It has been a while since the last defense but on October 20 2023, Beatrice Musig defended her PhD thesis titled “Nanostructured catalysts for plasma-assisted CO2 methanation” with excellence. She thereby received her PhD degree from University of Zaragoza and Sorbonne University. Congratulation Dr. Musig!
Pioneer Database in ILTPC Newsletter
The Pioneer database on CO2 plasma conversion (PDB), recently released by us, has now been featured in edition 35 of the International Low Temperature Plasma Community (ILTPC) newsletter! Check it out here!
Pioneer Database Is Online!
Finally, after hundreds of hours of work in total, the Pioneer consortium proudly presents the Pioneer Database (PDB)! The PDB is filled with experimental data collected from literature on the performance of plasma(-catalytic) conversion of CO2. It is open-access and allows the community to put their own results into context and to deduce underlying trends. Furthermore, researchers are invited to provide their own published results to the PDB to increase the visibility of their work but also to make the tool even more powerful. For all the details also check our publication on the PDB!

Congratulations to Dr. Biondo
Shortly before the summer break, on July 3 2023, Omar Biondo successfully defended his PhD thesis titled “Towards a fundamental understanding of energy-efficient, plasma-based CO2 conversion”. He thereby received his PhD degree from University of Antwerp and Eindhoven University of Technology (the work was partly carried out at DIFFER). Congratulation Dr. Biondo!
Congratulations to Dr. Nguyen-Quang
Yet another PhD! Minh Nguyen-Quang defended his thesis titled “Efficient catalyst preparation for plasma-assisted CO2 methanation.” on May 2 2023 and was awarded the PhD degree from University of Caen and AGH Univiversity of Science and Technology, Krakow. Congratulations Dr. Nguyen-Quang!
Congratulations to Dr. Garcia Soto
On April 28 2023, Carolina Garcia Soto defended her thesis titled “Fundamental study of plasma-catalytic surface interactions for CO2 conversion and application of fluidized bed reactors” and obtained her PhD degree from École Polytechnique as well as University of Bucharest. Congratulations Dr. Garcia Soto!
Interview for EIRES
Recently, Pioneer supervisor Dr. Ana Sobota gave an interview for the Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems (EIRES) at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). EIRES is the TU/e’s answer to the challenge of the energy transition. Dr. Sobota introduced the Pioneer project with focus on the work done in Eindhoven.
Congratulations to Dr. Fromentin
Since last week we have another doctor in the consortium! On April 14 2023, Chloé Fromentin defended her thesis, titled “Reaction mechanism for CO2-N2 low-temperature plasmas: the role played by O2 and N2 on the CO2 vibrational kinetics and dissociation”, and obtained her PhD degree from IST of University of Lisbon with distinction. Congratulations Dr. Fromentin!
Best Poster Award at 2023 MCAA
Beatrice Musig has won the Best Poster Award at 2023 MCAA Annual Conference and General Assembly with her poster “Synergy of non-thermal plasma with Ni/CeO2 catalysts for CO2 recycling”. Congratulations!
First Patent of the Pioneer Project
When it comes to dissemination, the first thing that comes to mind in a project like Pioneer is probably publishing in academic journals or contributions to conferences. However, at the front of an innovative topic like plasma catalysis, patents are also very interesting. Recently, Minh Nguyen Quang and co-workers filed patent FR2210833 in France. This is the first patent of the Pioneer project. Congratulations!