Projects
Studies of Multiple Metal Doped Silicon Clusters and Design of Novel Materials Based on Clusters Containing Silicon and Germanium. KU Leuven
Geometric, Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Transition Metal Doped Silicon Clusters, and Development of a Magnetic Deflection Setup KU Leuven
The aim of the work presented in this thesis is to provide deeper understanding on the geometric, electronic, and magnetic properties of gas phase clusters as a function of size and composition using a combination of the spectroscopic techniques and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The thesis is divided into four parts. A review of recent research on the structural identification of doped silicon clusters is given in Part I. In ...
Quantum Rules for Nanoclusters. KU Leuven
Nanochemistry recently emerged as a new branch of chemistry, simultaneously expanding into many new areas, and playing a significant role in fields that were domains of engineering or life sciences. Nanochemistry brings together multiple disciplines using chemical theories and experiments to investigate materials at the nano scale. Emerging nanomaterials include the nanoclusters. The elemental clusters are of great interest due to their ...
Synthesis and surface chemistry of doped hafnium oxide nanocrystals for dual-modality bio-imaging Ghent University
Nanomaterials have been considered for a long time to be interesting for medical imaging due to their unique properties, they range from 1-100 nanometers in size, a billion times smaller than a meter. Nanoparticles can be designed in such a way that gives them the ability to perform multiple types of imaging, this is where our research comes into play. In this research proposal we aim to create a product which can (1) target cancer cells, ...
Computational Studies of Small Boron Based Clusters KU Leuven
From geometrical features of the global minima, a growth mechanism for each series of the BnX clusters was established. The fundamental featuressuch as chemical bonding, electronic distribution, aromaticity, were probed using the analyses of canonical molecular orbital (CMO) in combination with other indices obtained from the electron localization function(ELF), nuclear independent chemical shift (NICS) etc
Quantitatively, ...
Luminescent nanothermometers for theranostics Ghent University
For diagnostic purposes temperature measurements in biomedicine are of key importance, as temperature plays an essential role in biological systems. For example, conditions such as inflammations and diseases such as cancer are accompanied by hyperlocal temperature changes in tissues. For biomedical applications measurements in the temperature range 20 – 50 ºC are essential (the so-called physiological range). Although detecting the ...
Thin film composite membranes and novel draw solutes for forward osmosis KU Leuven
Osmotic membrane processes, such as forward osmosis (FO) and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) are emerging in the field of membrane technology. These processes are very promising due to their versatility in multiple applications like water treatment and sustainable energy production. The key factors that are currently standing in the way of direct implementation in industry is the lack of high-performance membranes, which combine high salt ...