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What if one technology could help tackle climate change on Earth and support future missions to Mars? A recent PhD study shows that this is not just science fiction, but a promising reality. On Tuesday 27 May 2025 PhD researcher Xingyu Chen defended her thesis called ‘The Plasma–Solid Oxide Interface: An experimental study of plasma-enhanced surface processes'.

On a sunny Thursday afternoon, accompanied by employees, relatives, music and foods, DIFFER celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the institute at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) campus. In May 2015, DIFFER moved from Nieuwegein to Eindhoven. A decade of leading research and collaboration in Eindhoven followed. Time to celebrate, and to look back and forward.

‘The only thing that is harder than doing fusion, is raising funds for fusion.’ This statement by key note speaker Klaas de Boer resonated well with the nearly 200 participants of the second Dutch Fusion Day, hosted by DIFFER and co-organized by TU/e EIRES and BigScienceNL on May 9, 2025.

How can we store renewable energy to power a fossil-free future? Dr. Süleyman Er, Head of the Chemical Energy department at DIFFER, is leading the development of AI-driven, self-driving labs to fast-track the discovery of materials for green fuels, making clean energy storage smarter and more sustainable.

Future fusion power plants require a careful balancing act to protect their insides from the hot plasma exhaust. DIFFER control engineer Thomas Bosman designed and tuned a control algorithm for this thorny problem in only three experimental shots.