Covering materials science and chemical technology skills a novel silica nanofibrous membrane has been produced by direct electrospinning. The chemical structure of the silica network is designed in view of hydrophilicity control and water repellency, enabling applications that make use of hydrophobic and hydrophilic membranes, including fast gravity‐driven membrane separation of heterogeneous azeotropes

With SERENiTi, a second Proof of Concept (PoC) grant has been awarded to prof. Joris Thybaut by the European Research Council (ERC)

After the support via his first PoC grant ELR1K, which allowed guaranteeing the user-friendliness of the microkinetic engine tool, the challenge now is to ensure the robustness of the engine. This will be achieved via the implementation of transient solution strategies as part of SERENiTi. This software package, specifically designed for microkinetic model construction, fits within the Consolidator Grant i-CaD, which still runs till June 2019.

Metal nanoparticle catalysts play an important role in widespread applications, such as car exhaust converters and fuel cells, and provide a platform for the selective transformation of chemical building units in industry. During the past decades, the perception on metal catalysts has drastically evolved from static bodies to dynamically changing nanomaterials, which evolve from birth to death, almost like living organisms.