Three out of six research projects funded in the latest round of NWO's Open Technology Programme are led by TU/e researchers. In a fourth project, the university participates as a co-applicant. This strong representation puts TU/e in the spotlight of this highly competitive programme, which allocates 5.6 million euros for applied research.
The Open Technology Programme of the NWO (Dutch Research Council) supports research that is not only scientifically groundbreaking, but also closely aligned with societal challenges. Researchers from different universities can join forces across disciplines, while companies and organizations are able to participate as partners. The projects awarded in this round cover a wide spectrum, from sustainable energy to medical innovations, illustrating how collaboration between science and society can generate tangible impact.
Below we describe the projects in which TU/e researchers play a leading or supporting role:
Recycled wax as heat storage
Alexey Lyulin from the Department of Applied Physics & Science Education leads the project Recywax+, which explores how waste products can be turned into a sustainable battery for thermal storage. The idea is to combine waxes obtained through pyrolysis (heating waste without oxygen to produce useful materials) with ultra-conductive graphene networks, grids of carbon nanoplatelets that transport heat at lightning speed.
This creates a compact and efficient system for thermal energy storage. Think of it as a heat battery that charges and discharges similarly to a regular battery, but with heat instead of electricity.
Co-applicants from TU/e are Heiner Friedrich and Henk Huinink . From the University of Twente, Bernard Geurts is involved.
Hunting for impurities in iron powder
A second energy-focused project is led by Xiaocheng Mi (Department of Mechanical Engineering). Under the name Com-Impure-Iron, the researchers are exploring iron powder as a sustainable heat source. When the powder burns, it releases heat and energy, after which the residual product (iron oxide, better known as rust) can be converted back into iron using renewable electricity.
This research zooms in on the impurities found in cost-effective iron powders, such as ores and industrial residues, that make combustion less efficient. Using physics-based models and machine learning, the team aims to predict and improve how impure iron powder burns.
Other TU/e researchers involved are Peter Bobbert , Roy Hermanns , Giulia Finotello , Conrad Hessels , Shuxia Tao , Geert Brocks and Jeroen van Oijen .
Nanobubbles against cancer
Simona Turco from the Department of Electrical Engineering leads MOMENTUM, a project that aims to take contrast-enhanced ultrasound to the next level. One of the uses of this imaging technique is detecting cancer cells. Doctors inject a contrast agent containing tiny gas bubbles into a blood vessel. These bubbles then reflect ultrasound waves much more strongly than the blood would by itself, making blood vessels and blood flow far clearer on the image.
Where traditional microbubbles mainly visualize the vascular system, nanobubbles (even smaller bubbles, a thousand times thinner than a human hair) can penetrate deep into tumor tissue and even target specific molecules that are characteristic of cancer, so-called biomarkers. By combining these new imaging techniques with tumor-on-a-chip models (cancer cells grown in a tiny laboratory environment), the team aims to significantly improve the accuracy of cancer diagnosis.
Co-applicants are Massimo Mischi and Jaap den Toonder from TU/e and Michel Versluis from the University of Twente.
Smart sleep monitoring via the mouth
In addition to these three TU/e-led projects, the university also contributes to SMILE, an initiative from Delft University of Technology that is developing an intraoral sensor (a measuring device placed inside the mouth) to reliably and continuously monitor sleep disorders.
From TU/e, Rik Vullings (Department of Electrical Engineering) is involved as a co-applicant. The idea is to use the oral cavity as a source for collecting sleep-related data, which can then be linked to common wearables such as smartwatches.
This way, patients can be monitored comfortably at home, rather than only during expensive and limited sleep studies in the hospital.
