Two NWO XS grants forZernike Institute postdocs Kübra Kalayci and Daniel Vaquero

The Open Competition Domain Science – XS grants of a maximum of € 50,000 are intended to support promising ideas and to facilitate innovative and more speculative initiatives within the seven Domain Science disciplines. The proposed research is ground-breaking and high-risk. What counts is that all results, be they positive or negative, must contribute to the advancement of science.

Dr. Kübra Kalayci will work on the project "Light Induced Formation and Recycling of Biobased Materials for 3D Printing Applications"

It has been an enormous challenge in recent years to find new biobased recyclable polymeric systems as an alternative to the commonly used petroleum-based plastics. The project aims to develop novel biobased and recyclable materials using light as a green and cheap energy source. The approach involves modifying biopolymers with photoreactive groups that can reversibly form covalent bonds when exposed to light, thereby creating biobased materials. The bond formations can be reversed when irradiated with a different wavelength of light which would recycle bio-polymers, enabling them to be reusable. The developed polymeric systems can be applied for 3D printing techniques.

Dr. Daniel Vaquero focuses on "A New Route to Energy-Efficient Data Transfer: Spin–Light Interconversion in 2D Materials"

The rapid growth of data traffic and artificial intelligence is pushing the energy consumption of digital infrastructure to unsustainable levels. A major bottleneck lies in how data is transmitted between chips: current technologies rely on electronic signals, which generate heat and waste energy. This project explores a radically new approach using light instead of electricity, by exploiting the excellent properties of 2D materials. This enables the conversion of magnetic information into optical signals, combining the energy efficiency of magnetic storage with light data transmission. This innovative strategy could enable low-power and high-speed data transfer in our computers.