dr. Ward van der Stam

dr. Ward van der Stam
David de Wiedgebouw
Room 4.88
W.vanderStam@uu.nl

The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 into hydrocarbon fuels, like methane or ethylene, is regarded as one of the best methods to address one of the main current environmental issues: reducing the CO2 footprint of our society. However, in order to meet the demands of the energy transition (i.e. reduce the CO2 footprint with 80-95% by 2050), longer hydrocarbon chains with three or more carbon atoms (C>2) have to formed out of CO2. Our research focuses on the synthesis of colloidal metal nanoparticles with various sizes and shapes (e.g. nanorods or nanoplatelets) in order to design the ultimate electrocatalyst, and use these nanoparticles in the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) for the production of C>2 hydrocarbons. Our main interest lies in unravelling where the reaction takes place by performing in-situ diffraction and spectroscopy measurements, ideally under true reaction conditions. Colloidal nanomaterials are ideally suited for this purpose, since they can be prepared with atomic precision in solution, which not only allows us to deposit them on various electrodes, but also characterize the size, shape and faceting during the reaction. This will give valuable fundamental, but also practical insights into the exact reaction mechanism of CO2RR and the (de)activation of the electrocatalyst nanoparticles, which will allow us to rationally design the ultimate electrocatalyst. Furthermore, the size-, shape- and composition-tunability of colloidal nanomaterials can be used to direct and induce C-C coupling, in order to efficiently produce C>2 hydrocarbons from CO­2.

Academic Career

Tenure-track position:

2019 – to date: Tenure Track Assistant Professor at Utrecht University in the group of Prof. Bert Weckhuysen (NL)

Postdoctoral experience

2019: Junior Researcher at Utrecht University under the supervision of Prof. Bert Weckhuysen (NL)

2018-2019: Postdoctoral Researcher at Delft University of Technology under the supervision of dr. Ferdinand Grozema (NL)

2016-2018: Postdoctoral Researcher at Delft University of Technology under the supervision of dr. Arjan Houtepen (NL)

Early Stage Researcher

2016: PhD degree from Utrecht University under the supervision of dr. Celso de Mello Donegá and Prof. Andries Meijerink (NL)

2012: Master degree in Chemistry & Physics with greatest distinction (cum laude) from Utrecht University (NL)

2012: MSc Internship at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia under the supervision of Prof. Liberato Manna (IT)

2010: Bachelors degree in Chemistry from Utrecht University under the supervision of dr. Esther Groeneveld and dr. Celso de Mello Donegá (NL)

Educational/Teaching Activities

During my PhD, I supervised 4 master and 4 bachelor students as a daily supervisor. During my postdoc, I supervised 1 master and 5 bachelor students as a daily supervisor and I was strongly involved in the projects of two PhD students as advisor. Furthermore, I was a teaching assistant for the courses ‘Inorganic and Solid State Chemistry’ and ‘Organic Chemistry’ (1st year courses at Utrecht University), ‘Thermodynamics’ (1st year course at TU Delft) and ‘Nanomaterials’ (3rd year course at Utrecht University). I gave one independent lecture for the course ‘Nanoparticle Technology’ (MSc course at TU Delft).

I was also

Senior Exam Trainer Chemistry, StudentDocent B.V. (2010 – 2013)
Give lectures about the topics covered during the national Chemistry high school exams, in order to prepare the students for their Chemistry exams.

Teaching Assistant Chemistry, StudentDocent B.V. (2007 – 2010)
Answer questions of students during exam training for the national Chemistry high school exams.

Awards and Scientific Honors

Scientific Awards

Granted beam time for 4 proposals at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France

Poster prize at the NaNaX6 conference, Bad Hofgastein, Austria (2014)

Publications

Berends, A C; Stam, Van Der W; Akkerman, Q A; Meeldijk, J D; Lit, Van Der J; Donega, De Mello C

Anisotropic 2D Cu2- xSe Nanocrystals from Dodecaneselenol and Their Conversion to CdSe and CuInSe2 Nanoparticles Journal Article

Chemistry of Materials, 30 (11), pp. 3836-3846, 2018.

Links | BibTeX

Berends, A C; Stam, Van Der W; Hofmann, J P; Bladt, E; Meeldijk, J D; Bals, S; Donega, De Mello C

Interplay between Surface Chemistry, Precursor Reactivity, and Temperature Determines Outcome of ZnS Shelling Reactions on CuInS 2 Nanocrystals Journal Article

Chemistry of Materials, 30 (7), pp. 2400-2413, 2018.

Links | BibTeX

der Stam, Van W; Geuchies, J J; Altantzis, T; Bos, Van Den K H W; Meeldijk, J D; Aert, Van S; Bals, S; Vanmaekelbergh, D; Donega, De Mello C

Highly Emissive Divalent-Ion-Doped Colloidal CsPb1-xMxBr3 Perovskite Nanocrystals through Cation Exchange Journal Article

Journal of the American Chemical Society, 139 (11), pp. 4087-4097, 2017.

Links | BibTeX

Stam, Van Der W; Rabouw, F T; Vonk, S J W; Geuchies, J J; Ligthart, H; Petukhov, A V; Donega, De Mello C

Oleic Acid-Induced Atomic Alignment of ZnS Polyhedral Nanocrystals Journal Article

Nano Letters, 16 (4), pp. 2608-2614, 2016.

Links | BibTeX

Stam, Van Der W; Rabouw, F T; Geuchies, J J; Berends, A C; Hinterding, S O M; Geitenbeek, R G; Lit, Van Der J; Prévost, S; Petukhov, A V; Donega, De Mello C

In Situ Probing of Stack-Templated Growth of Ultrathin Cu2-xS Nanosheets Journal Article

Chemistry of Materials, 28 (17), pp. 6381-6389, 2016, (cited By 9).

Links | BibTeX

Stam, Van Der W; Rabouw, F T; Vonk, S J W; Geuchies, J J; Ligthart, H; Petukhov, A V; Donega, De Mello C

Oleic Acid-Induced Atomic Alignment of ZnS Polyhedral Nanocrystals Journal Article

Nano Letters, 16 (4), pp. 2608-2614, 2016, (cited By 19).

Links | BibTeX

Stam, Van Der W; Gradmann, S; Altantzis, T; Ke, X; Baldus, M; Bals, S; Donega, De Mello C

Shape control of colloidal Cu2-xS polyhedral nanocrystals by tuning the nucleation rates Journal Article

Chemistry of Materials, 28 (18), pp. 6705-6715, 2016.

Links | BibTeX

Stam, Van Der W; Berends, A C; Donega, De Mello C

Prospects of Colloidal Copper Chalcogenide Nanocrystals Journal Article

ChemPhysChem, 17 (5), pp. 559-581, 2016.

Links | BibTeX

Stam, Van Der W; Bladt, E; Rabouw, F T; Bals, S; Donega, De Mello C

Near-Infrared Emitting CuInSe2/CuInS2 Dot Core/Rod Shell Heteronanorods by Sequential Cation Exchange Journal Article

ACS Nano, 9 (11), pp. 11430-11438, 2015, (cited By 46).

Links | BibTeX

Stam, Van Der W; Berends, A C; Rabouw, F T; Willhammar, T; Ke, X; Meeldijk, J D; Bals, S; Donega, De Mello C

Luminescent CuInS2 quantum dots by partial cation exchange in Cu2- xS nanocrystals Journal Article

Chemistry of Materials, 27 (2), pp. 621-628, 2015, (cited By 69).

Links | BibTeX

Stam, Van Der W; Akkerman, Q A; Ke, X; Huis, Van M A; Bals, S; Donega, De Mello C

Solution-processable ultrathin size- and shape-controlled colloidal Cu2- xS nanosheets Journal Article

Chemistry of Materials, 27 (1), pp. 283-291, 2015.

Links | BibTeX

Stam, Van Der W; Gantapara, A P; Akkerman, Q A; Soligno, G; Meeldijk, J D; Roij, Van R; Dijkstra, M; Donega, De Mello C

Self-assembly of colloidal hexagonal bipyramid- and bifrustum-shaped ZnS nanocrystals into two-dimensional superstructures Journal Article

Nano Letters, 14 (2), pp. 1032-1037, 2014.

Links | BibTeX