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Author Khalilov, U.; Bogaerts, A.; Neyts, E.C. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Atomic scale simulation of carbon nanotube nucleation from hydrocarbon precursors Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2015 Publication Nature communications Abbreviated Journal Nat Commun  
  Volume 6 Issue 6 Pages 10306  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Atomic scale simulations of the nucleation and growth of carbon nanotubes is essential for understanding their growth mechanism. In spite of over twenty years of simulation efforts in this area, limited progress has so far been made on addressing the role of the hydrocarbon growth precursor. Here we report on atomic scale simulations of cap nucleation of single-walled carbon nanotubes from hydrocarbon precursors. The presented mechanism emphasizes the important role of hydrogen in the nucleation process, and is discussed in relation to previously presented mechanisms. In particular, the role of hydrogen in the appearance of unstable carbon structures during in situ experimental observations as well as the initial stage of multi-walled carbon nanotube growth is discussed. The results are in good agreement with available experimental and quantum-mechanical results, and provide a basic understanding of the incubation and nucleation stages of hydrocarbon-based CNT growth at the atomic level.  
  Address PLASMANT research group, Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerpen, Belgium  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Wos 000367584500001 Publication Date 2015-12-22  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2041-1723 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 12.124 Times cited 37 Open Access  
  Notes The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Fund of Scientific Research Flanders (FWO), Belgium, grant number 12M1315N. The work was carried out in part using the Turing HPC infrastructure of the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen, a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Centre VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the Universiteit Antwerpen. We thank Professor Adri C. T. van Duin for sharing the ReaxFF code. Approved Most recent IF: 12.124; 2015 IF: 11.470  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:129975 Serial 3990  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Neyts, E.C.; Ostrikov, K.K.; Sunkara, M.K.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Plasma Catalysis: Synergistic Effects at the Nanoscale Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2015 Publication Chemical reviews Abbreviated Journal Chem Rev  
  Volume 115 Issue 115 Pages 13408-13446  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Thermal-catalytic gas processing is integral to many current industrial processes. Ever-increasing demands on conversion and energy efficiencies are a strong driving force for the development of alternative approaches. Similarly, synthesis of several functional materials (such as nanowires and nanotubes) demands special processing conditions. Plasma catalysis provides such an alternative, where the catalytic process is complemented by the use of plasmas that activate the source gas. This combination is often observed to result in a synergy between plasma and catalyst. This Review introduces the current state-of-the-art in plasma catalysis, including numerous examples where plasma catalysis has demonstrated its benefits or shows future potential, including CO2 conversion, hydrocarbon reforming, synthesis of nanomaterials, ammonia production, and abatement of toxic waste gases. The underlying mechanisms governing these applications, as resulting from the interaction between the plasma and the catalyst, render the process highly complex, and little is known about the factors leading to the often-observed synergy. This Review critically examines the catalytic mechanisms relevant to each specific application.  
  Address Department of Chemistry, Research Group PLASMANT, Universiteit Antwerpen , Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk-Antwerp, Belgium  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Wos 000367563000006 Publication Date 2015-11-30  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0009-2665 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 47.928 Times cited 204 Open Access  
  Notes ECN and AB gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Fund of Scientific Research Flanders (FWO), Belgium, Grant Number G.0217.14N. KO acknowledges partial support by the Australian Research Council and CSIRO’s OCE Science Leaders Program. MKS acknowledges partial support from US National Science Foundation through grants DMS 1125909 and EPSCoR 1355448 and also PhD students Babajide Ajayi, Apolo Nambo and Maria Carreon for their help. Approved Most recent IF: 47.928; 2015 IF: 46.568  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:130001 Serial 3993  
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Author Bogaerts, A.; Kozak, T.; van Laer, K.; Snoeckx, R. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Plasma-based conversion of CO2: current status and future challenges Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2015 Publication Faraday discussions Abbreviated Journal Faraday Discuss  
  Volume 183 Issue 183 Pages 217-232  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract This paper discusses our recent results on plasma-based CO2 conversion, obtained by a combination of experiments and modeling, for a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), a microwave plasma and a packed bed DBD reactor. The results illustrate that plasma technology is quite promising for CO2 conversion, but more research is needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms and to further improve the capabilities.  
  Address Research Group PLASMANT, University of Antwerp, Department of Chemistry, Universiteitsplein 1, Antwerp, Belgium. annemie.bogaerts@uantwerpen.be  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Wos 000365914900013 Publication Date 2015-06-29  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1359-6640 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.588 Times cited 89 Open Access  
  Notes We thank R. Aerts and W. van Gaens for setting up the experimental systems and for the interesting results obtained during their PhD study in our group. We also acknowledge nancial support from the IAP/7 (Inter-university Attraction Pole) program ‘PSI-Physical Chemistry of Plasma-Surface Interactions’ by the Belgian Federal Office for Science Policy (BELSPO), the Fund for Scientic Research Flanders (FWO) and the EU-FP7-ITN network “RAPID”. Approved Most recent IF: 3.588; 2015 IF: 4.606  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:130318 Serial 3983  
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Author Khalilov, U.; Yusupov, M.; Bogaerts, A.; Neyts, E.C. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Selective Plasma Oxidation of Ultrasmall Si Nanowires Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication The journal of physical chemistry: C : nanomaterials and interfaces Abbreviated Journal J Phys Chem C  
  Volume 120 Issue 120 Pages 472-477  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Device performance of Si|SiOx core-shell based nanowires critically depends on the exact control over the oxide thickness. Low-temperature plasma oxidation is a highly promising alternative to thermal oxidation allowing for improved control over the oxidation process, in particular for ultrasmall Si nanowires. We here elucidate the room temperature plasma oxidation mechanisms of ultrasmall Si nanowires using hybrid molecular dynamics / force-bias Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate how the oxidation and concurrent water formation mechanisms are a function of the oxidizing plasma species and we demonstrate how the resulting core-shell oxide thickness can be controlled through these species. A new mechanism of water formation is discussed in detail. The results provide a detailed atomic level explanation of the oxidation process of highly curved Si surfaces. These results point out a route toward plasma-based formation of ultrathin core-shell Si|SiOx nanowires at room temperature.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000368562200057 Publication Date 2015-12-21  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1932-7447 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 4.536 Times cited 3 Open Access  
  Notes U.K. and M.Y. gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), Grants 12M1315N and 1200216N. This work was carried out in part using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the UA. We thank Prof. A. C. T. van Duin for sharing the ReaxFF code. Approved Most recent IF: 4.536  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:130677 Serial 4002  
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Author Bogaerts, A.; van de Sanden, R. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Special Issue of Papers by Plenary and Topical Invited Lecturers at the 22nd International Symposium on Plasma Chemistry (ISPC 22), 5–10 July 2015, Antwerp, Belgium: Introduction Type Editorial
  Year 2016 Publication Plasma chemistry and plasma processing Abbreviated Journal Plasma Chem Plasma P  
  Volume 36 Issue 36 Pages 1-2  
  Keywords Editorial; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000370720800001 Publication Date 2016-01-11  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0272-4324 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record  
  Impact Factor 2.355 Times cited Open Access  
  Notes Approved Most recent IF: 2.355  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:130713 Serial 4003  
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Author Belov, I.; Paulussen, S.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Appearance of a conductive carbonaceous coating in a CO2dielectric barrier discharge and its influence on the electrical properties and the conversion efficiency Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Plasma sources science and technology Abbreviated Journal Plasma Sources Sci T  
  Volume 25 Issue 25 Pages 015023  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract This work examines the properties of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor, built for CO2 decomposition, by means of electrical characterization, optical emission spectroscopy and gas chromatography. The discharge, formed in an electronegative gas (such as CO2, but also O2), exhibits clearly different electrical characteristics, depending on the surface conductivity of the reactor walls. An asymmetric current waveform is observed in the metaldielectric (MD) configuration, with sparse high-current pulses in the positive half-cycle (HC) and a more uniform regime in the negative HC. This indicates that the discharge is operating in two alternating regimes with rather different properties. At high CO2 conversion regimes, a conductive coating is deposited on the dielectric. This so-called coated MD configuration yields a symmetric current waveform, with current peaks in both the positive and negative HCs. In a double-dielectric (DD) configuration, the current waveform is also symmetric, but without current peaks in both the positive and negative HC. Finally, the DD configuration with conductive coating on the inner surface of the outer dielectric, i.e. so-called coated DD, yields again an asymmetric current waveform, with current peaks in the negative HC. These different electrical characteristics are related to the presence of the conductive coating on the dielectric wall of the reactor and can be explained by an increase of the local barrier capacitance available for charge transfer. The different discharge regimes affect the CO2 conversion, more specifically, the CO2 conversion is lowest in the clean DD configuration. It is somewhat higher in the coated DD configuration, and still higher in the MD configuration. The clean and coated MD configuration, however, gave similar CO2 conversion. These results indicate that the conductivity of the dielectric reactor walls can highly promote the development of the high-amplitude discharge current pulses and subsequently the CO2 conversion.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000370974800030 Publication Date 2016-01-21  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0963-0252 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.302 Times cited 25 Open Access  
  Notes The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN) under Grant Agreement № 606889 (RAPID—Reactive Atmospheric Plasma processIng—eDucation network). Approved Most recent IF: 3.302  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:130790 Serial 4006  
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Author Van der Paal, J.; Neyts, E.C.; Verlackt, C.C.W.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Effect of lipid peroxidation on membrane permeability of cancer and normal cells subjected to oxidative stress Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Chemical science Abbreviated Journal Chem Sci  
  Volume 7 Issue 7 Pages 489-498  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract We performed molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the effect of lipid peroxidation products on the structural and dynamic properties of the cell membrane. Our simulations predict that the lipid order in a phospholipid bilayer, as a model system for the cell membrane, decreases upon addition of lipid peroxidation products. Eventually, when all phospholipids are oxidized, pore formation can occur. This will allow reactive species, such as reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), to enter the cell and cause oxidative damage to intracellular macromolecules, such as DNA or proteins. On the other hand, upon increasing the cholesterol fraction of lipid bilayers, the cell membrane order increases, eventually reaching a certain threshold, from which cholesterol is able to protect the membrane against pore formation. This finding is crucial for cancer treatment by plasma technology, producing a large number of RONS, as well as for other cancer treatment methods that cause an increase in the concentration of extracellular RONS. Indeed, cancer cells contain less cholesterol than their healthy counterparts. Thus, they will be more vulnerable to the consequences of lipid peroxidation, eventually enabling the penetration of RONS into the interior of the cell, giving rise to oxidative stress, inducing pro-apoptotic factors. This provides, for the first time, molecular level insight why plasma can selectively treat cancer cells, while leaving their healthy counterparts undamaged, as is indeed experimentally demonstrated.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000366826900058 Publication Date 2015-10-16  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2041-6520 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 8.668 Times cited 106 Open Access  
  Notes The authors acknowledge nancial support from the Fund for Scientic Research (FWO) Flanders, grant number G012413N. The calculations were performed in part using the Turing HPC infrastructure of the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen, a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the Universiteit Antwerpen. Approved Most recent IF: 8.668  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:131058 Serial 3986  
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Author Bogaerts, A.; Khosravian, N.; Van der Paal, J.; Verlackt, C.C.W.; Yusupov, M.; Kamaraj, B.; Neyts, E.C. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Multi-level molecular modelling for plasma medicine Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Journal of physics: D: applied physics Abbreviated Journal J Phys D Appl Phys  
  Volume 49 Issue 49 Pages 054002  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Modelling at the molecular or atomic scale can be very useful for obtaining a better insight in plasma medicine. This paper gives an overview of different atomic/molecular scale modelling approaches that can be used to study the direct interaction of plasma species with biomolecules or the consequences of these interactions for the biomolecules on a somewhat longer time-scale. These approaches include density functional theory (DFT), density functional based tight binding (DFTB), classical reactive and non-reactive molecular dynamics (MD) and united-atom or coarse-grained MD, as well as hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods. Specific examples will be given for three important types of biomolecules, present in human cells, i.e. proteins, DNA and phospholipids found in the cell membrane. The results show that each of these modelling approaches has its specific strengths and limitations, and is particularly useful for certain applications. A multi-level approach is therefore most suitable for obtaining a global picture of the plasma–biomolecule interactions.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000368944100003 Publication Date 2015-12-16  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0022-3727 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 2.588 Times cited 11 Open Access  
  Notes This work is financially supported by the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO) and the Francqui Foundation. The calculations were carried out in part using the Turing HPC infrastructure of the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen, a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the Universiteit Antwerpen. Approved Most recent IF: 2.588  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:131571 Serial 3985  
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Author Khosravian, N.; Kamaraj, B.; Neyts, E.C.; Bogaerts, A. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Structural modification of P-glycoprotein induced by OH radicals: Insights from atomistic simulations Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Scientific reports Abbreviated Journal Sci Rep-Uk  
  Volume 6 Issue 6 Pages 19466  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract This study reports on the possible effects of OH radical impact on the transmembrane domain 6 of P-glycoprotein, TM6, which plays a crucial role in drug binding in human cells. For the first time, we employ molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on the self-consistent charge density functional tight binding (SCC-DFTB) method to elucidate the potential sites of fragmentation and mutation in this domain upon impact of OH radicals, and to obtain fundamental information about the underlying reaction mechanisms. Furthermore, we apply non-reactive MD simulations to investigate the long-term effect of this mutation, with possible implications for drug binding. Our simulations indicate that the interaction of OH radicals with TM6 might lead to the breaking of C-C and C-N peptide bonds, which eventually cause fragmentation of TM6. Moreover, according to our simulations, the OH radicals can yield mutation in the aromatic ring of phenylalanine in TM6, which in turn affects its structure. As TM6 plays an important role in the binding of a range of cytotoxic drugs with P-glycoprotein, any changes in its structure are likely to affect the response of the tumor cell in chemotherapy. This is crucial for cancer therapies based on reactive oxygen species, such as plasma treatment.  
  Address Research Group PLASMANT, Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Wos 000369573900001 Publication Date 2016-02-09  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2045-2322 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 4.259 Times cited 7 Open Access  
  Notes The authors acknowledge financial support from the Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) Flanders, grant number G012413N. The calculations were performed in part using the Turing HPC infrastructure of the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen, a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the Universiteit Antwerpen.” Approved Most recent IF: 4.259  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:131610 Serial 4031  
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Author Ozkan, A.; Dufour, T.; Silva, T.; Britun, N.; Snyders, R.; Bogaerts, A.; Reniers, F. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title The influence of power and frequency on the filamentary behavior of a flowing DBD—application to the splitting of CO2 Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Plasma sources science and technology Abbreviated Journal Plasma Sources Sci T  
  Volume 25 Issue 25 Pages 025013  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract In this experimental study, a flowing dielectric barrier discharge operating at atmospheric pressure is used for the splitting of CO2 into O2 and CO. The influence of the applied frequency and plasma power on the microdischarge properties is investigated to understand their role on the CO2 conversion. Electrical measurements are carried out to explain the conversion trends and to characterize the microdischarges through their number, their lifetime,

their intensity and the induced electrical charge. Their influence on the gas and electrode temperatures is also evidenced through optical emission spectroscopy and infrared imaging. It is shown that, in our configuration, the conversion depends mostly on the charge delivered in the plasma and not on the effective plasma voltage when the applied power is modified. Similarly, at constant total current, a better conversion is observed at low frequencies, where a less filamentary discharge regime with a higher effective plasma voltage than that at a higher

frequency is obtained.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000372337900015 Publication Date 2016-02-25  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0963-0252 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.302 Times cited 40 Open Access  
  Notes The authors acknowledge financial support from the IAPVII/ 12, P7/34 (Inter-university Attraction Pole) program ‘PSI-Physical Chemistry of Plasma-Surface Interactions’, financially supported by the Belgian Federal Office for Science Policy (BELSPO). A Ozkan would like to thank the financial support given by ‘Fonds David et Alice Van Buuren’. N Britun is a postdoctoral researcher of the F.R.S.-FNRS, Belgium. Approved Most recent IF: 3.302  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:131904 Serial 4021  
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Author Snoeckx, R.; Zeng, Y.X.; Tu, X.; Bogaerts, A. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Plasma-based dry reforming : improving the conversion and energy efficiency in a dielectric barrier discharge Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2015 Publication RSC advances Abbreviated Journal Rsc Adv  
  Volume 5 Issue 5 Pages 29799-29808  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Dry reforming of methane has gained significant interest over the years. A novel reforming technique with great potential is plasma technology. One of its drawbacks, however, is energy consumption. Therefore, we performed an extensive computational study, supported by experiments, aiming to identify the influence of the operating parameters (gas mixture, power, residence time and frequency) of a dielectric barrier discharge plasma on the conversion and energy efficiency, and to investigate which of these parameters lead to the most promising results and whether these are eventually sufficient for industrial implementation. The best results, in terms of both energy efficiency and conversion, are obtained at a specific energy input (SEI) of 100 J cm−3, a 1090 CH4CO2 ratio, 10 Hz, a residence time of 1 ms, resulting in a total conversion of 84% and an energy efficiency of 8.5%. In general, increasing the CO2 content in the gas mixture leads to a higher conversion and energy efficiency. The SEI couples the effect of the power and residence time, and increasing the SEI always results in a higher conversion, but somewhat lower energy efficiencies. The effect of the frequency is more complicated: we observed that the product of frequency (f) and residence time (τ), being a measure for the total number of micro-discharge filaments which the gas molecules experience when passing through the reactor, was critical. For most cases, a higher number of filaments yields higher values for conversion and energy efficiency. To benchmark our model predictions, we also give an overview of measured conversions and energy efficiencies reported in the literature, to indicate the potential for improvement compared to the state-of-the art. Finally, we identify the limitations as well as the benefits and future possibilities of plasma technology.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000352789500026 Publication Date 2015-03-19  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2046-2069; ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.108 Times cited 67 Open Access  
  Notes Approved Most recent IF: 3.108; 2015 IF: 3.840  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:132577 Serial 2629  
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Author Trenchev, G.; Kolev, S.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title A 3D model of a reverse vortex flow gliding arc reactor Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Plasma sources science and technology Abbreviated Journal Plasma Sources Sci T  
  Volume 25 Issue 25 Pages 035014  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract In this computational study, a gliding arc plasma reactor with a reverse-vortex flow stabilization is modelled for the first time by a fluid plasma description. The plasma reactor operates with argon gas at atmospheric pressure. The gas flow is simulated using the k-ε Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes turbulent model. A quasi-neutral fluid plasma model is used for computing the plasma properties. The plasma arc movement in the reactor is observed, and the results for the gas flow, electrical characteristics, plasma density, electron temperature, and gas temperature are analyzed.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000376557400022 Publication Date 2016-04-09  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0963-0252 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.302 Times cited 20 Open Access  
  Notes This research was carried out in the framework of the network on Physical Chemistry of Plasma–Surface Interactions— Interuniversity Attraction Poles, phase VII (http://psi-iap7.ulb. ac.be/), and supported by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO), and it was also funded by the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO). Grant number: 11U5316N. Approved Most recent IF: 3.302  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:132888 c:irua:132888 Serial 4063  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Tinck, S.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Computational study of the CF4 /CHF3 / H2 /Cl2 /O2 /HBr gas phase plasma chemistry Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Journal of physics: D: applied physics Abbreviated Journal J Phys D Appl Phys  
  Volume 49 Issue 49 Pages 195203  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract A modelling study is performed of high-density low-pressure inductively coupled CF4/CHF3/H2/Cl2/O2/HBr plasmas under different gas mixing ratios. A reaction set describing the complete plasma chemistry is presented and discussed. The gas fraction of each component in this mixture is varied to investigate the sensitivity of the plasma properties, like electron density, plasma potential and species densities, towards the gas mixing ratios. This research is of great interest for microelectronics applications because these gases are often combined in two (or more)-component mixtures, and mixing gases or changing the fraction of a gas can sometimes yield unwanted reaction products or unexpected changes in the overall plasma properties due to the increased chemical complexity of the system. Increasing the CF4 fraction produces more F atoms for chemical etching as expected, but also more prominently lowers the density of Cl atoms, resulting in an actual drop in the etch rate under certain conditions. Furthermore, CF4 decreases the free electron density when mixed with Cl2. However, depending on the other gas components, CF4 gas can also sometimes enhance free electron density. This is the case when HBr is added to the mixture. The addition of H2 to the gas mixture will lower the sputtering process, not only due to the lower overall positive ion density at higher H2 fractions, but also because more H+, H2 + and H3 + are present and they have very low sputter yields. In contrast, a larger Cl2 fraction results in more chemical etching but also in less physical sputtering due to a smaller abundance of positive ions. Increasing the O2 fraction in the plasma will always lower the etch rate due to more oxidation of the wafer surface and due to a lower plasma density. However, it is also observed that the density of F atoms can actually increase with rising O2 gas fraction. This is relevant to note because the exact balance between fluorination and oxidation is important for fine-tuning the overall etch rate and for control of the sidewall profile. Finally, HBr is often used as a chemical etcher, but when mixed with F- or Cl-containing gases, HBr creates the same diluting effects as Ar or He, because a

higher fraction results in less chemical etching but more (physical) sputtering.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000375255500017 Publication Date 2016-04-13  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0022-3727 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 2.588 Times cited 5 Open Access  
  Notes We acknowledge the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO) for financial support of this work. This work was carried out in part using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen, a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the University of Antwerp. Approved Most recent IF: 2.588  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:132890 Serial 4062  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Snoeckx, R.; Heijkers, S.; Van Wesenbeeck, K.; Lenaerts, S.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title CO2conversion in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma: N2in the mix as a helping hand or problematic impurity? Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Energy & environmental science Abbreviated Journal Energ Environ Sci  
  Volume 9 Issue 9 Pages 999-1011  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT); Sustainable Energy, Air and Water Technology (DuEL)  
  Abstract Carbon dioxide conversion and utilization has gained significant interest over the years. A novel gas conversion technique with great potential in this area is plasma technology. A lot of research has already been performed, but mostly on pure gases. In reality, N2 will always be an important impurity in effluent

gases. Therefore, we performed an extensive combined experimental and computational study on the effect of N2 in the range of 1–98% on CO2 splitting in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma. The presence of up to 50% N2 in the mixture barely influences the effective (or overall) CO2 conversion and energy efficiency, because the N2 metastable molecules enhance the absolute CO2 conversion, and this compensates for the lower CO2 fraction in the mixture. Higher N2 fractions, however, cause a drop in the CO2 conversion and energy efficiency. Moreover, in the entire CO2/N2 mixing ratio, several harmful compounds, i.e., N2O and NOx compounds, are produced in the range of several 100 ppm. The reaction pathways for the formation of these compounds are explained based on a kinetic analysis, which allows proposing solutions on how to prevent the formation of these harmful compounds.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000372243600030 Publication Date 2015-12-15  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1754-5692 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 29.518 Times cited 68 Open Access  
  Notes The authors acknowledge financial support from the IAP/7 (Inter-university Attraction Pole) program ‘PSI-Physical Chemistry of Plasma-Surface Interactions’, financially supported by the Belgian Federal Office for Science Policy (BELSPO), as well as the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO). This work was carried out in part using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen, a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the University of Antwerp. Approved Most recent IF: 29.518  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:133169 Serial 4020  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Aghaei, M.; Bogaerts, A. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Particle transport through an inductively coupled plasma torch: elemental droplet evaporation Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry Abbreviated Journal J Anal Atom Spectrom  
  Volume 31 Issue 31 Pages 631-641  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract We studied the transport of copper droplets through an inductively coupled plasma, connected to the sampling cone of a mass spectrometer, by means of a computational model. The sample droplets are followed until they become evaporated. They are inserted as liquid particles from the central inlet and the effects of injection position (i.e. “on” and “off” axis), droplet diameter, as well as mass loading flow rate are investigated. It is shown that more “on-axis” injection of the droplets leads to a more straight path line, so that the droplets move less in the radial direction and are evaporated more on the central axis, enabling a better sample transfer efficiency to the sampler cone. Furthermore, there are optimum ranges of diameters and flow rates, which guarantee the proper position of evaporation along the torch, i.e. not too early, so that the sample can get lost in the torch, and not too late, which reduces the chance of becoming ionized before reaching the sampler.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000372857300003 Publication Date 2015-07-07  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0267-9477 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.379 Times cited 21 Open Access  
  Notes The authors are very grateful to H. Lindner for the many fundamental and fruitful discussions. They are also gratefully acknowledge nancial support from the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO). Approved Most recent IF: 3.379  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:133240 Serial 4024  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Tinck, S.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Role of vibrationally excited HBr in a HBr/He inductively coupled plasma used for etching of silicon Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Journal of physics: D: applied physics Abbreviated Journal J Phys D Appl Phys  
  Volume 49 Issue 49 Pages 245204  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract In this work, the role of vibrationally excited HBr (HBr(vib)) is computationally investigated for a HBr/He inductively coupled plasma applied for Si etching. It is found that at least 50% of all dissociations of HBr occur through HBr(vib). This additional dissociation pathway through HBr(vib) makes the plasma significantly more atomic. It also results in a slightly higher electron temperature (i.e. about 0.2 eV higher compared to simulation results where HBr(vib) is not included), as well as a higher gas temperature (i.e. about 50 K higher than without including HBr(vib)), due to the enhanced Franck–Condon heating through HBr(vib) dissociation,

at the conditions investigated. Most importantly, the calculated etch rate with HBr(vib) included in the model is a factor 3 higher than in the case without HBr(vib), due to the higher fluxes of etching species (i.e. H and Br), while the chemical composition of the wafer surface shows no significant difference. Our calculations clearly show the importance of including HBr(vib) for accurate modeling of HBr-containing plasmas.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000377427100020 Publication Date 2016-05-17  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0022-3727 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 2.588 Times cited Open Access  
  Notes The Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO) is acknowledged for financial support of this work (Grant no. 0880.212.840). This work was carried out in part using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen, a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the University of Antwerp. Prof. Mark Kushner is also gratefully acknowledged for the useful discussions and for providing the HPEM code. Approved Most recent IF: 2.588  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:133457 Serial 4072  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Ozkan, A.; Dufour, T.; Bogaerts, A.; Reniers, F. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title How do the barrier thickness and dielectric material influence the filamentary mode and CO2conversion in a flowing DBD? Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Plasma sources science and technology Abbreviated Journal Plasma Sources Sci T  
  Volume 25 Issue 25 Pages 045016  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) are commonly used to generate cold plasmas at

atmospheric pressure. Whatever their configuration (tubular or planar), the presence of a dielectric barrier is mandatory to prevent too much charge build up in the plasma and the formation of a thermal arc. In this article, the role of the barrier thickness (2.0, 2.4 and 2.8 mm) and of the kind of dielectric material (alumina, mullite, pyrex, quartz) is investigated on the filamentary behavior in the plasma and on the CO2 conversion in a tubular flowing DBD, by means of mass spectrometry measurements correlated with electrical characterization and IR imaging. Increasing the barrier thickness decreases the capacitance, while preserving the electrical charge. As a result, the voltage over the dielectric increases and a larger number of microdischarges is generated, which enhances the CO2 conversion. Furthermore, changing the dielectric material of the barrier, while keeping the same geometry and dimensions, also affects the CO2 conversion. The highest CO2 conversion and energy efficiency are obtained for quartz and alumina, thus not following the trend of the relative permittivity. From the

electrical characterization, we clearly demonstrate that the most important parameters are the somewhat higher effective plasma voltage (yielding a somewhat higher electric field and electron energy in the plasma) for quartz, as well as the higher plasma current (and thus larger electron density) and the larger number of microdischarge filaments (mainly for alumina, but also for quartz). The latter could be correlated to the higher surface roughness for alumina and to the higher voltage over the dielectric for quartz.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000380380200030 Publication Date 2016-06-30  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0963-0252 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.302 Times cited 24 Open Access  
  Notes The authors acknowledge financial support from the IAPVII/ 12, P7/34 (Inter-university Attraction Pole) program ‘PSI-Physical Chemistry of Plasma-Surface Interactions’, financially supported by the Belgian Federal Office for Science Policy (BELSPO). A. Ozkan would like to thank the financial support given by ‘Fonds David et Alice Van Buuren’. Approved Most recent IF: 3.302  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:134396 Serial 4100  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Berthelot, A.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Modeling of plasma-based CO2conversion: lumping of the vibrational levels Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Plasma sources science and technology Abbreviated Journal Plasma Sources Sci T  
  Volume 25 Issue 25 Pages 045022  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Although CO2 conversion by plasma technology is gaining increasing interest, the

underlying mechanisms for an energy-efficient process are still far from understood. In this work, a reduced non-equilibrium CO2 plasma chemistry set, based on level lumping of the vibrational levels, is proposed and the reliability of this level-lumping method is tested by a self-consistent zero-dimensional code. A severe reduction of the number of equations to be solved is achieved, which is crucial to be able to model non-equilibrium CO2 plasmas by 2-dimensional models. Typical conditions of pressure and power used in a microwave plasma for CO2 conversion are investigated. Several different sets, using different numbers of lumped groups, are considered. The lumped models with 1, 2 or 3 groups are able to reproduce the gas temperature, electron density and electron temperature profiles, as calculated by the full model treating all individual excited levels, in the entire pressure range investigated. Furthermore, a 3-groups model is also able to reproduce the shape of the vibrational distribution function (VDF) and gives the most reliable prediction of the CO2 conversion. A strong influence of the vibrational excitation on the plasma characteristics is observed. Finally, the limitations of the lumped-levels method are discussed.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000380380200036 Publication Date 2016-07-08  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0963-0252 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.302 Times cited 33 Open Access  
  Notes This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 606889 and it was also carried out in the framework of the network on Physical Chemistry of Plasma-Surface Interactions—Interuniversity Attraction Poles, phase VII (PSI-IAP7) supported by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO). The computational work was carried out using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the UA. Approved Most recent IF: 3.302  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:134397 Serial 4101  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Ozkan, A.; Dufour, T.; Silva, T.; Britun, N.; Snyders, R.; Reniers, F.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title DBD in burst mode: solution for more efficient CO2conversion? Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Plasma sources science and technology Abbreviated Journal Plasma Sources Sci T  
  Volume 25 Issue 25 Pages 055005  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract CO2 conversion into value-added products has gained significant interest over the few last years, as the greenhouse gas concentrations constantly increase due to anthropogenic activities. Here we report on experiments for CO2 conversion by means of a cold atmospheric plasma using a cylindrical flowing dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. A detailed comparison of this DBD ignited in a so-called burst mode (i.e. where an AC voltage is applied during a limited amount of time) and pure AC mode is carried out to evaluate their effect on the conversion of CO2 as well as on the energy efficiency. Decreasing the duty cycle in the burst mode from 100% (i.e. corresponding to pure AC mode) to 40% leads to a rise in the

conversion from 16–26% and to a rise in the energy efficiency from 15 to 23%. Based on a detailed electrical analysis, we show that the conversion correlates with the features of the microfilaments. Moreover, the root-mean-square voltage in the burst mode remains constant as a function of the process time for the duty cycles <70%, while a higher duty cycle or the usual pure AC mode leads to a clear voltage decay by more than 500 V, over approximately 90 s, before reaching a steady state regime. The higher plasma voltage in the burst mode yields a higher electric field. This causes the increasing the electron energy, and therefore their

involvement in the CO2 dissociation process, which is an additional explanation for the higher CO2 conversion and energy efficiency in the burst mode.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000403945500005 Publication Date 2016-08-02  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1361-6595 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.302 Times cited 17 Open Access  
  Notes The authors acknowledge financial support from the IAPVII/ 12, P7/34 (Inter-university Attraction Pole) program ‘PSI-Physical Chemistry of Plasma-Surface Interactions’, financially supported by the Belgian Federal Office for Science Policy (BELSPO). A. Ozkan would also like to thank financial support given by ‘Fonds David et Alice Van Buuren’. Approved Most recent IF: 3.302  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:134841 Serial 4107  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Tinck, S.; Tillocher, T.; Dussart, R.; Neyts, E.C.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Elucidating the effects of gas flow rate on an SF6inductively coupled plasma and on the silicon etch rate, by a combined experimental and theoretical investigation Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Journal of physics: D: applied physics Abbreviated Journal J Phys D Appl Phys  
  Volume 49 Issue 49 Pages 385201  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Experiments show that the etch rate of Si with SF6 inductively coupled plasma (ICP) is significantly influenced by the absolute gas flow rate in the range of 50–600 sccm, with a maximum at around 200 sccm. Therefore, we numerically investigate the effects of the gas flow rate on the bulk plasma properties and on the etch rate, to obtain more insight in the underlying reasons of this effect. A hybrid Monte Carlo—fluid model is applied to simulate an SF6 ICP. It is found that the etch rate is influenced by two simultaneous effects: (i) the residence time of the gas and (ii) the temperature profile of the plasma in the ICP volume, resulting indeed in a maximum etch rate at 200 sccm.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000384095900011 Publication Date 2016-08-24  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0022-3727 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 2.588 Times cited 1 Open Access  
  Notes We are very grateful to Mark Kushner for providing the computational model. The Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO; grant no. 0880.212.840) is acknowledged for financial support of this work. The work was carried out in part using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen, a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the University of Antwerp. Approved Most recent IF: 2.588  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:134867 Serial 4108  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Bogaerts, A.; Wang, W.; Berthelot, A.; Guerra, V. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Modeling plasma-based CO2conversion: crucial role of the dissociation cross section Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Plasma sources science and technology Abbreviated Journal Plasma Sources Sci T  
  Volume 25 Issue 25 Pages 055016  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Plasma-based CO2 conversion is gaining increasing interest worldwide. A large research effort is devoted to improving the energy efficiency. For this purpose, it is very important to understand the underlying mechanisms of the CO2 conversion. The latter can be obtained by computer modeling, describing in detail the behavior of the various plasma species and all relevant chemical processes. However, the accuracy of the modeling results critically depends on the accuracy of the assumed input data, like cross sections. This is especially true for the cross section of electron impact dissociation, as the latter process is believed

to proceed through electron impact excitation, but it is not clear from the literature which excitation channels effectively lead to dissociation. Therefore, the present paper discusses the effect of different electron impact dissociation cross sections reported in the literature on the calculated CO2 conversion, for a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and a microwave (MW) plasma. Comparison is made to experimental data for the DBD case, to elucidate which cross section might be the most realistic. This comparison reveals that the cross sections proposed

by Itikawa and by Polak and Slovetsky both seem to underestimate the CO2 conversion. The cross sections recommended by Phelps with thresholds of 7 eV and 10.5 eV yield a CO2 conversion only slightly lower than the experimental data, but the sum of both cross sections overestimates the values, indicating that these cross sections represent dissociation, but most probably also include other (pure excitation) channels. Our calculations indicate that the choice of the electron impact dissociation cross section is crucial for the DBD, where this process is the dominant mechanism for CO2 conversion. In the MW plasma, it is only significant at pressures up to 100 mbar, while it is of minor importance for higher pressures, when dissociation proceeds mainly through collisions of CO2 with heavy particles.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000384030600001 Publication Date 2016-08-31  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1361-6595 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.302 Times cited 57 Open Access  
  Notes The authors would like to thank R Snoeckx and S Heijkers for the interesting discussions. This research was supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 606889, the European Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship project ‘GlidArc’ within Horizon2020, the FWO project (grant G.0383.16N), and the Network on Physical Chemistry of Plasma-Surface Interactions—Interuniversity Attraction Poles, phase VII (PSI-IAP7), supported by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO). The computational work was carried out using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the UA. VG was partially supported by the Portuguese FCT— Fundação para a Ci Approved Most recent IF: 3.302  
  Call Number (up) c:irua:135070 Serial 4111  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Gorbanev, Y.; Engelmann, Y.; van’t Veer, K.; Vlasov, E.; Ndayirinde, C.; Yi, Y.; Bals, S.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Al2O3-Supported Transition Metals for Plasma-Catalytic NH3 Synthesis in a DBD Plasma: Metal Activity and Insights into Mechanisms Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2021 Publication Catalysts Abbreviated Journal Catalysts  
  Volume 11 Issue 10 Pages 1230  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT); Movement Antwerp (MOVANT)  
  Abstract N2 fixation into NH3 is one of the main processes in the chemical industry. Plasma catalysis is among the environmentally friendly alternatives to the industrial energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process. However, many questions remain open, such as the applicability of the conventional catalytic knowledge to plasma. In this work, we studied the performance of Al2O3-supported Fe, Ru, Co and Cu catalysts in plasma-catalytic NH3 synthesis in a DBD reactor. We investigated the effects of different active metals, and different ratios of the feed gas components, on the concentration and production rate of NH3, and the energy consumption of the plasma system. The results show that the trend of the metal activity (common for thermal catalysis) does not appear in the case of plasma catalysis: here, all metals exhibited similar performance. These findings are in good agreement with our recently published microkinetic model. This highlights the virtual independence of NH3 production on the metal catalyst material, thus validating the model and indicating the potential contribution of radical adsorption and Eley-Rideal reactions to the plasma-catalytic mechanism of NH3 synthesis.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000715656300001 Publication Date 2021-10-13  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2073-4344 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor 3.082 Times cited 19 Open Access OpenAccess  
  Notes Catalisti, Moonshot P2C ; Research Foundation – Flanders, GoF9618n ; European Research Council, 810182 SCOPE 815128 REALNANO ; sygmaSB Approved Most recent IF: 3.082  
  Call Number (up) EMAT @ emat @c:irua:183279 Serial 6815  
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Author Grünewald, L.; Chezganov, D.; De Meyer, R.; Orekhov, A.; Van Aert, S.; Bogaerts, A.; Bals, S.; Verbeeck, J. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title In Situ Plasma Studies Using a Direct Current Microplasma in a Scanning Electron Microscope Type A1 Journal Article
  Year 2024 Publication Advanced Materials Technologies Abbreviated Journal Adv Materials Technologies  
  Volume Issue Pages  
  Keywords A1 Journal Article; Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT) ;  
  Abstract Microplasmas can be used for a wide range of technological applications and to improve the understanding of fundamental physics. Scanning electron microscopy, on the other hand, provides insights into the sample morphology and chemistry of materials from the mm‐ down to the nm‐scale. Combining both would provide direct insight into plasma‐sample interactions in real‐time and at high spatial resolution. Up till now, very few attempts in this direction have been made, and significant challenges remain. This work presents a stable direct current glow discharge microplasma setup built inside a scanning electron microscope. The experimental setup is capable of real‐time in situ imaging of the sample evolution during plasma operation and it demonstrates localized sputtering and sample oxidation. Further, the experimental parameters such as varying gas mixtures, electrode polarity, and field strength are explored and experimental<italic>V</italic>–<italic>I</italic>curves under various conditions are provided. These results demonstrate the capabilities of this setup in potential investigations of plasma physics, plasma‐surface interactions, and materials science and its practical applications. The presented setup shows the potential to have several technological applications, for example, to locally modify the sample surface (e.g., local oxidation and ion implantation for nanotechnology applications) on the µm‐scale.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 001168639900001 Publication Date 2024-02-25  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2365-709X ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record  
  Impact Factor 6.8 Times cited Open Access OpenAccess  
  Notes L.G., S.B., and J.V. acknowledge support from the iBOF-21-085 PERsist research fund. D.C., S.V.A., and J.V. acknowledge funding from a TOPBOF project of the University of Antwerp (FFB 170366). R.D.M., A.B., and J.V. acknowledge funding from the Methusalem project of the University of Antwerp (FFB 15001A, FFB 15001C). A.O. and J.V. acknowledge funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Belgium) project SBO S000121N. Approved Most recent IF: 6.8; 2024 IF: NA  
  Call Number (up) EMAT @ emat @c:irua:204363 Serial 8995  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Bogaerts, A. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Glow discharge optical spectroscopy and mass spectrometry Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2016 Publication Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; PLASMANT  
  Abstract Atomic Spectroscopy Optical (atomic absorption spectroscopy, AAS; atomic emission spectroscopy, AES; atomic fluorescence spectroscopy, AFS; and optogalvanic spectroscopy) and mass spectrometric (magnetic sector, quadrupole mass analyzer, QMA; quadrupole ion trap, QIT; Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance, FTICR; and time-of-flight, TOF) instrumentation are well suited for coupling to the glow discharge (GD). The GD is a relatively simple device. A potential gradient (500–1500 V) is applied between an anode and a cathode. In most cases, the sample is also the cathode. A noble gas (mostly Ar) is introduced into the discharge region before power initiation. When a potential is applied, electrons are accelerated toward the anode. As these electrons accelerate, they collide with gas atoms. A fraction of these collisions are of sufficient energy to remove an electron from a support gas atom, forming an ion. These ions are, in turn, accelerated toward the cathode. These ions impinge on the surface of the cathode, sputtering sample atoms from the surface. Sputtered atoms that do not redeposit on the surface diffuse into the excitation/ionization regions of the plasma where they can undergo excitation and/or ionization via a number of collisional processes, and the photons or ions created in this way can be detected with optical emission spectroscopy or mass spectrometry. GD sources offer a number of distinct advantages that make them well suited for specific types of analyses. These sources afford direct analysis of solid samples, thus minimizing the sample preparation required for analysis. The nature of the plasma also provides mutually exclusive atomization and excitation processes that help to minimize the matrix effects that plague so many other elemental techniques. In recent years, there is also increasing interest for using GD sources for liquid and gas analyses. In this article, first, the principles of operation of the GD plasma are reviewed, with an emphasis on how those principles relate to optical spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Basic applications of the GD techniques are considered next. These include bulk analysis, surface analysis, and the analysis of solution and gaseous samples. The requirements necessary to obtain optical information are addressed following the analytical applications. This article focuses on the instrumentation needed to make optical measurements using the GD as an atomization/excitation source. Finally, mass spectrometric instrumentation and interfaces are addressed as they pertain to the use of a GD plasma as an ion source. GD sources provide analytically useful gas-phase species from solid samples. These sources can be interfaced with a variety of spectroscopic and spectrometric instruments for both quantitative and qualitative analyses.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos Publication Date 2006-09-11  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Additional Links  
  Impact Factor Times cited Open Access  
  Notes Approved Most recent IF: NA  
  Call Number (up) PLASMANT @ plasmant @ Serial 4282  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Wang, W.; Patil, B.; Heijkers, S.; Hessel, V.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Nitrogen Fixation by Gliding Arc Plasma: Better Insight by Chemical Kinetics Modelling Type A1 Journal Article
  Year 2017 Publication Chemsuschem Abbreviated Journal Chemsuschem  
  Volume 10 Issue 10 Pages 2110-2110  
  Keywords A1 Journal Article; Plasma, laser ablation and surface modeling Antwerp (PLASMANT) ;  
  Abstract The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into valuable compounds, that is, so-called nitrogen fixation, is gaining increased interest, owing to the essential role in the nitrogen cycle of the biosphere. Plasma technology, and more specifically gliding arc plasma, has great potential in this area, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Therefore, we developed a detailed chemical kinetics model for a pulsed-power gliding-arc reactor operating at atmospheric pressure for nitrogen oxide synthesis. Experiments are performed to validate the model and reasonable agreement is reached between the calculated and measured NO and NO2 yields and the corresponding energy efficiency for NOx formation for different N2/O2 ratios, indicating that the model can provide a realistic picture of the plasma chemistry. Therefore, we can use the model to investigate the reaction pathways for the formation and loss of NOx. The results indicate that vibrational excitation of N2 in the gliding arc contributes significantly to activating the N2 molecules, and leads to an energy efficient way of NOx production, compared to the thermal process. Based on the underlying chemistry, the model allows us to propose solutions on how to further improve the NOx formation by gliding arc technology. Although the energy efficiency of the gliding-arc-based nitrogen fixation process at the present stage is not comparable to the world-scale Haber–Bosch process, we believe our study helps us to come up with more realistic scenarios of entering a cutting-edge innovation in new business cases for the decentralised production of fertilisers for agriculture, in which lowtemperature plasma technology might play an important role.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos Publication Date 2017-05-11  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1864-5631 ISBN Additional Links  
  Impact Factor 7.226 Times cited Open Access Not_Open_Access  
  Notes This research was supported by the European Marie Skłodowska- Curie Individual Fellowship “GlidArc” within Horizon 2020 (Grant No.657304), by the FWO project (grant G.0383.16 N) and by the EU project MAPSYN: Microwave, Acoustic and Plasma assisted SYNthesis, under the grant agreement no. CP-IP 309376 of the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program. The calculations were performed using the Turing HPC infrastructure at the CalcUA core facility of the Universiteit Antwerpen (UAntwerpen), a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center VSC, funded by the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government (department EWI) and the UAntwerpen. Approved Most recent IF: 7.226  
  Call Number (up) PLASMANT @ plasmant @ Serial 4573  
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Author Rouwenhorst, K.H.R.; Jardali, F.; Bogaerts, A.; Lefferts, L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Correction: From the Birkeland–Eyde process towards energy-efficient plasma-based NOXsynthesis: a techno-economic analysis Type A1 Journal Article
  Year 2023 Publication Energy & Environmental Science Abbreviated Journal Energy Environ. Sci.  
  Volume 16 Issue 12 Pages 6170-6173  
  Keywords A1 Journal Article; Plasma, laser ablation and surface modeling Antwerp (PLASMANT) ;  
  Abstract Correction for ‘From the Birkeland–Eyde process towards energy-efficient plasma-based NO<sub><italic>X</italic></sub>synthesis: a techno-economic analysis’ by Kevin H. R. Rouwenhorst<italic>et al.</italic>,<italic>Energy Environ. Sci.</italic>, 2021,<bold>14</bold>, 2520–2534, https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EE03763J.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos Publication Date 2023-11-27  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1754-5692 ISBN Additional Links  
  Impact Factor 32.5 Times cited Open Access  
  Notes H2020 European Research Council; Horizon 2020, 810182 ; Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat; Approved Most recent IF: 32.5; 2023 IF: 29.518  
  Call Number (up) PLASMANT @ plasmant @ Serial 8980  
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Author Gorbanev, Y.; Fedirchyk, I.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Plasma catalysis in ammonia production and decomposition: Use it, or lose it? Type A1 Journal Article
  Year 2024 Publication Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry Abbreviated Journal Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry  
  Volume 47 Issue Pages 100916  
  Keywords A1 Journal Article; Plasma Nitrogen fixation Ammonia Plasma catalysis Production and decomposition; Plasma, laser ablation and surface modeling Antwerp (PLASMANT) ;  
  Abstract The combination of plasma with catalysis for the synthesis and decomposition of NH3 is an attractive route to the production of carbon-neutral fertiliser and energy carriers and its conversion into H2. Recent years have seen fast developments in the field of plasma-catalytic NH3 life cycle. This work summarises the most recent advances in plasma-catalytic and related NH3-focussed processes, identifies some of the most important discoveries, and addresses plausible strategies for future developments in plasma-based NH3 technology.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos Publication Date 2024-03-29  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2452-2236 ISBN Additional Links  
  Impact Factor 9.3 Times cited Open Access  
  Notes The work was supported by the Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) Flanders Bioeconomy project (grant G0G2322N) funded by the European Union-NextGe- nerationEU, the HyPACT project funded by the Belgian Energy Transition Fund, and the MSCA4Ukraine project 1233629 funded by the European Union. Approved Most recent IF: 9.3; 2024 IF: NA  
  Call Number (up) PLASMANT @ plasmant @ Serial 9117  
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Author Cai, Y.; Mei, D.; Chen, Y.; Bogaerts, A.; Tu, X. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Machine learning-driven optimization of plasma-catalytic dry reforming of methane Type A1 Journal Article
  Year 2024 Publication Journal of Energy Chemistry Abbreviated Journal Journal of Energy Chemistry  
  Volume 96 Issue Pages 153-163  
  Keywords A1 Journal Article; Plasma catalysis Machine learning Process optimization Dry reforming of methane Syngas production; Plasma, laser ablation and surface modeling Antwerp (PLASMANT) ;  
  Abstract This study investigates the dry reformation of methane (DRM) over Ni/Al2O3 catalysts in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) non-thermal plasma reactor. A novel hybrid machine learning (ML) model is developed to optimize the plasma-catalytic DRM reaction with limited experimental data. To address the non-linear and complex nature of the plasma-catalytic DRM process, the hybrid ML model integrates three well-established algorithms: regression trees, support vector regression, and artificial neural networks. A genetic algorithm (GA) is then used to optimize the hyperparameters of each algorithm within the hybrid ML model. The ML model achieved excellent agreement with the experimental data, demonstrating its efficacy in accurately predicting and optimizing the DRM process. The model was subsequently used to investigate the impact of various operating parameters on the plasma-catalytic DRM performance. We found that the optimal discharge power (20 W), CO2/CH4 molar ratio (1.5), and Ni loading (7.8 wt%) resulted in the maximum energy yield at a total flow rate of 51 mL/min. Furthermore, we investigated the relative significance of each operating parameter on the performance of the plasmacatalytic DRM process. The results show that the total flow rate had the greatest influence on the conversion, with a significance exceeding 35% for each output, while the Ni loading had the least impact on the overall reaction performance. This hybrid model demonstrates a remarkable ability to extract valuable insights from limited datasets, enabling the development and optimization of more efficient and selective plasma-catalytic chemical processes.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos Publication Date 2024-04-25  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2095-4956 ISBN Additional Links  
  Impact Factor 13.1 Times cited Open Access  
  Notes This project received funding from the European Union’s Hori- zon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 813393. Approved Most recent IF: 13.1; 2024 IF: 2.594  
  Call Number (up) PLASMANT @ plasmant @ Serial 9124  
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Author Xu, W.; Buelens, L.C.; Galvita, V.V.; Bogaerts, A.; Meynen, V. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Improving the performance of gliding arc plasma-catalytic dry reforming via a new post-plasma tubular catalyst bed Type A1 Journal Article
  Year 2024 Publication Journal of CO2 Utilization Abbreviated Journal Journal of CO2 Utilization  
  Volume 83 Issue Pages 102820  
  Keywords A1 Journal Article; Dry reforming Gliding arc plasma Plasma catalytic DRM Ni-based mixed oxide Post-plasma catalysis; Plasma, laser ablation and surface modeling Antwerp (PLASMANT) ;  
  Abstract A combination of a gliding arc plasmatron (GAP) reactor and a newly designed tubular catalyst bed (N-bed) was applied to investigate the post-plasma catalytic (PPC) effect for dry reforming of methane (DRM). As comparison, a traditional plasma catalyst bed (T-bed) was also utilized. The post-plasma catalytic effect of a Ni-based mixed oxide (Ni/MO) catalyst with a thermal catalytic performance of 77% CO2 and 86% CH4 conversion at 700 ℃ was studied. Although applying the T-bed had little effect on plasma based CO2 and CH4 conversion, an increase in selectivity to H2 was obtained with a maximum value of 89% at a distance of 2 cm. However, even when only α-Al2O3 packing material was used in the N-bed configuration, compared to the plasma alone and the T-bed, an increase of the CO2 and CH4 conversion from 53% and 53% to 69% and 69% to 83% was achieved. Addition of the Ni/MO catalyst further enhanced the DRM reaction, resulting in conversions of 79% for CO2 and 91% for

CH4. Hence, although no insulation nor external heating was applied to the N-bed post plasma, it provides a slightly better conversion than the thermal catalytic performance with the same catalyst, while being fully electrically driven. In addition, an enhanced CO selectivity to 96% was obtained and the energy cost was reduced from ~ 6 kJ/L (plasma alone) to 4.3 kJ/L. To our knowledge, it is the first time that a post-plasma catalytic system achieves this excellent catalytic performance for DRM without extra external heating or insulation.
 
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos Publication Date 2024-05-25  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2212-9820 ISBN Additional Links  
  Impact Factor 7.7 Times cited Open Access  
  Notes Wencong Xu, Vladimir V. Galvita, Annemie Bogaerts, and Vera Meynen would like to acknowledge the VLAIO Catalisti Moonshot project D2M and the VLAIO Catalisti transition project CO2PERATE (HBC.2017.0692). Lukas C. Buelens acknowledges financial support from the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO Flanders) through a postdoctoral fellowship grant 12E5623N. Vladimir V. Galvita also acknowledges a personal grant from the Research Fund of Ghent University (BOF; 01N16319). Approved Most recent IF: 7.7; 2024 IF: 4.292  
  Call Number (up) PLASMANT @ plasmant @ Serial 9131  
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Author Maerivoet, S.; Tsonev, I.; Slaets, J.; Reniers, F.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Coupled multi-dimensional modelling of warm plasmas: Application and validation for an atmospheric pressure glow discharge in CO2/CH4/O2 Type A1 Journal Article
  Year 2024 Publication Chemical Engineering Journal Abbreviated Journal Chemical Engineering Journal  
  Volume 492 Issue Pages 152006  
  Keywords A1 Journal Article; Plasma, laser ablation and surface modeling Antwerp (PLASMANT) ;  
  Abstract To support experimental research into gas conversion by warm plasmas, models should be developed to explain the experimental observations. These models need to describe all physical and chemical plasma properties in a coupled way. In this paper, we present a modelling approach to solve the complete set of assumed relevant equations, including gas flow, heat balance and species transport, coupled with a rather extensive chemistry set, consisting of 21 species, obtained by reduction of a more detailed chemistry set, consisting of 41 species. We apply this model to study the combined CO2 and CH4 conversion in the presence of O2, in a direct current atmospheric pressure glow discharge. Our model can predict the experimental trends, and can explain why higher O2 fractions result in higher CH4 conversion, namely due to the higher gas temperature, rather than just by additional chemical reactions. Indeed, our model predicts that when more O2 is added, the energy required to reach any set temperature (i.e., the enthalpy) drops, allowing the system to reach higher temperatures with similar amounts of energy. This is in turn related to the higher H2O fraction and lower H2 fraction formed in the plasma, as demonstrated by our model. Altogether, our new self-consistent model can capture the main physics and chemistry occurring in this warm plasma, which is an important step towards predictive modelling for plasma-based gas conversion.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos Publication Date 2024-05-09  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1385-8947 ISBN Additional Links  
  Impact Factor 15.1 Times cited Open Access  
  Notes This research was supported by the Excellence of Science FWO-FNRS project (FWO grant ID G0I1822N; EOS ID 40007511) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 810182–SCOPE ERC Synergy project, and grant agreement No. 101081162–PREPARE ERC Proof of Concept project). computational resources and services used in this work were provided by the HPC core facility CalcUA of the Universiteit Antwerpen, and VSC (Flemish Supercomputer Center), funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) and the Flemish Government. Approved Most recent IF: 15.1; 2024 IF: 6.216  
  Call Number (up) PLASMANT @ plasmant @ Serial 9132  
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