em Prof dr Renaat Gijbels (Belgium) was the former head of the research group. He retired in October 2004. Beside the activities going on in the PLASMANT group, his research also involved surface and microanalysis of (especially) advanced industrial materials by various instrumental techniques, such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS).
Stefaan Aernouts (Belgium) studied chemistry at the University of Antwerp. He worked in our group for a 1 year period (2012-2012), on modelling of the plasma chemistry in a plasma jet, and modelling the interactions of plasma species with biological cells by means of molecular dynamics simulations, for medical applications.
dr Robby Aerts (Belgium) made his PhD work in our group from 2010 till 2014, on computer modelling and experimental validation of CO2 splitting and of the decomposition of volatile organic compounds in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactors. He also built the first DBD reactor in our group.
dr. Maryam Aghaei (Iran) made her PhD in our group from 2009 till 2014, on modeling a thermal inductively coupled plasma for ICP-MS. Afterwards, she was a postdoc (funded by FWO) for 6 years, and she worked further on modeling the ICP, as well as a flowing atmospheric pressure afterglow (FAPA) plasma source used for ambient ionization mass spectrometry. In addition, she did experiments on CO2 conversion and N2 fixation by means of plasma.
Shahid Ali (Pakistan) did research in our group in the period 2014-2015, on molecular dynamics simulations for Au nanoclusters.
dr Mozhgan Amini (Iran) worked in our group for 1 year from June 2016 to June 2017 as postdoctoral researcher on the interaction of small molecules with gold nanoparticles using DFT calculations.
Jakob Afzali Andersen (Denmark) stayed for 3 months in our group in 2019, in the framework of his PhD at Denmark Technical University. He came here to get practical experience with DBD reactors and plasma catalysis, and he performed experiments on plasma catalytic conversion of CO2 and CH4, with various types of catalysts.
dr Pankaj Attri (India) worked in our group as a H2020 MSCA postdoc from 2017 till 2019, to study the effect of plasma on proteins, by experiments and simulations, for plasma medicine applications.
dr Damien Aussems (the Netherlands) spent 1 year in our group In the period 2015-2016 working on the application of collective-variable driven hyperdynamics simulations to the plasma etching of graphite.
dr David Autrique (Belgium) started his PhD work in our group in 2005 and finished in 2014. He developed a comprehensive model for describing laser ablation processes.
dr Neyda Baguer-Perez (Belgium) made her PhD in our group, in the period 1997-2005, on hybrid Monte Carlo - fluid modelling of hollow cathode discharges in argon and in helium. Afterwards, she was a postdoc in the group, until end of 2008, studying the deposition of metal oxide layers by molecular dynamics and fluid dynamics simulations, as well as hybrid modelling for hollow cathode discharges, in reactive gas and with gas flow, for film deposition purposes.
dr Igor Belov (Russia) did his PhD at VITO, but with A. Bogaerts as supervisor. He studied plasma-based CO2 conversion in a dielectric barrier discharge and microwave plasma, trying to understand the underlying mechanisms by various types of experiments.
dr Charlotta Bengtson (Sweden) was a postdoc in our group for 3 years (2018-2021). She studied signalling pathways playing a role in cancer cell death by kinetics modelling, to obtain a better insight in plasma-based cancer therapy.
dr Antonin Berthelot (France) made his PhD in our group from 2014 till 2018, within a MCSA-ITN network. He studied CO2 splitting in a microwave discharge by means of 0D chemical kinetics modelling, and also modelled the microwave discharge by a fluid model, developed within the COMSOL Multiphysics Software.
dr Upendra Bhandarkar (India) made his PhD-thesis at University of Minnesota. He worked in our group, between July 2003 and July 2004, on the modelling of nanoparticle formation in hydrocarbon plasmas (acetylene and methane). He tried to model the detailed chemistry of cluster formation and growth.
dr Matthew Bieniek (UK) was a postdoc in our group in 2022-2023, working on modelling for plasma-based NH3 decomposition for green H2 synthesis.
dr Eline Biscop (Belgium) made her PhD in our group, from 2018 till 2023, on plasma treatment of cancer cells, studying cancer cell selectivity, different cell death pathways and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. She was as a joint PhD student with the Center for Oncological Research (CORE; E. Smits), also at University of Antwerp.
Prof dr Mike Blades (Canada) visited our group in May 1998, to become familiar with plasma modelling techniques.
Prof dr Davide Bleiner (Italy) worked in our group as a postdoc for 1.5 years (September 2005 - March 2007). He has done very interesting work on the modelling (and fundamental studies in general) of laser ablation, for instance on the performance of laser ablation cells and transport tubes, in terms of gas flow, particle evacuation and transport efficiency. He is now at the University of Bern.
dr. Joshua Boothroyd (UK) worked in our group as a postdoc from 2021 till 2023, on CFD modeling of gliding arc plasmas for N2 and CO2 conversion.
dr Evi Bultinck (Belgium) made her PhD work in our group in the period 2005-2009, on the particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo modelling of magnetron discharges in Ar/N2 and Ar/O2 for the reactive sputter-deposition of nitride and oxide layers. Afterwards, she was a postdoc in the group, until 2011. In this period, she extended the PIC-MC code to a multi-species MC modelling approach, to be applied to larger-scale magnetron discharges.
Hakan Candan (Turkey) was a Marie Curie early-stage researcher in the group for 1 year in 2007-2008, to study glow discharge in an Ar/H2 gas mixture.
Zhiuyan Cao (China) worked in our group for 1 year (2021-2022), in the framework of his PhD. He did particle-in-cell – Monte Carlo modeling for plasma penetration into catalyst pores.
dr Adam Cenian (Poland), Dr Andry Chernuko (Poland) and Dr Alexei Migoun (Belarus) were in our group for a period of several months, in the framework of a Bilateral Agreement between the Flemish Community and Poland.
dr Zhaoyang Chen (P.R. China) worked in our group as a postdoc for 4 years (2002-2005), and again for 1.5 year in 2010-2012. He worked mainly on computer modelling for laser ablation.
dr Sotheara Chuon (France) 2018-2019 did a joint PhD between our group and the Grémi research group at the Université d’Orléans (France). In our group, she worked on molecular dynamics simulations of the sputtering of Ti-surfaces in the context of magnetron sputtering. She finished her PhD in 2019.
Emelie Cleiren did a 3-month research internship in 2017 on plasma-based nitrogen fixation in a gliding arc plasma, by combined experiments and modelling.
Shiyuan Cong (China) worked in our group for 6 months (2019) in the framework of his PhD at Dalian University of Technology (joint PhD under supervision of A. Bogaerts and Prof. D. Wang). He investigated gliding arc plasma reactor design improvement for methane conversion, by a combination of 3D gas flow and 2D plasma fluid dynamics modelling.
dr James Creel (USA) was a postdoc in our group for 1.5 year (2019-2021), and worked on plasma reactor design modeling and experiments for plasma-based CO2 conversion.
Zhaolun Cui (China) worked in our group for 1 year (2019-2020) in the framework of his PhD at Wuhan University (joint PhD under supervision of A. Bogaerts and Prof. Xiaoxing Zhang). He was doing DFT simulations for plasma-catalytic CO2 hydrogenation and SF6 degradation. He defended his PhD in 2021.
dr Samira Dabaghmanesh (Iran) did her PhD in the groups PLASMANT (Dept. of Chemistry) and CMT (Dept. of Physics) under the supervision of E. Neyts and B. Partoens. She employed DFT calculations to study the electronic properties of pure and doped chromium oxides for electronic applications and the interaction of hydrocarbon molecules with chromium oxide surfaces for better understanding steel/polymer adhesion.
dr Christophe De Bie (Belgium) made PhD work in our group, from 2007 to 2016, on fluid modelling of a dielectric barrier discharge for the plasma-assisted conversion of greenhouse gases.
dr Joey De Backer (Belgium) did a PhD from 2016 till 2023, on plasma treatment of melanoma, with special focus on cytoglobin as a biomarker for the effectivity of plasma treatment and malignancy, under principal supervision of S. De Wilde/W. Van den Berghe (research group PPES, Department of Biomedical Sciences) and with A. Bogaerts as co-supervisor.
dr Kathleen De Bleecker (Belgium) made a PhD work in our group from 2002 till 2006, on the modelling of nanoparticles in SiH4 and C2H2 plasmas, with a fluid model. This included the description of the growth mechanisms of these nanoparticles as well as the behaviour of the nanoparticles (charges, transport under the influence of different forces).
Koen De Cauwsemaecker (Belgium) was an electronics engineer in the MiTAC group up to September 2003. He was responsible for the maintenance of the workstations and PC's, not only for our PLASMANT group, but for the whole MiTAC group.
dr Aranka Derzsi (Hungary) stayed in the group in 2008 for 3 months, to simulate the gas heating and gas flow behaviour in analytical glow discharges.
Jiangwei Duan (P.R. China) stayed in our group for 1 year in 2018-2019, in the framework of his joint PhD with Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He investigated RONS penetration through cell membranes and skin, by atomic scale modeling, for plasma medicine applications, to be compared with his experiments in China.
Prof dr Abdiravuf Dzhurakhalov (Uzbekistan) worked as a postdoc in our group for 1 year (2009-2010), on molecular dynamics simulations for femtosecond laser-metal interaction, to describe laser-induced heating and phase transitions (melting, vaporisation).
dr Maxie Eckert (Belgium) made her PhD work in our group in the period 2006-2010, on a combination of molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations for plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition of (ultra)nanocrystalline diamond thin films.
Asliddin Elmonov (Uzbekistan) was a Marie Curie early-stage researcher in the group for about 1 year in 2008-2009, to study the behaviour of H atom excited levels in an Ar/H2 glow discharges.
dr. Yannick Engelmann (Belgium) was PhD student in our group from 2015 till 2020, after which he stayed as a postdoc for a bit less than 1 year (2021). He worked on catalyst surface chemistry kinetic modeling (combined with plasma chemistry modeling) for plasma catalysis.
dr Mireille Gaillard (France) worked in our group as a postdoc for 2 years (2007-2009). She studied magnetron discharges by computer modelling and by experiments, in collaboration with Ghent University.
dr Violeta Georgieva (Bulgaria) made a PhD in our group (2000-2006), on particle-in-cell simulations of cc rf discharges in a mixture of CF4/N2/Ar, typically used for etching applications. Subsequently, she was working in the group as a postdoc from 2006 till 2011, studying the deposition of metal oxide layers by molecular dynamics simulation, and again from 2016 till 2018, working on etch profile simulations, in collaboration with a company.
dr Nick Gerrits (The Netherlands) did a postdoc in our group from 2021 till 2023, working on DFT simulations for plasma catalysis, studying the effect of vibrationally excited molecules.
dr Maryam Ghasemitarei (Iran) worked in our group for 1 year (2017-2018) in the framework of her PhD at Shahid Beheshti University (joint PhD under supervision of A. Bogaerts and B. Shokri). She investigated cystine transportation through cell membranes by XC- antiporter, and the effect of oxidative stress, by means of Molecular Dynamics simulations.
dr. Fanny Girard-Sahun (France) made a postdoc in our group from 2019 to 2022, and performed experiments on plasma-based CO2 conversion in gliding arc plasmas, with special attention to the effect of a post-plasma carbon bed.
dr Fujun Gou (People's Republic of China) worked in our group as a postdoc for 1 year (2009). He investigated the interaction between reactive plasma species (Cl radicals) with Si substrates, by means of molecular dynamics simulations, for a better understanding of plasma-etch mechanisms.
Irina Grubova (Russia) studied physics at the National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University (Russia) since 2006. She started her PhD work at NR TPU in September 2012, focussing on surface functionalisation (titanium, steel, polymers) by different types of the treatments. She stayed in our group for 3 months for in order to better understand calcium phosphate thin film growth deposited by radio- frequency magnetron sputtering via molecular dynamics simulations.
Banat Gul (Pakistan) stayed in our group for 6 months in the framework of his double doctorate (with Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences). He studied a capacitively coupled plasma in fluorocarbon-based gases and in HBr-based gas mixtures for microelectronics applications by means of a hybrid Monte Carlo - fluid model.
dr Neda HafezKhiabani (Iran) worked as a postdoc in our group from 2016 to 2018, on CO2 conversion into value-added chemicals by plasma catalysis, in a joint project with the research group LADCA (Dept. of Chemistry).
dr Stijn Heijkers (Belgium) did his PhD in our group from 2014 till 2020. He studied the plasma chemistry of CO2 and CH4 conversion (including gas mixtures with N2 and H2) in various plasma types, with most emphasis to gliding arc plasmas, but also nanosecond-pulsed plasmas, DBD and microwave plasmas, by means of chemical kinetics modelling.
dr Dieter Herrebout (Belgium) made a PhD work in our group from 1998 till November 2003. The subject of his Ph.D. thesis was the fluid and hybrid Monte Carlo – fluid modelling of cc rf discharges, in several gases, such as CH4/H2, SiH4/H2 or C2H2.
dr Stijn Huygh (Belgium) worked in our group in the period 2012-2017 on atomistic simulations of catalytic materials. First, he developed a ReaxFF force field for TiO2/anatase. Subsequently, he worked on DFT calculations for the conversion of CO2 and CH4 on TiO2 in the context of plasma catalysis.
dr Amin Jafarzadeh (Iran) did his PhD in our group (2016-2020), on DFT calculations for plasma–catalytic CO2 conversion, testing the effect of surface charging and the electric field.
dr Fatme Jardali (Lebanon) worked in our group as a postdoc for 2.5 years (2018-2020) on modeling and experiments for gliding arc plasma-based NOx production.
dr Igor Kaganovich (Russia) worked in our group in the first half year of 1998. His research interest was the fast kinetic modelling of cc rf discharges. He is currently working at Princeton University.
dr Balu Kamaraj (India) worked as a postdoc in our group from 2014 till 2016, on MD simulations for biomolecules, relevant for plasma medicine.
dr. Sean Kelly (Ireland) stayed in our group from 2019 till 2022, among others as an MSCA postdoc. He studied N2 fixation in microwave plasma, by modelling and experiments. He is still unremunerated employee and visits us at regular times for doing experiments in a joint project on in-situ resource utilization of the Martian atmosphere, i.e., converting CO2 and N2 into CO, O2 and NOx, for which he obtained ESA funding.
dr. Umedjon Khalilov (Uzbekistan) worked in our group from 2009 until 2020, first as PhD student and subsequently as FWO fellow, on molecular dynamics simulations of silicon nanowire oxidation, and carbon nanotube growth and etching.
Dinh Duy Khoe (Vietnam) stayed in our group for 3 months (June – August 2018) and worked on modelling and experiments for dry reforming of methane in a gliding arc plasma.
dr Narjes Khosravian (Iran) worked in our group in the period 2013-2015 as a postdoctoral researcher to use molecular dynamics simulations and associated numerical data analysis techniques to first investigate the growth of carbon nanotubes at the atomic scale and subsequently the interaction of reactive plasma species with biomolecules.
dr Ivan Kolev (Bulgaria) made his PhD work in our group from 1999 till 2007, on the particle-in-cell-Monte Carlo modelling of magnetron discharges in argon. Afterwards, he was a postdoc in our group until 2008, investigating the (CVD) deposition of metal oxide layers by computational fluid dynamics simulations. He is currently working as a senior process engineer at Hauzer Techno Coating, Venlo, The Netherlands (ikolev@hauzer.nl).
dr Stanimir Kolev (Bulgaria) worked in our group as a postdoc from 2013 till 2015. Now he is associate professor at the University of Sofia (Bulgaria), but we still collaborate on modelling of gliding arc plasma reactors.
dr Tomáš Kozák (Czech Republic) worked in our group as a postdoc for 1.5 year (2013-2014), and studied the behaviour of vibrationally excited CO2 levels in a microwave plasma and a DBD, as well as their effect on the conversion of CO2 into value-added chemicals.
dr Naresh Kumar (India) worked in our group as an FWO postdoc from 2016 till 2019, on in vitro experiments for plasma treatment of cancer cells.
dr Ying-Shuang Liang (China) was a postdoc in our group for 1 year (2020-2021), and worked on plasma chemistry modelling for CO2 hydrogenation.
dr Abraham Lin (USA) was FWO postdoc in our group, from 2017 till 2023, in collaboration with the Center for Oncological Research (E. Smits). He studied plasma for cancer immunotherapy, and was also mentoring several PhD students. In 2023 he started a spin-off company (Orbits) in the US, where he now works as the CEO, but he is still connected to our group as unremunerated employee.
dr Helmut Lindner (Germany) worked in our group as a postdoc for 3.5 years (2008 – 2011). He modelled laser ablation cells and inductively coupled plasmas, used in analytical spectrometry, by means of computational fluid dynamics simulations (Fluent).
dr Yanhong Liu (People's Republic of China) worked in our group as a postdoc for 3 years (2003-2006). She has worked on the Monte Carlo simulation of surface diffusion on a diamond surface. Moreover, she has investigated disk- and band-like voids in dusty plasmas.
dr Myriam Madani (Belgium) made a PhD work in our group from 2000 till 2006, on the fluid modelling of atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharges in several gases (helium, nitrogen and air). Also, the effect of a gas flow has been simulated, with computational fluid dynamics modelling.
Axel Maeyens (Belgium) did research in our group in the period 2007-2011, on molecular dynamics simulations for the growth of carbon nanotubes and for laser - solid interaction.
dr Ming Mao (People's Republic of China) worked as a postdoc in our group from 2007 till 2011, to study the plasma chemistry of hydrocarbon-based plasmas, used for applications of carbon-nanomaterials, as well as SF6-based plasmas for etching applications, both by means of fluid modelling.
Marinko Marinković (Montenegro) did research in the group in 2007-2008, on computer simulations for carbon nanotubes growth and for nanoparticle formation by laser ablation.
dr Tom Martens (Belgium) made his PhD work in our group in the period 2005-2010, on the fluid modelling of atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier glow discharges. Afterwards, he was a postdoc in the group, until 2011, working on the fluid modelling of plasma-assisted conversion of CO2 by means of dielectric barrier discharges.
dr Antonio Martin (Spain) stayed in the group in 2007 for 4 months, to study the electron (thermalisation) behaviour in the afterglow of pulsed glow discharges.
dr Inne Michielsen (Belgium) did her PhD in our group from 2014 till 2019, in a joined project between our group and the Laboratory for Adsorption and Catalysis. She studied CO2 conversion and dry reforming of methane in a (packed bed) dielectric barrier discharge, for different types of packing materials (as supports for plasma catalysis).
Johan Minnebo (Belgium) worked in our group as a PhD-student from 2012 till 2015, on molecular dynamics simulations for plasma functionalisation of polymers.
dr Martin Misina (Czech Republic) stayed in our group for two years, from 1997 to 1999. He worked on the modelling of magnetron discharges by Monte Carlo simulations and on electron cyclotron resonance discharges. He is now back at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague.
Mohanna Mohammadi (Iran) did some research in our group in 2022, on modeling CH4 plasma for H2 synthesis.
dr Parisa Nematollahi (Iran) did her PhD in our group from 2017 to 2020, followed by a postdoc, for computational exploration of new pathways in gas conversion on novel nanocatalysts. In 2024 she left our group and became part of MOSAIC, under supervision of Prof dr E.C. Neyts.
Prof dr Erik C. Neyts (Belgium) did his PhD in our group from 2001 to 2006, on molecular dynamics simulations for the deposition of diamond-like carbon layers, followed by a postdoc (2006 – 2013). He then became professor in our group. His research was focused on MD/MC simulations for the growth of nanostructured materials, including carbon nanotubes, graphene and silicon oxide nanowires, as well as plasma catalysis. He started his own group (MOSAIC) in 2024, focussing on DFT/MD/MC simulations mainly for astrochemistry and materials research.
Mehdi Nourazar (Iran) did research in our group from 2017 till 2018, on modelling of a packed bed dielectric barrier discharge reactor for CO2 conversion.
dr Andriy Okhrimovskyy (Ukraine) stayed in our group as a postdoc for 3.5 years (from spring 2000 until autumn 2003). His research was focused on including convective transport into the plasma models, which becomes important in larger reactors and when high gas flows are used.
dr Alp Ozkan (Belgium) worked on a double doctorate in a joint collaboration between the “Université Libre de Bruxelles” (ULB) and our group PLASMANT, from 2013 till 2016. He worked on the conversion of CO2 with a dielectric barrier discharge.
Samuel Pernet (France) did an internship in our group for 3.5 months in 2019, on fluid dynamics modeling for gliding arc plasma reactor design.
dr Dragana Petrovic (Serbia) worked in our group as a postdoc for 3 years (2007-2009), mainly on fluid modelling of dielectric barrier discharges for plasma-assisted conversion of greenhouse gases.
dr Daniela Pietanza (Italy) was a visiting senior researcher from Bari (Italy), who stayed in our group in 2012, on a sabbatical leave. She investigated the behaviour of vibrationally excited CO2 levels in a plasma.
dr Khamdam Rakhimov (Uzbekistan) stayed in our group for 6 months (2018-2019), and studied NH3 synthesis by plasma catalysis, in a joint project with Université Libre de Bruxelles (M.-P. Delplancke). He also worked in our group from 2019 to 2020 on an industrial project issued by Xeikon on atomistic simulations of the interaction of polymers with pigment crystals.
dr Marleen Ramakers (Belgium) did her PhD in our group from 2014 till 2019, on CO2 conversion (alone, and in combination with CH4 and N2) in a (reverse vortex flow) gliding arc plasmatron reactor.
Samira Ranjbar (Iran) stayed in our group for 6 months in 2019, in the framework of her joint PhD with Arak University. She worked on modelling for plasma-based bacteria destruction.
dr. Jamoliddin Razzokov (Uzbekistan) made his PhD in our group from 2015 till 2019, and stayed as a postdoc for one more year. He worked on molecular-level modelling for the effect of plasma oxidation on phospholipid membranes and proteins, for plasma medicine applications (cancer treatment and cancer immunotherapy).
dr. Frederik Riedel (Germany) was a postdoc in our group from 2021 to 2022, and performed modeling for DBD plasma-liquid interactions.
dr Jan Robben (Belgium) made his PhD work in our group from 1997 until July 2003, on the development of new hard- and software for the VG9000 glow discharge mass spectrometer.
dr. Maxime Sahun (France) was a postdoc in our group from 2020 to 2022, and studied the effect of cold atmospheric plasma on (corona) virus killing, as well as cancer cells.
dr Laurent Schwaederlé (France) worked for 1 year in our group as a postdoc, on magnetron modelling (i.e., calculations of magnetic field strength, as well as electron Monte Carlo modelling), in collaboration with Ghent University where he performed some validation experiments.
dr Mahsa Setareh (Iran) stayed as a guest researcher in our group for 12 months in 2012 & 2013, in the framework of her joined PhD-thesis. She worked on plasma chemistry modelling for CH4/N2 gas mixtures, for greenhouse gas conversion applications.
dr Mahdi Shirazi (Iran) worked in our group in the period 2014-2016 as a postdoctoral researcher, in the framework of a European ITN project, performing DFT-studies of the interaction of plasma species with catalysts in the context of plasma catalysis.
Peter Simon (Hungary) worked in our group for 4 years (2009-2013). He studied the vibrational kinetics of nitrogen in an Ar/N2 glow discharge, as well as atmospheric pressure glow discharges used for gaseous analysis.
dr Ramses Snoeckx (Belgium) made his PhD in our group from 2012 till 2017. He studied CO2 conversion in the presence of CH4 or H2O, as well as of CO2 and CH4 conversion in the presence of N2, by a combination of modelling and experiments. He started a postdoc in KAUST in August 2017, but remains affiliated to our group to continue the collaboration.
dr Wesley Somers (Belgium) made his PhD in our group in the period 2011-2015. He performed classical molecular dynamics simulations of hydrocarbon species interacting with Ni-surfaces in the context of plasma catalysis, employing the ReaxFF potential.
dr Surong Sun (People's Republic of China) was working in our group for 2 years (2016-2018), in the framework of her PhD at Beijhang University (double doctorate). She was modelling a gliding arc for CO2 conversion.
dr. Xiao-Yan Sun (China) stayed one year in our group as a postdoc (2020-2021) with a CSC scholarship, to model the plasma chemistry of dry reforming of methane in DBD plasma.
Jintao Sun (China) worked in our group for 1 year (2021-2022) in the framework of his PhD at Beijing Jiaotong University. He did chemical kinetics modeling for CO2/CH4 conversion in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma.
dr Steluta Teodoru (Romania) stayed in our group as a postdoc for one year (2010-2011). She studied environmental applications of plasmas, more specifically the plasma-based remediation of NxOy, by means of chemical kinetics modelling.
dr Stefan Tinck (Belgium) made his PhD work in our group from 2006 till 2011, investigating the plasma and surface chemistry of Ar/Cl2/O2 and Ar/SiH4/O2 inductively coupled plasmas used for etching and deposition applications in the microelectronics industry. Subsequently, he worked as a postdoc in the group until 2018, studying plasma-based (cryo)etching for the fabrication of nanoscale features in electronic devices.
dr. Georgi Trenchev (Bulgaria) made his PhD in our group in the period 2015-2019, on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and reactor engineering. Subsequently, he was a postdoc in our group, until he became CTO of D-CRBN, the spinoff of our research group, which focuses on plasma-based CO2 conversion into CO and building up-scaled plasma reactors for this application. In this respect, we still have very close collaboration.
dr Yannick Uytdenhouwen (Belgium) did his PhD in our group (2015-2020), in a joined project between our group and the Laboratory for Adsorption and Catalysis. He studied the CO2 conversion in a packed bed dielectricbarrier discharge, by a combination of plasma and catalysis.
dr. Senne Van Alphen (Belgium) made his PhD in our group from 2018 till 2023, on combined CFD and chemical kinetics modelling for N2 fixation, CO2 conversion and dry reforming of methane, in gliding arc and microwave plasmas. He was a joint PhD student with University of Mons (R. Snyders).
Wilma Van Boxem (Belgium) studied chemistry at the University of Antwerp. She did research in our group from 2017 till 2019, on plasma-treated liquids (composition, stability) and their effects on cancer cells, by combined experiments and modelling.
dr Jonas Van der Paal (Belgium) did his PhD in our group from 2015 till 2019, on the use of plasma for cancer treatment, by molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecules, 0D chemical kinetics modeling of plasma-liquid interaction, and experiments.
dr Wouter Van Gaens (Belgium) made his PhD work in our group from 2010 till 2014, on zero-dimensional chemical kinetics modelling of the plasma chemistry in several plasma jet configurations, operating in Ar and flowing into humid air, for biomedical applications.
dr Koen Van Laer (Belgium) made his PhD in our group from 2012 till 2017, on modelling and experiments in a packed bed dielectric barrier discharge, used for CO2 conversion.
dr Jinthe Van Loenhout (Belgium) did a joint PhD in our group, from 2016 till 2021, on plasma-induced immunogenic cell death of cancer cells, under principal supervision of E. Smits (Center for Oncological Research (CORE) of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences) and co-supervision of A. Bogaerts.
dr. Kevin van ‘t Veer (The Netherlands) made his PhD in our group from 2018 till 2022, on modeling NH3 formation by DBD plasma and plasma catalysis, , as a joint PhD student with Université Libre de Bruxelles (F. Reniers; Excellence of Science project). After his PhD, he stayed in our group for half a year as postdoc.
Steven Vanuytsel (Belgium) studied chemistry at the University of Antwerp. He did research in our group from 2016 till 2017, in collaboration with the Center for Oncological Research (CORE; E. Smits) of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, on plasma treatment of liquids, to be used for cancer cell treatment.
dr Christof C.W. Verlackt (Belgium) made his PhD from 2013 till 2018, on modelling of the interactions of reactive oxygen species with biomolecules (DNA, sugars, amino acids, peptides) by means of molecular dynamics simulations (classical MD and DFTB), as well as modelling of the transport and accumulation of plasma species in liquid solution (plasma-liquid interaction), for medical applications.
dr Vincent Vermeiren (Belgium) did his PhD in our group (2015-2020), on modelling of a microwave plasma reactor for CO2 conversion into value-added chemicals.
dr Elise Vervloessem (Belgium) did her PhD in our group, from 2018 till June 2023, as a joint PhD with University of Ghent, on modelling and experiments for nitrogen fixation by a pulsed plasma jet in dry and humid air.
dr Charlotte Vets (Belgium) started her PhD in our group in 2016, in the framework of an IWT fellowship. In her PhD, she studied the chirality controlled catalytic growth of carbon nanotubes on single and bimetallic catalysts by means of density functional theory (DFT). She defended her PhD in 2019.
dr Maxim Voronov (Russia) stayed in the group for 1 month in 2008 to study the afterglow behaviour in pulsed glow discharges.
dr Jinxin Wang (China) did his PhD from 2018 till 2023, on catalyst synthesis and plasma catalysis for dry reforming of methane, under joint supervision of V. Meynen (LADCA) and A. Bogaerts.
dr Junjie Wang (People's Republic of China) received his PhD on thermal oxidation of SiC at the Université de Bordeaux, France and the Northwestern Polytechnical University, China. During his CNRS postdoc fellowship, he simulated heteroepitaxial growth of germanium. He joined our group for a 1-yera period as a postdoc in 2012-2013, in collaboration with VITO, on multiscale modelling of mineral carbonation.
dr Weizong Wang (People's Republic of China) was a postdoc in our group for 3 years (2015-2018), of which the first 2 years with a “Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions postdoc fellowship”. He was working on modelling a gliding arc plasma for CO2 conversion, and also developed several chemical reaction sets, for CO2/CH4/N2/O2/H2O mixtures for DBD plasma.
dr Wouter Wendelen (Belgium) did his PhD work in our group from 2007 till 2014, on modelling of the interaction of femtosecond pulsed lasers with a solid material.
Marieke Wouters worked for 2 years (2013-2014) in a joined collaboration between our group and the group ART of the Faculty “Applied Engineering Sciences”, on the plasma-assisted removal of NOx and soot from diesel engines.
dr Wencong Xu (P.R. China) made a joint PhD between LADCA and our group, from 2019 to 2023, on dry reforming of methane by gliding arc plasma and post-plasma catalysis.
dr Min Yan (P.R. China) worked in our group for two years, from 1999 till 2001. She investigated SiH4 and argon cc rf discharges by particle-in-cell simulations, and she focused also on the detailed and self-consistent numerical description of relaxation phenomena after laser-induced photodetachment. She is currently working at ASM International, The Netherlands.
dr Yanhui Yi (P.R. China) worked in our group as a postdoc from 2018 till 2020, on plasma catalysis for the conversion of small molecules into clean energy and value-added chemicals.
dr Maksud Yusupov (Uzbekistan) did his Ph.D. in our group from 2009 till 2014. He first worked on hybrid MC-fluid modelling for a dual magnetron reactor, and later on the interactions of plasma species with biomolecules, by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for plasma medicine applications. After his PhD, he was a postdoc in our group till 2021, and continued to work on MD simulations for plasma medicine.
dr Mujahid Zaka (Pakistan) worked in our group as a postdoc for 1 year (March 2012 - February 2013). He investigated a packed bed plasma reactor by means of the COMSOL simulation code.
Hantian Zhang (P.R. China) worked in our group for 1.5 years (2018-2020) in the framework of his PhD at Xi’an Jiaotong University (double doctorate). He was modeling a magnetically-stabilized gliding arc plasma for CO2 conversion, by 2D fluid dynamics modelling.
Li Zhang (P.R. China) worked in our group for 1 year (2018) in the framework of her PhD at Dalian University of Technology (joint PhD under supervision of A. Bogaerts and Wenchun Wang). She worked on modeling ns-pulsed plasma for CO2 splitting and dry reforming of methane. She defended her PhD in 2021.
dr Quan-Zhi Zhang (P.R. China) worked in our group for 6 months in 2013-2014 (in the framework of his double doctorate between our university and Dalian University of Technology), as well as for 3 years (2016-2019) as a postdoc, with a H2020 MSCA postdoc fellowship, focussing on modelling for cryogenic plasma etching. In addition, he also studied the plasma behaviour in a DBD reactor with various packing geometries and inside catalyst pores, as well as H2S decomposition in microwave and gliding arc discharges (in collaboration with a company).
dr Ya Zhang (P.R. China) worked in our group as a postdoc for 2 years (2013-2015), on PIC-MCC modelling of microplasmas and a packed bed DBD plasma.
dr Yu-Ru Zhang (P.R. China) worked in our group for 6 months in 2013 (in the framework of her double doctorate between our university and Dalian University of Technology), as well as for 18 months in 2015-2016, as a postdoc, focussing on modelling the behaviour of plasma species inside catalyst pores, for plasma catalysis.
dr Shu-Xia Zhao (People's Republic of China) was a postdoc in our group from September 2010 till end of 2012. She studied the plasma chemistry of fluorocarbon-based plasmas, used for applications in the micro-electronics industry.