Research
Research
Currently, most catalytic processes entire reactor vessels are heated by burning fossil fuels, resulting in various deactivating side-reactions and little spatial or temporal control over the reaction processes. Preferably, just the catalytic surface where the chemical reactions take place is heated. Locally delivering energy to the catalyst system requires complete redesign of the configuration of a chemical reactor. In this consortium, called CATlight, we introduce the use of light to steer chemical reactions where the catalytically active sites are locally heated by absorption of optical radiation. Our new reactor design is composed of a vessel that is filled with a three dimensional mesh of optical waveguides/fibers that are decorated with plasmonic nano-heaters. Intense light pulses are guided through the 3D network and excite the plasmonic nanoparticles thermally-coupled to catalytic nanoparticles, while reaction gasses are continuously flowing through the vessel. The use of electrically powered optical excitation makes the energy use more sustainable. My work will be on smart assembly, regeneration and scale up of specifically tailored plasmonic/catalytic nanostructures that can be used for thermo-plasmonic photocatalysis.
C.V.
C.V.
2023 – present
PhD candidate at Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis | Utrecht University
Project title: “Smart fabrication of photonic/catalytic ensembles for thermo-plasmonic photocatalysis and light-based sensing” within the CATlight consortium. Promotors: prof. Dr. ir. Bert Weckhuysen and Dr. Eline Hutter, co-promotor: prof. Dr. Erik Garnett
2020-2023
Nanomaterials Science Master | Utrecht University
Thesis: “Water Effects on Heterogeneous Supported Nickel Catalysts and its Performance in the CO2 hydrogenation” under supervision of Dr. Matteo Monai and Angela Melcherts
Internship: “Scalability of Evaporated Perovskite Solar Cells” at Valencia University in the Molecular Opto-Electronic Devices (MOED) group under supervision of prof. Dr. Henk Bolink and Javier Sebastián Alonso
2019-2020
Pre-master chemistry | Utrecht University
2015-2019
Applied Science Bachelor, Chemistry | Zuyd Hogeschool
Internship: “Plasmon Mediated Suzuki Coupling” at TNO, Eindhoven under supervision of Dr. Francesc Sastre and Nicole Meulendijks
Research minor: “Towards a proof of principle on the controlled ring expansion of cyclic polystyrene” at Dispoltec, Chemelot Campus under supervision of Dr. Evelien Baeten and Stefan Beckers
Thesis: “Novel Ru Catalysts for Photo Methanation of CO2” at Brightlands Materials Center, Chemelot Campus under supervision of prof. Dr. Pascal Buskens and Ryan van Zandvoort