Our research facilities

We always welcome visitors to show our labs and research facilities. Get in touch with our team and see how we can collaborate. Our lab has the following infrastructure:

  • Experimental reactors for photo(thermal) catalysis
  • Highly tunable, high-energy (ultra)fast pulsed lasers
  • Gas-phase MS and GC-MS for reaction product analysis
  • COMSOL and Lumerical FDTD simulations
  • Nanofabrication facilities
Photoreactor setup in the lab

Photoreactors

We have two gas-phase micropocket reactors for heterogeneous catalysis. These are outfitted with mass-flow controllers, thermostats, and light in- and outcoupling. For chemical identification we use operando mass spectrometry (MS) or gas chromatography with various detectors (FID, TCD, MS). We can also perform operando Raman or UV-Vis spectroscopy.

The unique aspect of these reactors is their high sensitivity. This allows us to measure signals from two-dimensional (flat) catalyst assemblies, where catalyst quantities of less than 1 μg can be probed.

Tunable ultrafast lasers

To power our chemistry and to detect photophysical dynamics, we use several (ultra)fast laser systems. They are highly tunable in pulse energy (up to 2 mJ), pulse length (200 fs to 350 ns), and repetition rate (single shot to MHz).

One of the lasers also drives a transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy setup, which we built together with the group of Charusheela Ramanan, an expert in TA spectroscopy. This allows us to investigate the physical mechanisms in our nanophotonic systems.

Simulations

We use Lumerical FDTD and COMSOL Multiphysics for optical simulations of our nanophotonic and plasmonic systems. We optimize the geometry of individual nanoparticles, and their arrangement into assemblies and arrays, with Bayesian optimization (BO) algorithms. We also simulate heat transfer, fluid flow, and flow in porous media in COMSOL. Finally, we use COMSOL for microkinetic simulations of chemical reactions.

Learn more about the scientific questions we address with these simulations on our projects page. We are always open to collaborate if you need simulations.

Nanofabrication and characterization

Our labs in the PhotoConversion Materials section have in-house equipment for sputter coating, thermal evaporation, and reactive ion etching, which allows nanofabrication based on colloidal lithography. We characterize our materials with AFM, XRD, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, integrating-sphere UV-Vis spectroscopy, and dark-field scattering microscopy (with the group of Andrea Baldi).

Additional fabrication and characterization techniques, such as SEM, TEM, and e-beam lithography, are available in the nearby NanoLabNL facilities at AMOLF.

Interested in a collaboration or a lab visit?

Contact us and plan your visit