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Author Kummamuru, N.B.; Ciocarlan, R.-G.; Houlleberghs, M.; Martens, J.; Breynaert, E.; Verbruggen, S.W.; Cool, P.; Perreault, P. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Surface modification of mesostructured cellular foam to enhance hydrogen storage in binary THF/H₂ clathrate hydrate Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2024 Publication Sustainable energy & fuels Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 1-15  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Laboratory of adsorption and catalysis (LADCA)  
  Abstract This study introduces solid-state tuning of a mesostructured cellular foam (MCF) to enhance hydrogen (H-2) storage in clathrate hydrates. Grafting of promoter-like molecules (e.g., tetrahydrofuran) at the internal surface of the MCF resulted in a substantial improvement in the kinetics of formation of binary H-2-THF clathrate hydrate. Identification of the confined hydrate as sII clathrate hydrate and enclathration of H-2 in its small cages was performed using XRD and high-pressure H-1 NMR spectroscopy respectively. Experimental findings show that modified MCF materials exhibit a similar to 1.3 times higher H-2 storage capacity as compared to non-modified MCF under the same conditions (7 MPa, 265 K, 100% pore volume saturation with a 5.56 mol% THF solution). The enhancement in H-2 storage is attributed to the hydrophobicity originating from grafting organic molecules onto pristine MCF, thereby influencing water interactions and fostering an environment conducive to H-2 enclathration. Gas uptake curves indicate an optimal tuning point for higher H-2 storage, favoring a lower density of carbon per nm(2). Furthermore, a direct correlation emerges between higher driving forces and increased H-2 storage capacity, culminating at 0.52 wt% (46.77 mmoles of H-2 per mole of H2O and 39.78% water-to-hydrate conversions) at 262 K for the modified MCF material with fewer carbons per nm(2). Notably, the substantial H-2 storage capacity achieved without energy-intensive processes underscores solid-state tuning's potential for H-2 storage in the synthesized hydrates. This study evaluated two distinct kinetic models to describe hydrate growth in MCF. The multistage kinetic model showed better predictive capabilities for experimental data and maintained a low average absolute deviation. This research provides valuable insights into augmenting H-2 storage capabilities and holds promising implications for future advancements.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 001208396000001 Publication Date 2024-04-15  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record  
  Impact Factor Times cited Open Access  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:205764 Serial 9232  
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Author Van Alphen, S.; Jardali, F.; Creel, J.; Trenchev, G.; Snyders, R.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Sustainable gas conversion by gliding arc plasmas: a new modelling approach for reactor design improvement Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2021 Publication Sustainable energy & fuels Abbreviated Journal Sustainable Energy Fuels  
  Volume 5 Issue 6 Pages 1786-1800  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Research in plasma reactor designs is developing rapidly as plasma technology is gaining increasing interest for sustainable gas conversion applications, like the conversion of greenhouse gases into value-added chemicals and renewable fuels, and fixation of N<sub>2</sub>from air into precursors of mineral fertilizer. As plasma is generated by electric power and can easily be switched on/off, these applications allows for efficient conversion and energy storage of intermittent renewable electricity. In this paper, we present a new comprehensive modelling approach for the design and development of gliding arc plasma reactors, which reveals the fluid dynamics, the arc behaviour and the plasma chemistry by solving a unique combination of five complementary models. This results in a complete description of the plasma process, which allows one to efficiently evaluate the performance of a reactor and indicate possible design improvements before actually building it. We demonstrate the capabilities of this method for an experimentally validated study of plasma-based NO<sub>x</sub>formation in a rotating gliding arc reactor, which is gaining increasing interest as a flexible, electricity-driven alternative for the Haber–Bosch process. The model demonstrates the importance of the vortex flow and the presence of a recirculation zone in the reactor, as well as the formation of hot spots in the plasma near the cathode pin and the anode wall that are responsible for most of the NO<sub>x</sub>formation. The model also reveals the underlying plasma chemistry and the vibrational non-equilibrium that exists due to the fast cooling during each arc rotation. Good agreement with experimental measurements on the studied reactor design proves the predictive capabilities of our modelling approach.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000631643300013 Publication Date 2021-02-22  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2398-4902 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor Times cited Open Access OpenAccess  
  Notes Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, GoF9618n ; Vlaamse regering, HBC.2019.0107 ; European Research Council, 810182 ; This research was supported by the Excellence of Science FWOFNRS project (FWO grant ID GoF9618n, EOS ID 30505023), the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 810182 – SCOPE ERC Synergy project), the 1798 | Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2021, 5, 1786–1800 Approved Most recent IF: NA  
  Call Number PLASMANT @ plasmant @c:irua:177540 Serial 6745  
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Author Daems, N.; De Mot, B.; Choukroun, D.; Van Daele, K.; Li, C.; Hubin, A.; Bals, S.; Hereijgers, J.; Breugelmans, T. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Nickel-containing N-doped carbon as effective electrocatalysts for the reduction of CO2 to CO in a continuous-flow electrolyzer Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2019 Publication Sustainable energy & fuels Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 4 Issue 4 Pages 1296-1311  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT); Applied Electrochemistry & Catalysis (ELCAT)  
  Abstract Nickel-containing N-doped carbons were synthesized for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO, which is a promising approach to reduce the atmospheric CO2 levels and its negative impact on the environment. Unfortunately, poor performance (activity, selectivity and/or stability) is still a major hurdle for the economical implementation of this type of materials. The electrocatalysts were prepared through an easily up-scalable and easily tunable method based on the pyrolysis of Ni-containing N-doped carbons. Ni–N–AC–B1 synthesized with a high relative amount of nitrogen and nickel with respect to carbon, was identified as the most promising candidate for this reaction based on its partial CO current density (4.2 mA cm−2), its overpotential (0.57 V) and its faradaic efficiency to CO (>99%). This results in unprecedented values for the current density per g active sites (690 A g−1 active sites). Combined with its decent stability and its high performance in an actual electrolyzer setup, this makes it a promising candidate for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO on a larger scale. Finally, the evaluation of this kind of material in a flow-cell setup has been limited and to the best of our knowledge never included an evaluation of several crucial parameters (e.g. electrolyte type, anode composition and membrane type) and is an essential investigation in the move towards up-scaling and ultimately industrial application of this technique. This study resulted in an optimal cell configuration, consisting of Pt as an anode, Fumatech® as the membrane and 1 M KHCO3 and 2 M KOH as catholyte and anolyte, respectively. In conclusion, this research offers a unique combination of electrocatalyst development and reactor optimization.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000518690900030 Publication Date 2019-12-20  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor Times cited 14 Open Access OpenAccess  
  Notes ; The authors acknowledge sponsoring from the research foundation of Flanders (FWO) in the frame of a post-doctoral grant (12Y3919N – ND). J. Hereijgers was supported through a postdoctoral fellowship (28761) of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). This project was co-funded by the Interreg 2 Seas-Program 2014-2020, co-.nanced by the European Fund for Regional Development in the frame of subsidiary contract nr 2S03-019. This work was further performed in the framework of the Catalisti cluster SBO project CO2PERATE (“All renewable CCU based on formic acid integrated in an industrial microgrid”), with the.nancial support of VLAIO (Flemish Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship). This project.nally received funding from the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant 815128, REALNANO). We thank Karen Leyssens for helping with the N<INF>2</INF> physisorption measurements and Kitty Baert (VUB) for analyzing the samples with XPS and Raman. ; sygma Approved Most recent IF: NA  
  Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:165482 Serial 6311  
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Author Snoeckx, R.; Van Wesenbeeck, K.; Lenaerts, S.; Cha, M.S.; Bogaerts, A. pdf  url
doi  openurl
  Title Suppressing the formation of NOxand N2O in CO2/N2dielectric barrier discharge plasma by adding CH4: scavenger chemistry at work Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2019 Publication Sustainable Energy & Fuels Abbreviated Journal Sustainable Energy Fuels  
  Volume 3 Issue 6 Pages 1388-1395  
  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 The need for carbon negative technologies led to the development of a wide array of novel CO<sub>2</sub>conversion techniques. Most of them either rely on high temperatures or generate highly reactive O species, which can lead to the undesirable formation of NO<sub>x</sub>and N<sub>2</sub>O when the CO<sub>2</sub>feeds contain N<sub>2</sub>. Here, we show that, for plasma-based CO<sub>2</sub>conversion, adding a hydrogen source, as a chemical oxygen scavenger, can suppress their formation,<italic>in situ</italic>. This allows the use of low-cost N<sub>2</sub>containing (industrial and direct air capture) feeds, rather than expensive purified CO<sub>2</sub>. To demonstrate this, we add CH<sub>4</sub>to a dielectric barrier discharge plasma used for converting impure CO<sub>2</sub>. We find that when adding a stoichiometric amount of CH<sub>4</sub>, 82% less NO<sub>2</sub>and 51% less NO are formed. An even higher reduction (96 and 63%) can be obtained when doubling this amount. However, in that case the excess radicals promote the formation of by-products, such as HCN, NH<sub>3</sub>and CH<sub>3</sub>OH. Thus, we believe that by using an appropriate amount of chemical scavengers, we can use impure CO<sub>2</sub>feeds, which would bring us closer to ‘real world’ conditions and implementation.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000469258600021 Publication Date 2019-02-20  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 2398-4902 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor Times cited Open Access OpenAccess  
  Notes Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, G0F9618N ; Universiteit Antwerpen; King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, BAS/1/1384-01-01 ;The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from the “Excellence of Science Program” (Fund for Scientic Research Flanders (FWO): grant no. G0F9618N; EOS ID: 30505023). The authors R. S. and M. S. C. acknowledge nancial support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under award number BAS/1/1384-01-01. Approved Most recent IF: NA  
  Call Number PLASMANT @ plasmant @UA @ admin @ c:irua:160268 Serial 5188  
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Author Tsonev, I.; Ahmadi Eshtehardi, H.; Delplancke, M.-P.; Bogaerts, A. doi  openurl
  Title Importance of geometric effects in scaling up energy-efficient plasma-based nitrogen fixation Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2024 Publication Sustainable energy & fuels Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume Issue Pages 1-19  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT)  
  Abstract Despite the recent promising potential of plasma-based nitrogen fixation, the technology faces significant challenges in efficient upscaling. To tackle this challenge, we investigate two reactors, i.e., a small one, operating in a flow rate range of 5-20 ln min-1 and current range of 200-500 mA, and a larger one, operating at higher flow rate (100-300 ln min-1) and current (400-1000 mA). Both reactors operate in a pin-to-pin configuration and are powered by direct current (DC) from the same power supply unit, to allow easy comparison and evaluate the effect of upscaling. In the small reactor, we achieve the lowest energy cost (EC) of 2.8 MJ mol-1, for a NOx concentration of 1.72%, at a flow rate of 20 ln min-1, yielding a production rate (PR) of 33 g h-1. These values are obtained in air; in oxygen-enriched air, the results are typically better, at the cost of producing oxygen-enriched air. In the large reactor, the higher flow rates reduce the NOx concentration due to lower SEI, while maintaining a similar EC. This stresses the important effect of the geometrical configuration of the arc, which is typically concentrated in the center of the reactor, resulting in limited coverage of the reacting gas flow, and this is identified as the limiting factor for upscaling. However, our experiments reveal that by changing the reactor configuration, and thus the plasma geometry and power deposition mechanisms, the amount of gas treated by the plasma can be enhanced, leading to successful upscaling. To obtain more insights in our experiments, we performed thermodynamic equilibrium calculations. First of all, they show that our measured lowest EC closely aligns with the calculated minimum thermodynamic equilibrium at atmospheric pressure. In addition, they reveal that the limited NOx production in the large reactor results from the contracted nature of the plasma. To solve this limitation, we let the large reactor operate in so-called torch configuration. Indeed, the latter enhances the NOx concentrations compared to the pin-to-pin configuration, yielding a PR of 80 g h-1 at an EC of 2.9 MJ mol-1 and NOx concentration of 0.31%. This illustrates the importance of reactor design in upscaling. With the focus on feasibility evaluation of scaling-up plasma-based nitrogen fixation by combined experiments and thermodynamic modelling, we aim to tackle the challenge of design and development of an energy-efficient and scaled-up plasma reactor.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 001203657700001 Publication Date 2024-04-11  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record  
  Impact Factor Times cited Open Access  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:205435 Serial 9155  
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Author Vermang, B.; Brammertz, G.; Meuris, M.; Schnabel, T.; Ahlswede, E.; Choubrac, L.; Harel, S.; Cardinaud, C.; Arzel, L.; Barreau, N.; van Deelen, J.; Bolt, P.-J.; Bras, P.; Ren, Y.; Jaremalm, E.; Khelifi, S.; Yang, S.; Lauwaert, J.; Batuk, M.; Hadermann, J.; Kozina, X.; Handick, E.; Hartmann, C.; Gerlach, D.; Matsuda, A.; Ueda, S.; Chikyow, T.; Felix, R.; Zhang, Y.; Wilks, R.G.; Baer, M. pdf  doi
openurl 
  Title Wide band gap kesterite absorbers for thin film solar cells: potential and challenges for their deployment in tandem devices Type A1 Journal article
  Year 2019 Publication Sustainable Energy & Fuels Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 3 Issue 9 Pages 2246-2259  
  Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)  
  Abstract This work reports on developments in the field of wide band gap Cu2ZnXY4 (with X = Sn, Si or Ge, and Y = S, Se) kesterite thin film solar cells. An overview on recent developments and the current understanding of wide band gap kesterite absorber layers, alternative buffer layers, and suitable transparent back contacts is presented. Cu2ZnGe(S,Se)(4) absorbers with absorber band gaps up to 1.7 eV have been successfully developed and integrated into solar cells. Combining a CdS buffer layer prepared by an optimized chemical bath deposition process with a 1.36 eV band gap absorber resulted in a record Cu2ZnGeSe4 cell efficiency of 7.6%, while the highest open-circuit voltage of 730 mV could be obtained for a 1.54 eV band gap absorber and a Zn(O,S) buffer layer. Employing InZnOx or TiO2 protective top layers on SnO2:In transparent back contacts yields 85-90% of the solar cell performance of reference cells (with Mo back contact). These advances show the potential as well as the challenges of wide band gap kesterites for future applications in high-efficiency and low-cost tandem photovoltaic devices.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Wos 000482057500004 Publication Date 2019-06-14  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles  
  Impact Factor Times cited 2 Open Access  
  Notes ; This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under grant agreement No. 640868. The synchrotron radiation experiments were performed at the SPring-8 beamline BL15XU with the approval of the NIMS Synchrotron X-ray Station (Proposals 2016A4600, 2016B4601, and 2017A4600) and at BESSY II with the approval of HZB. B. Vermang has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement no. 715027). ; Approved Most recent IF: NA  
  Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:161785 Serial 5404  
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