During the last decades the use of pulsed lasers has been increasingly exploited for many applications in research, industry and healthcare via cutting, removing or depositing material. What many of these processes have in common is that so much energy is deposited in the target that its optical properties change during an individual laser pulse. Moreover, in applications like EUV generation and pulsed laser deposition, the optical properties of the ejected particles become spatially inhomogeneous. Thus, to predict/optimize the energy deposition, one needs to understand the complex interplay between the laser and the dynamically and spatially changing material properties. The ADMEP project aims to theoretically and experimentally study the dynamics of the material properties in nano- to micro-scale particles upon irradiation with fs-laser pulses. In order to theoretically model the absorption of light, the spatial inhomogeneity must be taken into account by performing finite-difference time-domain simulations in which the optical properties are dynamically updated each time step. To isolate the effects of the dynamics of the carrier density and temperature from the ones of their spatial inhomogeneity, experiments on trapped small spherical nanoparticles will be carried out. For small enough spheres, the transient material properties can be assumed to be homogeneous over their size. Afterwards, the laser interaction with larger and non-spherical particles will be studied. Finally, the aftermath (expansion of e- plasma, melting and ablation) will be investigated via fs-resolved microscopy both at the host and secondment facilities. These findings will find their way through a network consisting of researchers at the secondment (ARCNL, ASML) and at the University of Twente. The theoretical and experimental experience, combined with working with a private/public partnership will prepare the candidate for a career as a group leader in basic and applied research.

Ion conduction in solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) is the bedrock of several electrochemical devices like batteries and fuel cells which are vital to our modern society. High conductivity is crucial for such applications, and increasing the intrinsically low conductivity of SSEs has been of enormous technological interest. The discovery that the conductivity of SSEs can increase or decrease by orders of magnitude at their interface with a non-conductor (e.g., oxides) has led to much interest in the use of interface engineering to rationally design SSEs with improved conductivity and overall performance in electrochemical devices. This has so far not been successful because the underlying mechanisms that lead to the profound changes in conductivity at interfaces are not yet well understood due to the complex composition of such interfaces, and the fact that several properties of the two components concomitantly influence this effect. Building on my preliminary results, I aim to unravel the fundamental mechanisms of interface ion conductivity by preparing model nanocomposite SSEs (SSE + oxides) that will allow me to disentangle the different parameters that contribute to this effect. The interface physics/chemistry responsible for interface ion transport will be precisely tuned via surface and compositional modification of the oxides. I will combine advanced surface-sensitive probe techniques, including XPS, X-ray Raman Scattering, HR-TEM/EDX, and NMR to study the interface compositions. This will enable me to establish for the first time how the properties of SSE-oxide mixtures influence their interface reactions, conductivity, and performance in applications. Such fundamental insights will enable the design of novel SSEs with tailor-made properties for a variety of electrochemical applications. My extensive expertise and track record in nanocomposite materials, SSEs, and advanced materials characterization, place me in the perfect position to lead this project.

The world faces an unprecedented environmental crisis, and human activity is its root cause. This poses a call to action for psychology and the social sciences more broadly. GREENTEENS proposes that our adolescents—a segment of the population whose collective behavior will shape the future of the planet—can play a vital role in creating a more sustainable world. Adolescents, however, are “closet idealists”: As a group, they care about the environment but often fail to act on their concerns. The aim of the proposed research is to develop a new approach to understanding and promoting adolescents’ eco-friendly behavior. It will generate new understanding of what keeps adolescents from engaging in eco-friendly behavior, and devise methods to help youth contribute to a sustainable future for themselves and generations to come. I have developed a new hypothesis for this project: the “Motive-Match Hypothesis”. It casts adolescents’ eco-friendly behavior as driven by their personal motives. Based on the hypothesis, I will design methods to transform the way adolescents construe eco-friendly behavior, from a low-priority chore to an activity that embodies what they deeply care about—developing autonomy and gaining peer status. Building on my international network, I will pursue the research aim using a cross-national investigation involving adolescents (age 12-17) from The Netherlands, Colombia, and China. The project will integrate longitudinal research to understand how adolescents’ eco-friendly behavior develops over time, with experiments to understand how adolescents’ core motives can be harnessed as powerful motivating force for eco-friendly behavior. GREENTEENS will advance the science of adolescent behavior change beyond the state of the art. The payoff of the research promises to be high: It will yield fundamental understanding of what drives adolescents’ eco-friendly behavior and help improve pro-environmental policies targeting millions of youth worldwide.

Iron (Fe) deposition from dust and combustion aerosols is essential for the marine primary productivity in large portions of the world ocean, where phytoplankton growth mitigates part of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Under polluted conditions, the atmospheric acidity and organic ligands dramatically enhance aerosol Fe-mobilization, perturbing also the marine CO2 uptake capacity upon aerosol Fe deposition. Air-quality regulations, designed to decrease future atmospheric pollution, will consequently moderate the dissolved Fe deposition flux over oceans and change its pattern. However, the effect of air pollution on the bioavailable Fe supply into the oceans and their primary productivity remains largely ambiguous, with a likely but poorly known climatic impact. The ODEON project will address this long-standing research question by performing for the first time coupled atmosphere-ocean-climate simulations with the European Earth System Model (ESM) EC-Earth, focused on the impacts of Fe deposition on the oceanic carbon-cycle. Recently, important advances were made by the applicant in understanding aerosol Fe dissolution and emission processes. However, ESMs still use simplified parameterizations and asynchronous coupling of Fe supply to the marine biogeochemistry, inserting severe uncertainties in the response of the carbon-cycle to anthropogenic emissions. ODEON aims to improve this situation by developing modelling tools beyond-state-of-the-art, to simulate the atmospheric Fe-cycle in EC-Earth coupled to the embedded ocean biogeochemistry model. The future fellow’s strong atmospheric chemistry modelling background, together with the advanced training-through-research plan on cutting-edge and multi-disciplinary EMS techniques, ensures the feasibility of this project. ODEON’s training scheme in climate modelling, ocean biogeochemistry and interaction with science-users will contribute to the applicant’s development as an independent and interdisciplinary researcher.