PSFD research group news

An international team of researchers, including scientists from DIFFER, present a plasma-based way to produce and separate oxygen within the Martian environment. They published their findings in the Journal of Applied Physics (open access).

Alex van de Steeg (DIFFER and TU/e) mapped CO2 plasmas to figure out the reactions at play when CO2 splits into other molecules at temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun. Recently he obtained his PhD cum laude.

To make an impact on society with their work on electrolysers for hydrogen production, DIFFER collaborates with EIRES researchers and industrial manufacturer VDL Groep in a project funded by the Brabant Development Agency (BOM). Marius Ponten, Director of Special Projects at VDL Groep: ‘Learning by doing is the fastest route to innovation.’

DIFFER and Leiden University receive about € 850,000 from NWO’s Open Technology Program for building a new type of plasma reactor.

Using renewable electricity and carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) can be produced as a source of sustainable fuels. Driving this process with high temperature is regularly dismissed as not very promising, because the theoretical maximum achievable energy efficiency would be 'only' 50 percent.