M.T.M. Koper, Co-promotor: D.G.H. Hetterscheid

In this thesis we have discussed several parameters that affect the electrochemical conversion of enviromentaly harmful molecules such as nitrates and carbon dioxide to more valuable and less deleterious compounds, in order to cast light onto the mechanism of the reaction to achieve an efficient and…

Promotor: W. Jiskoot, Co-promotor: H.A. Every

Twenty years from now, the world population is estimated to be around 8.7 billion people, compared to the current 7.3 billion. In combination with the improvements in living standards and the corresponding growth in consumption, this will result in an enormous increase in the demand for food, consumables,…

With the energy transition toward a renewable energy supply and a CO2-neutral economy, electrification of the energy system is rising in importance, which leads to the challenge of long-term storage of renewable electricity.

This work describes several studies into the electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR), both regarding mechanistical aspects and catalyst stability considerations. Mechanistic insights into carbon-carbon bond formation on a silver catalyst are described in Ch 2, were we find an acetaldehyde-like surface…

Heterogeneous catalysis is essential to many industrial applications. These catalysts are often comprised of supported nanoparticles, which contain various different surface sites.

Although seen as the fastest and cheapest way to global climate protection, a uniform global carbon price would have major consequences for the economic competitiveness of countries. Hauke Ward, who recently joined Leiden University, showed in the journal Energy Economics that modern western countries…

Promotor: H.W. Lenstra

The James Webb Space Telescope has found evidence of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere of a giant planet 700 light years away. This result provides insight into the composition and formation of this gas giant and shows what James Webb is capable of. The research by the international group of astronomers,…

Promotor: M.T.M. Koper, Co-Promotor: L.B.F. Juurlink

How the global distribution of vegetation stands dominated by arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal plants relate to principle aspects of belowground carbon accumulation processes?

Research at the Catalysis and Surface Chemistry group is comprised of the following research themes:

Low-carbon (LE) technologies have a significant potential to reduce the total carbon emissions in China.

Effectiveness and Side-effects.

Marc Koper’s research focuses on electrocatalysis and electrochemical surface science for sustainable energy and chemistry. Reactions of interest are the redox reactions of the oxygen/hydrogen cycle (water oxidation, hydrogen evolution), the carbon cycle (reduction of carbon dioxide, oxidation of small…

A full overview of CASC PhD theses.

Before the large scale use of renewable energy sources can be implemented in our society, the storage of electrical energy needs to be tackled. Storage the energy as hydrogen via the reduction of protons is a good option.

In this thesis, we consider various (electro)chemical phenomena at surfaces and nanoparticles and their underlying atomistic processes, which we studied using first-principles methods such as density functional theory.

Autopaghy is an intracellular degradation system which targets cytosolic components to lytic compartments for degradation and recycling of the building blocks of the cell.

How can rare and expensive materials be used more efficiently to produce cleaner and cheaper fuel? Under the guidance of Marc Koper, Professor of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry, international teams of scientists have published 3 articles in Nature Communications.

Harm reduction in practice: a comparative analysis of the Dutch and Brazilian approach towards drug users.

Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. T.H. Oosterkamp, N. de Jonge

This thesis has shed light on some of the ways in which the local electrolyte composition can differ from the bulk and how these changes in the local reaction environment can determine the activity and/or selectivity of two important electrocatalytic reactions, namely, electrochemical CO2 reduction…

Can we use indigenous microbial rice communities to reduce methane production in agricultural settings?

Almost 100 billion tons of CO₂ could be pulled out of the atmosphere by the end of the century. That is, if high-income countries switch to a plant-based diet. The double carbon profit of returning farmland to its natural state would equal about 14 years’ worth of agricultural emissions, researchers…

In this study, we evaluated the influence of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) spray drying conditions, in the absence of organic solvent, on the ability to produce dry protein/trehalose formulations at 1:10 and 1:4 (w/w) ratios.

This thesis focuses on the synthesis, characterization and performance towards CO2 electroreduction of mono and bi-metallic particles based on p-block metals

The electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an essential half-reaction for the utilization of hydrogen as a sustainable fuel, via the conversion of hydrogen to electrons and protons facilitated by the ORR. In the most common fuel cells, the ORR is requires high loadings of non-abundant platinum…

The goal is to reduce single use coffee cup use both at the university cafés and cofee machines.

Bicarbonate buffer is largely found in nature due to its ability to regulate pH variations around neutral values. As the pH changes, so does the speciation of the buffer.

Promotor: M.T.M. Koper, Co-promotors: A.I. Yanson, L.B.F. Juurlink

Promotor: S.J. Edixhoven, A. Iovita

Science, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL)

This dissertation provides a formal description of the relationship between diatopic/diachronic micro-variation and phonologization through analysis of the phonetic/phonological properties of unstressed vowel reduction and vowel insertion in two Northern Italian dialects.

Promotor: Prof.dr. A. Achucarro

This thesis studied in depth the energy use and CO2 emissions of the industrial sector in China.

Artificial photosynthesis has recognised potential to produce green and sustainable fuels from earth-abundant resources such as water, carbon dioxide (CO2), and sunlight.

The Low Frequency Array enables studies of low-frequency carbon radio recombination lines with unprecedented sensitivity, spectral and spatial resolution.

Human civilization consumes a huge amount of fossil fuels, which has resulted in an atmospheric CO2 level which has not been higher in over 800 millennia.

We report new computational and experimental evidence of an efficient and astrochemically relevant formation route to formaldehyde (H2CO). This simplest carbonylic compound is central to the formation of complex organics in cold interstellar clouds and is generally regarded to be formed by the hydrogenation…

Chapter 1,contains the numerical verification of the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture for hundreds of Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves of genus 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Research at the MCBIM group is comprised of the following research themes:

The mechanism of the electrochemical reduction of dioxygen by a mononuclear pyridylalkylamine copper complex was investigated (see picture). It was shown that in neutral aqueous solution dioxygen undergoes stepwise reduction, wherein hydrogen peroxide plays a key role. The rate constants determined…

Metal complexes and 2D materials like graphene were combined to produce structures that can function as sensors.

Neanderthals at Pech-de-l'Azé I in South Western France had a striking use for manganese dioxide 50,000 years ago.

The focus throughout this thesis will be on gathering fundamental studies of the detailed structure and composition of the electrode/electrolyte interface effect on the rate and mechanism of key electrocatalytic reactions.

Fearing a trade-off with economic growth, countries feel discouraged to cut their CO2 emissions. But do the two really not go together? Environmental scientist Ranran Wang and her colleagues investigated the relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions in 73 countries from 1970 to 2016. Wang:…