The climate impact of hypersonic transport

At speeds roughly between five and ten thousand km/h, hypersonic aircraft offer the promise of an extremely fast means of transport. Growing concerns about climate warming, however, direct attention to sustainability. This thesis focuses on atmospheric composition and radiation changes by considering a range of individual hypersonic aircraft...

Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis: Hydrogen Permeable Electrodes as Alternative Pathway for Nitrogen Reduction

In the last century, the indiscriminate use of fossil energy to power the industrial revolution and technological progress of humankind, has led to the depletion of limited natural resources and, most importantly, the emission and accumulation of alarming levels of pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. One of the major...

Integrated transport and energy systems based on hydrogen and fuel cell electric vehicles

This thesis presents the design and analysis of future 100% renewable integrated transport and energy systems based on electricity and hydrogen as energy carriers. In which Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) are used for transport, distributing energy and balancing electricity demand. Passenger cars in Europe are parked on average 97% of the...

Kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of Mg and Mg-Ti hydride nanomaterials

Reliable and affordable energy storage represents a bottleneck in a scenario where renewable energy sources become prominent on the energy market. With its high potential energy density and the natural abundance of the element, hydrogen gas is an attractive energy storage medium. But its gaseous nature, its high explosive potential and...

Sustainable Energy Technology Acceptance: A psychological perspective

Sustainable energy systems are designed to overcome the large problems resulting from current fossil fuel use, such as climate change, air pollution and energy insecurity. Citizens’ opinions and responses are crucial to the successful implementation of new technologies. This thesis explains public acceptance from a psychological perspective. A...

Microwave effects in heterogeneous catalysis: Application to gas-solid reactions for hydrogen production

Due to the quest for more efficient production processes both from the energy and selectivity point of view, microwave irradiation has attracted significant scientific attention over the last three decades, as an alternative means of chemical activation. Over this period, striking process benefits, such as higher conversions and selectivities...

Molecular contamination phenomena in EUVL and mitigation methods with hydrogen

In accordance with Gordon Moore’s law, the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated chip of a certain size is increasing exponentially. This can only be realized with an increase in the spatial resolution of the lithography systems, allowing smaller feature sizes to be printed. Today, Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL),...

Towards H2 selective porous inorganic membranes: Pore size control through combined Sol-Gel and Atomic Layer Deposition Processes

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) can significantly contribute to the reduction of the emission of the greenhouse gas CO2. Capture by means of CO2 sorption or membrane-based separation processes is a promising way for achieving decarbonization of fuel or flue gas cleaning. In the field of separation and also purification of hydrogen, membrane...

Opportunities and limitations of hydrogen storage in zeolitic clathrates

The feasibility of using zeolites, and more specifically the clathrasil subgroup, for hydrogen storage has been investigated by comparing their H2 loading rate and storage capacity to the technically required values. The uptake rate and capacity are determined by means of computational modelling for a large number of clathrasil structures. It...

Hydrogen interactions with silicon-on-insulator materials

The booming of microelectronics in recent decades has been made possible by the excellent properties of the Si/SiO2 interface in oxide on silicon systems.. This semiconductor/insulator combination has proven to be of great value for the semiconductor industry. It has made it possible to continuously increase the number of transistors per chip...

Hydrogen absorption in iron and steel during gas tungsten arc welding