Femtosecond pulsed laser micromachining for engineering materials and catalysis research
January 2022 – December 2025
Through femtosecond pulsed laser micromachining a wide
variety of materials such as ceramics (e.g. glass), hard
metals (e.g. Hastelloy), and polymers can be processed with
microscale resolution, offering innovation and beyond
state-of-the-art research opportunities. To name a few, the
planned research infrastructure would allow to tune the
catalytic properties of surfaces, to enhance flow
distribution, heat transfer and mass transfer in chemical
reactors, to increase detection limit of
photoelectrochemical sensors, to facilitate flow chemistry,
to tailor-make EPR and TEM measurement cells, and to
allow machine learning for hybrid additive manufacturing.
Currently, the University of Antwerp lacks the necessary
research infrastructure capable of processing such
materials and surfaces with microscale precision. Access to
femtosecond pulsed laser micromachining would yield
enormous impact on ongoing and planned research both
for the thirteen involved professors and ten research
groups as for industry, essential to conduct research at the
highest international level.