Introducing PhD candidates

Ashique Lal (UvA)

Ashique from Kerala, India and is a PhD student supervised by Prof. Peter Bolhuis and Prof. Evert Jan Meijer in Computational Chemistry group of University of Amsterdam. The focus his project will be understanding the fundamentals of the CO2 reduction reaction at Mater-Water interface using Molecular Simulation. He graduated in 2021 with a Masters in Physics from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram. During his Masters he working with Dr. M. M. Shaijumon in Nanomaterials and Energy Devices Lab. After graduation he worked as Research Assistant for Dr. T N Narayanan at Materials and Interface Engineering in TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences.

Sven Weerdenburg (TUD)

Sven is a Dutch PhD student under supervision of Dr. Monique van der Veen and Prof. Dr. Arjan Houtepen at the Catalysis Engineering department at Delft University of Technology. In Delft, he also obtained my bachelor’s degree in Molecular Science and Technology, and master’s degree in Chemical Engineering. During his studies, he has been interested in studying and utilizing the opto-electronic properties of materials for applications such as photocleavable polymers and new generation solar cells. Now, he is happy to be able to continue pursuing his interests and to start his project at ARC CBBC on optimizing plasmon-assisted heterogeneous catalysis for the conversion of CO2. He is looking forward to working with the other members and researchers at ARC CBBC and hopes his work will contribute to a more sustainable future. Outside work, he enjoys running, swimming, traveling, and scuba diving.

Nicolette Maaskant (UU)

During her master’s programme nanomaterials science at Utrecht University she got the opportunity to do her thesis research in the group of prof. dr. Andries Meijerink. Here, she studied the formation mechanism of semiconductor nanocrystals using in situ techniques. The project inspired her to obtain thorough understanding of chemical and physical processes before optimising them. For her PhD project, under the supervision of prof. Bert Weckhuysen and dr. Matteo Monai, she will try to use this philosophy as well. Her project is about improving the selectivity and activity for CO₂ hydrogenation using photo-assisted catalysis. Currently, her focus lays on understanding the mechanisms behind the effect of light on CO₂ hydrogenation.