On Wednesday 8th of November, Harshita Bhatia successfully defended her PhD entitled : "Designing Synthetic Strategies Toward Water-Compatible Perovskite Nanocrystals for LED Application" Big congratulations to Dr. Harshita Bhatia !! lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/20.500.…

On Thursday 11th of November, Wouter Vandezande successfully defended his PhD : "Experimental and theoretical development of FO-SPR sensors for monitoring the formation of MOF recognition layers to sense vocs." Big congratulations to Dr. Ir. Wouter Vandezande!!

Today we got a visit from national television. If you want to find out more, stay tuned....

Last week we all enjoyed our team building in Meerdaal forest!

Electrochemical reduction of nitrate to hydroxylamine on gold electrode : The efficacy of gold (Au) as a selective electrocatalyst for the reduction of nitrate to hydroxylamine, a valuable nitrogen-based chemical, while also evaluating the by-product formation of ammonia.

Last Friday's lunch was a science feast! We were thrilled to have Prof. H. Zhang (Hong Kong City University) and Prof. N. Yan (UHasselt) join us for delicious food and lively scientific discussions with Prof. J. Hofkens and Prof. F. De Schryver. Great minds, great conversations!

Strengthen the team bonds during a game of padel in the evening!

Last Friday Dr Michiel De Ras successfully defended his PhD "Electrochemical Nitrogen Conversion". Promotor Prof Hofkens (right) and co-promotor Prof Roeffaers (left) were very impressed by his excellent work!!

Gisteren op factcheckers : Zitten er microplastics in kartonnen drinkbekers? Onderzoek in Roeffaers Lab geeft verduidelijking : vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025… Herbekijk de uitzending : vrt.be/vrtmax/a-z/fac… #microplastics #factcheckers #Research

🌍Microplastics don’t just surround us, they’re inside us. And they’re plentiful. Our new method reveals thousands to millions of particles per cm³ in human placenta, not just a handful. Preprint 👉 medrxiv.org/content/10.110… #microplastics #health #toxicology

Why did we miss this before? Most methods only detect particles >5 µm and lose tissue context. 👉 Our workflow detects down to ~400 nm, avoids contamination, and preserves histology and letting us map plastics. #fluorescence #clearing

💡Implication: the true burden of the smallest, and potentially most harmful plastics has been severely underestimated. This is a step toward understanding how micro- and nanoplastics affect human health. #placenta #publichealth #nanoplastics