Research

Size, shape and composition determine the ultimate properties of nanoparticles. Chemical synthesis control enables tailoring these.­­ We synthesize and surface functionalize nanoparticles by means of bottom-up wet chemistry and subsequently use these as building blocks to assemble functional supraparticles.­ Our focus is on magnetic nanoparticles.

Upon droplet evaporation, using the tool spray-drying, forced assembly of nano building blocks to supraparticles is possible. Furthermore, via this method, also molecular precursors and molecules can be joined, i.e., we can also perform “chemistry in a droplet”.

We study how we can control structure upon supraparticle formation and how the obtained structure, besides composition, of such supraparticles affects the interaction among the building blocks of these entities and how this leads to unique functionalities.

We work on exploiting the complex interactions among building blocks in supraparticles in a way that we can get information from these interactions. We pioneer magnetic particle spectroscopy (MPS) to unravel information on magnetic interactions within supraparticles. With the goal of deciphering the quite complex signals we obtain with this relatively simple technique, we establish magnetic supraparticles as information-providers within materials, being able to record and report what is going on in objects we cannot look into with other methods. Furthermore, such magnetic supraparticles could for instance also serve as markers / ID-providers in materials to enable material passports.

Supraparticles with magnetic building blocks can be magnetically, i.e., remotely, moved or heated. This we exploit to design responsive systems that we can trigger via a magnetic field. Current examples that we research are debonding on demand or enhanced catalysis.

We consider supraparticles as a little chemical eco-system. The designable pores can be a “home for molecules”. This enables bridging molecular and nanoparticle chemistry all together in one system. Ultimately, we aim at enabling active, reactive and interactive chemistry in the confinement of a supraparticle and try to exploit this intriguing approach to design new energy, catalyst, sensor and indicator materials.