Desktop studies

Do you have a question but you don’t have acces to the right data? You need a fact-based report to back up a business case? You want to review the state-of-the art of a given technology? All of this is possible. Our researchers have different backgrounds ranging from very fundamental to very applied. With our background in (bioscience) engineering, we are usually able to assist in all studies concerning the environment (pollution, emissions, purification technologies,…) and energy (hydrogen economy, solar energy,…).

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Experimental Measurements

Activity testing

If you have a photoactive material (powder, coating, composite,…) and you want to have it tested, we can perform the following testing methodologies:

• Self-cleaning – Oleic acid (ISO 27448:2009)
• Anti-bacterial – E. coli and S. aureus (ISO 27447:2019)
• Air Purification – Acetaldehyde (ISO 22197-2:2019)
• Air Purification – NOx (ISO 22197-1:2016)
• Water purification – Methylene Blue (ISO 10678:2010)
• Customized: If you have a dedicated question or problem that is not covered by one of the ISO-standard protocols above, don’t hesitate to ask. We are good at problem-solving and have built various customized reactors and setups, and developed several alternative testing methodologies in-house. I’m sure we will be able to help!

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Material Modification and Coating

Photo(electro)catalyst synthesis and processing is an important aspect of our research activities. If you want to functionalize your materials or substrates with a photo-active layer, we can be of assistance. Next to our own (patented) coating development (e.g. PCT/EP2018/079983), we also have all basic equipment available, ranging from homogeneous spin coating of small samples, to dip coating of larger surfaces.

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Experimental Characterization Techniques

The following characterization tools for photo(electro)catalytic materials are available in our lab:

• UV-VIS spectroscopy (Shimadzu)
• Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Shimadzu)
• FTIR spectroscopy (Transmission, Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR), and even in-situ) (Thermo-Fisher)
• Absolute Irradiance measurements (Avantes Avaspec)
• Nitrogen sorption/desorption for determining specific surface area and pore size distribution (Micromeritics)
• Dynamic viscosity measurements (Brookfield)
• Stylus profilometry for determining coating/thin film step height and surface roughness up to 0,1 nm (Bruker)
• Photoluminescence spectroscopy (Shimadzu)
• Contact angle measurement

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Modelling Studies

Using Finite Element Methods (FEM) we theoretically predict the optical (spectral), field-enhancement and photothermal behavior of various materials and nanostructures upon illumination. Check out these publications as an illustration:

Ex. 1: Silver-Gold Bimetallic Alloy versus Core-Shell Nanoparticles: Implications for Plasmonic Enhancement and Photothermal Applications

Ex. 2: Coupled Plasmon Modes in 2D Gold Nanoparticle Clusters and their Effect on Local Temperature Control

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