Muravev recevied his PhD cum laude on November 26th 2021, many congratulations!

Read the article.

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MCEC Lecture Series: What’s Next?

The purpose of this MCEC Lecture Series is to show our PhD candidates what the possibilities are after completing their PhD.

Upcoming lectures:
– January 2022: Ivan Devic – Software Engineer at Ericsson
– March 3 2022: Evgeny Uslamin – Start-up: CyberHydra

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MCEC Publications

Have a look at the latest MCEC Publications (September – December 2021).

High-throughput activity screening and sorting of single catalyst particles with a droplet microreactor using dielectrophoresis

Anne-Eva Nieuwelink, Jeroen C. Vollenbroek, Roald M. Tiggelaar, Johan G. Bomer, Albert van den Berg, Mathieu Odijk and Bert M. Weckhuysen

See the publication: Nature Catalysis, 9 December 2021, DOI 10.1038/s41929-021-00718-7

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Detection of Spontaneous FeOOH Formation at the Hematite/Ni(Fe)OOH Interface during Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting by Operando X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy

Ismail A.S.M, Garcia-Torregrosa I., Vollenbroek J.C., Folkertsma L., Bomer J.G., Haarman T., Ghiasi M., Schellhorn M., Nachtegaal M., Odijk M., van den Berg A., Weckhuysen B.M.

See the publication: ACS Catalysis Volume 11, Issue 19, Pages 12324 – 123351 October 2021

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Towards controlled bubble nucleation in microreactors for enhanced mass transport

Ripken R.M.,Wood J.A., Schlautmann S., Günther A., Gardeniers H.J.G.E., Le Gac S.

See the publication: Reaction Chemistry and Engineering Open Access Volume 6, Issue 10, Pages 1869 – 1877 October 2021

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Copper sulfide derived nanoparticles supported on carbon for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide

van Oversteeg C.H.M., Tapia Rosales M., Helfferich K.H. ,Ghiasi M., Meeldijk J.D., Firet N.J., Ngene P., de Mello Donegá C., de Jongh P.E.

See the publication: Catalysis Today Open Access Volume 377, Pages 157 – 1651 October 2021

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Understanding Water-Zeolite Interactions: On the Accuracy of Density Functionals

Stanciakova K., Louwen J.N., Weckhuysen B.M., Bulo R.E., Göltl F.

See the publication: Journal of Physical Chemistry C Volume 125, Issue 37, Pages 20261 – 2027423 September 2021

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Ni-In Synergy in CO₂Hydrogenation to Methanol

Zhu J., Cannizzaro F., Liu L., Zhang H., Kosinov N., Filot I.A.W., Rabeah J., Brückner A., Hensen E.J.M.

See the publication: ACS Catalysis Open Access Volume 11, Issue 18, Pages 11371 – 1138417 September 2021

 

 

 

 

Not electric, not hydrogen, but iron! According to Prof. Niels Deen (TU/e) this is the alternative to sustainable driving. In his lecture on ‘Universiteit van Nederland‘ he explains how rusty iron can help us to obtain a constant supply of energy:

 

 

 

 

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20 November 2019

Prof. Bert Weckhuysen (UU) received this year’s highest award from the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung. He visited the Mülheim Institute from 28 to 30 October to give three lectures, receive his award and be available to the scientists for exchange. Bert Weckhuysen has been honored for his outstanding achievements in the field of operando characterization of catalysts.

Read more about the Karl-Ziegler Guest Professorship.

 

 

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29 October 2019

Chemist Andries Meijerink will receive the KNAW Gilles Holst Medal this year. Meijerink has been awarded the medal for modelling, making and characterising new luminous materials that improve the efficiency of lighting and solar cells.

Andries Meijerink, Professor of Solid State Chemistry at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science and MCEC member at Utrecht University, is an internationally renowned expert in the design, composition and understanding of materials that emit light. His research is crucial for the transition to a sustainable society in which efficient lighting and the conversion of sunlight into electricity will play a pivotal role.

 

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11 October 2019

Dear MCEC Member,

Please have a look at the brand new MCEC PowerPoint Template. Let us know what you think of the new design. In our latest MCEC Newsletter you can read about:

• Upcoming Events
• MCEC Lecture series
• Update: MCEC Demonstrator Videos
• Dr. Stijn Hinterding (UU) successfully defended his thesis
• Freddy Rabouw (UU) receives VIDI-grant
• New MCEC PowerPoint Template Design
• MCEC Publications

Get in touch with us on LinkedIn!

Read more

David Fernández Rivas has been awarded the ERC Starting Grant. The MCEC member from University of Twente received the maximum amount of € 1.5 million for his project focused on the development of needle-free injections, or: ‘bubble gun’, as the technology is based on ‘pushing’ liquid into the skin using laser-made bubbles.

David Fernández is a great advocate of societal benefit of scientific research. He’s ensuring its deployment into society on three topics: cavitation, renewable energy, and process intensification through microfluidics. Since 2014 he has focused on biomedical projects.

What is it exactly that fascinates you about the biomedical implementation?
It’s all about the challenge. First you have the technical factor: A lot of researchers before me have tried to study this difficult topic. The big question is, can I make it work? Then there’s the human factor. Successful implementation will only be possible if we can deal with all the variables of the human body. In contradiction to the work we do in a lab, the circumstances can change instantly and unpredictably.

A €1.5 million ERC Starting grant, what will you do with it?
Such a grant can be spend in many ways. Depending on the type of research you do, your location, whether or not you do a lot of experimental work. You have to factor in the salary of people who are working on the project, the equipment and the experiments.
For this specific project we will be looking to work with three PhD students and one PD. The aim is to assemble a multi-disciplinary team that covers the fields of micro-fluidics, physics and bio-engineering. For me, it is a great opportunity to learn to work on a longer running project. Now I can apply all the experiences that I’ve gained during my time as PD and assistant professor with other professors.

What would be your biggest take-away for any aspiring MCEC PD or PhD that may think of taking a next step in academia?
My advice would be: Do not stop when you’re afraid that your research idea is not good enough. With time your idea will become better. How? By pitching your idea to many colleagues. Your ideas will improve, your research will become more focused. Peer reviewers will get familiar with your work . It’s not a miracle. Of course, luck plays a part. But it’s also about putting in the hard work and continuously improving your ideas.

Read more about the ‘Bubble Gun’-project, the ERC Starting Grant and see the vacancies of the project.

 

 

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6 September 2019