Studying surfaces of solid materials: it may not seem relevant to energy consumption, but it is. Marcel Rost studies how platinum electrodes wear out. Those electrodes are a crucial component in the fuel cells of hydrogen-powered cars. ‘We need to make the switch from fossil fuel energy to hydrogen.…

The Leiden Institute of Chemistry actively participates in several national research schools for MSc and PhD students. These schools are consortia that stimulate collaboration between research groups of the different participating Dutch universities. The research schools also offer advanced training…

Dana Rademaker has won the Unilever Research Prize, which she received together with 2,500 euros at the Unilever’s Foods Innovation Centre on 12 December. She received the prize for her master’s thesis, which she wrote last year for the master’s programme Chemistry.

Promotor: H.V.J. Linnartz

Majorana fermions in superconductors are the subgap quasiparticle excitations that are their own antiparticles.

A tenacious postdoc researcher persuaded Professor Marc Koper to research the oxygen reduction reaction. In Koper's eyes, there was little of interest there. But they promptly discovered a whole new way to improve fuel cells on hydrogen and oxygen. Their article appeared in Nature Catalysis on 07 Ju…

This dissertation combines the use of defined microenvironments, high-resolution fluorescence microscopy, and time-resolved analysis, to study intracellular and cellular motility.

Lecture

Promotor: Prof.dr. T. Hankemeier, Prof.dr. J.C.T. Eijkel (Twente University)

Professor Marc Koper researches how you can use electrical energy to make or break chemical bonds. He has just been awarded a Spinoza Prize, the Netherlands’ highest personal science award, for his fundamental research into how this form of electrolysis works.

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. A. Bouwstra, Prof.dr. W. Jiskoot

Lecture

Metals surfaces form a group of effective catalysts for the reaction of small molecules such as hydrogen (H2).

Eleven researchers of the Faculty of Science are on the 2021 Highly Cited Researchers list of Clarivate Analytics. Only 0.1 per cent of researchers are included in this list, literally making them one in a thousand.

Lecture

Storing energy is one of the biggest challenges in the energy transition. Hydrogen could be a solution. Chemist Daan den Boer is researching how to make the chemical reaction needed to store energy in hydrogen as cheap and efficient as possible.

PhD defence

Lecture

Metal-containing molecules combine geometrical features and a reactivity that are inherently different from that of organic molecules. My research focuses on light-activatable metal-based anticancer drugs and metal-functionalized liposomes. Light is a very selective way to activate photosensitive drugs…

On International Women’s Day 2020, the first edition of the Leiden Top 50 was revealed, a list of 50 women who made a difference in Leiden in 2019. Among them three women from our Faculty: Martina Vijver, Felienne Hermans and Irene Groot.

Lecture

Current electrochemical theory does not adequately describe realistic platinum electrodes. Scientists at Leiden University have now, for the first time, mapped the influence of imperfect platinum surfaces. This provides a more accurate picture of these electrodes, with applications in hydrogen production…

The research group headed by Leiden chemist Marc Koper has discovered a catalyst that minimizes the production of chlorine gas during salt water electrolysis. The invention can enable the direct production of hydrogen from seawater. The article has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical…

Greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and fertilizers in the groundwater have negative consequences for our environment. With an electrochemical process they can be transformed to more valuable and useful substances like fuel and alcohol. Chemistry PhD candidate Elena Perez Gallent discovered how this…

Research of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry into the development of a sustainable fuel cell has accidentally resulted in an exceptionally efficient catalyst for the production of hydrogen peroxide. The catalyst, discovered by Dennis Hetterscheid and PhD candidate Michiel Langerman, may lead to a more…

The Dick Stufkens Prize 2019 for the best PhD thesis of the Holland Research School of Molecular Chemistry (HRSMC) will be awarded to Thom Hersbach. In his thesis, Hersbach presents a thorough analysis of cathodic corrosion. His comprehensive research, on which he graduated with the distinction cum…

Roll-up solar panels, bendable phone displays, or better computer chips… The EU project STIBNITE investigated the next generation of semiconductors, made from organic materials based on carbon, nitrogen, and boron. The project has now concluded. During the Open Science Debate on 1 July, the group will…

Using a clever experiment, PhD candidate Shengxiang Yang discovered how gold electrodes convert water into oxygen. He is the first to unravel the mechanism of this reaction. Yang published his results in the journal ACS Catalysis.

Many researchers of the Faculty of Science are members of a research school related to their area of expertise. Research schools aim at collaboration of researchers from different faculties in the same university (interfaculty schools) or in different universities (interuniversity schools).

Those pesky raindrops that get you wet on your way to work, are formed high up in the sky from clouds of water vapour. The process of nucleation describes the way this happens. Edgar Blokhuis of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry developed a theory to describe this transition more precisely. Chemists…

The E2CB programme has been launched to bring CO2 emissions to zero by 2050. The goal: to produce all raw materials for the chemical industry from sustainable sources. Professor of Electrochemistry Marc Koper is involved in the project.

Electrocatalysis will play an increasingly important role in future in the transition to more sustainable energy. Thanks to chemist Isis Ledezma Yanez, we now know more about the hydrogen evolution process. PhD defence on the 9th of June.

A full overview of THEOR PhD theses.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E. Bouwman

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

Platinum is a widely used catalyst, but its precise mechanism largely remains a mystery to scientists. Ludo Juurlink has now demonstrated for the first time how oxygen reacts on the platinum surface. Together with PhD students Kun Cao and Richard van Lent and international colleagues he publishes his…

A common assumption in chemistry is that the coordination number of a catalyst's surface determines the reactivity of the reaction it catalyses. Strikingly, Leiden chemists have now proven that this is not true for nature’s most simple chemical reaction: the dissociation of hydrogen. The researchers…

The research described in this thesis focused on the preparation of S/N functionalized carbene ligands and their transition metal complexes, and the exploration of their application as electrocatalysts for proton reduction.

In this thesis, the researcher developed a nanosystem based on the metallophilic Interaction between cyclometalated complexes.

Promotor: E. Bouwman Co-Promotor: S. Bonnet

Contact Metals in Catalysis, Biomimetics & Inorganic Chemisrty

Photocatalysis has emerged as a powerful tool for enabling challenging transformations in organic synthesis. This thesis explores the development of several photocatalytic reactions designed to form carbon-heteroatom bonds from less-functionalized precursors.

Indonesia is experiencing various environmental challenges related to its fast economic growth. Therefore, it is necessary to have measurable and applicable indicators to obtain accurate data and information regarding the costs of adverse environmental impacts arising from economic activities to support…

A remarkable population of short period transiting rocky exoplanets with equilibrium temperatures on the order of 2,000 K has recently been discovered.

It may well be possible to remove nitrate from polluted groundwater and at the same time produce ammonia in a sustainable way, according to PhD candidate Phebe van Langevelde and Professor Marc Koper of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry in Joule on 26 January. Together with a German colleague, they…

A public symposium was held at Leiden University on 20 February on a hot topic: renewable energy. This is the second time in a year that the University has organised such a symposium. The previous one, about Artificial Intelligence, was a big success.

Lecture

While colloidal aggregates are often undesirable due to their random shapes, we exploit them as a starting point to synthesize patchy particles.

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