Available student projects in MCC:
For the academic year 2026-2027 we can place a maximum of 15 MSc students in projects. Supervision will generally be by a PhD candidate or postdoc as daily supervisor, with one or two staff supervisors. If you are interested in doing a BSc project, you can indictae your first, second and third topic as preference to our coordinator Peter Ngene. You can also contact the PhDs and postdocs directly if you would like more information about their research, with Peter Ngene in the cc.
Some of the current open topics to choose from are:
| Supervisor (Updated: 20-10-26) | Short project description | Can supervise a BSc student | Can supervise a MSc student |
| Robin van der Kruit | Studying the alkali promotion of Cu catalysts for selective CO2 hydrogenation | Yes | Yes |
| Harsh Wadhwani | 3D porous model systems for electrocatalysis | Yes | Yes |
| Christiaan Versteeg | Conversion of CO2 to Aromatics for Sustainable Aviation Fuels | Yes | Yes |
| Marco Kikkert | Impact of high concentration of CO and H2O on the performance of bifunctional hydrocracking and hydroisomerisation catalysts | Yes | Yes |
| Tomáš Pokorný | Stability of supported copper catalysts for high pressure CO2 hydrogenation to methanol | Yes | Yes |
| Sanne van Riel | Sorption-enhanced CO2 hydrogenation to methanol | Yes | No |
| Renate Baarslag | Engineered ionic conductors for electrochemical energy storage and conversion | Yes | Yes |
| Inge de Bruin | Influence of promoters on the stability of supported nickel catalysts for CO2 methanation | Yes | Yes |
| Jan-Willem Lankman | Induction heating: a new route to sustainable CO2 conversion | Yes | Yes |
| Fabian Mohammad | Yes | Yes |
In-situ studies on Ni for renewable methane with Inge de Bruin send e-mail
Promotion of Cu catalysts for selective CO2 hydrogenation Robin van de Kruit – send e-mail
3D porous model systems for electrocatalysis with Harsh Wadhwani send e-mail
Advanced Electron Microscopy on Battery Materials with Katerina Makrykosta – send e-mail
Influence of water concentration on the stability of supported metal hydrodeoxygenation catalystswith Patrick Kreft send e-mail
Impact of high concentrations of CO and H2O during the production of sustainable aviation fuels with Marco Kikkert send e-mail
New Fischer-Tropsch Catalysts for Sustainable Fuels with Lucas de Vries send e-mail
Understanding electrocatalyst stability with advanced electron microscopy with Erik Betz-Guttner send e-mail
Stability of Cu-based catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol with Tomas Pokorny send e-mail
• Computational/Machine learning: Applied to catalysis and energy storage (directly with Nong Artrith or Robin van der Kruit)
• Computational: Water formation on Alkali(ne earth) promoted Cu catalysts using DFT (Robin van der Kruit)
In the hydrogenation of CO2 to CO or MeOH, water is produced in a 1:1 ratio to the conning: Applied to catalysis and energy storage (directly with Nong Artrith or Robin van der Kruit)
• Computational: Water formation on Alkali(ne earth) promoted Cu catalysts using DFT (Robin van der Kruit)
In the hydrogenation of CO2 to CO or MeOH, water is produced in a 1:1 ratio to the converted CO2. This quickly deactivates Cu catalysts, whilst alkali-promoted catalysts are more resistant to this. This project involves the creation of promoted structures covered in the relevant reaction intermediates and calculations using DFT/MLIP of these models. Please contact me if you are interested in working on this project.
