Prof. Richard van de Sanden
Richard van de Sanden is the scientific director of the Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (EIRES) and a professor at the Department of Applied Physics of the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. He is also a research group leader at the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER) where he has been director from 2011 until July 2020.
He is a member of several (scientific) advisory boards for (inter-)national programs, institutes and departments. Since 2017 he is the chairman of the advisory committee on Electrochemical Conversion and Materials (ECCM), and an active member of the Energy committee of the European Academies for Science Advisory Council (EASAC).
Prof. Chuan Shi
Chuan Shi is a full-time professor of School of Chemistry, Dalian University of Technology. Her research interests focus on nano-catalysis and interface chemistry, with emphasis on understanding the synergy between non-thermal plasma with catalysis at the nanoscale and discovering the special properties of nano-materials for plasma enhanced catalytic reaction.
Involved in many National Science Foundation supported projects, her recent work mainly includes nano-sized transition metal carbides/nitrides for catalytic and plasma-catalytic reactions, being focused on the interactions between the carbide substrates with the dispersed metals, as well as their specific properties for discharge. Prof. Chuan Shi has published more than 200 scientific papers, some of them in Science, Nature, Chem, ACS catalysis, Appl. Catal. B, Environmental, AICHE Journal et. al. Prof. Chuan Shi was invited to be a member of Catalysis Professional Committee of the Chinese Chemical Society，Professional Committee for Control of VOCs. She has been awarded as New Century Excellent Talents in University and Distinguished Professor of Ministry of Education.
Prof. Leon Lefferts
Leon Lefferts (1960, MSc and PhD @University of Twente) received the Catalysis Prize of the Royal Dutch Chemical Society (1987). After joining DSM Research, he was appointed full professor at the University of Twente in 1999. He has been visiting professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Aalto University and authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications. His research interests include activation of stable molecules including plasma catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis in liquid phase, membrane reactors and redox materials.
Prof. Annemie Bogaerts
Annemie Bogaerts obtained her M.Sc. in Chemistry in 1993, and her PhD in Sciences in 1996. She became professor in physical chemistry at UA in 2003 and full professor since 2012. She founded the research group PLASMANT (Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – ANTwerp), out of her own PhD research, and was able to attract significant funding. Now, her groups counts ca. 50 researchers, and is quite interdisciplinary, composed of chemists, physicists, engineers, biologists and biomedical researchers. Her research focuses on plasma chemistry, plasma reactor design and plasma-surface interactions (incl. solid catalysts, liquids and biomolecules), by computer modelling and experiments, mainly for applications in green chemistry and medicine. She published over 650 peer-reviewed papers since 1995 (and over 20 invited book chapters), with over 28,000 citations in WoS (h-index = 84), and over 40,000 citations in GS (h-index = 101). She has over 270 plenary or invited lectures at international conferences or institutes (since 1995). She is also co-inventor of over 10 patent applications since 2019, and co-founder of 2 spin-off companies of her research group. She is Editorial Board Member of 15 journals, and is/was Guest Editor for 23 special issues. As Topics Editor of J. Phys. D on “Plasmas for a Sustainable Future”, she was a.o. leading a (highly cited) Roadmap on Plasma Catalysis. She organized several conferences, and was Member of the Board of Directors of the International Plasma Chemistry Society (IPCS) since 2014, Vice-President (2020-2022), and President of IPCS (2022-2023). She received ca. 30 scientific awards, including in recent years: the European Physical Society Plasma Innovation Award (2023) for her research on plasma-based CO2 conversion and the creation of a spinoff (with G. Trenchev), the Plasma Medicine Award (2022) (for lifetime achievements), and in 2022 she was also selected as one of the 30 “Europe’s most recognized chemistry professors, to recreate the iconic 1927 Solvay picture, and to help shape the future of chemical innovation in Europe
Xin Tu is a Chair Professor in Plasma Catalysis in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics at the University of Liverpool. His research mainly focuses on plasma chemistry and plasma catalysis for environmental clean-up and sustainable production of fuels and chemicals, including gas cleaning, CH4 activation, CO2 conversion, hydrogen production, nitrogen fixation and biomass/plastic conversion. He has published over 220 peer-reviewed papers (H-index 68, >13900 citations) in leading international journals, including Nature Rev. Mater., Nature Comm., JACS and Agnew. Chem. He has delivered over 90 invited talks at major national and international conferences and has chaired and co-chaired 7 international conferences/workshops. Prof. Tu was awarded the prestigious Baldur Eliasson Award from the International Symposium on Plasmas for Catalysis and Energy Materials (ISPCEM) in 2014. Recently, he has been awarded the William Crookes Prize (2024), co-sponsored by the European Physical Society and Institute of Physics for his significant research work and ground-breaking contributions to plasma chemistry and plasma catalysis. He served as the Editor of the book “Plasma Catalysis: Fundamentals and Applications” (Springer Nature, 2019). Additionally, he serves as a member of scientific committees or advisory boards for over 10 international conferences.
Dr. Volker Brüser received his PhD in physical chemistry at the University of Greifswald in Germany in 1997. He has been working at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) in Greifswald since 2002 and became 2006 the head of the department “Plasma Process Technology”.
He is an expert in the development of plasma processes for synthesis and modification of catalysts with a special focus on composites (binary systems) for electrochemical H2 evolution/conversion, cyclic carbonate synthesis and dry reforming. Electro catalysts as copper-, iron- and cobalt–polypyrrole composites as well as high porous platinum and iridium coatings could successfully be produced with dual PECVD/PVD or co-sputtering processes for fuel cell and electrolyser applications. His recent activities are dedicated to the microscopic understanding of micro-discharges in plasmas, which requires high time and spatial resolution. A current focus of his research is the development of a plasma catalytical processes for CO2 reduction, plasma electrochemical N2 reduction and treatment of biomass.