Nanostructured metal hydrides are able to efficiently detect hydrogen in optical sensors. In the literature, two nanostructured systems based on metal hydrides have been proposed for this purpose each with its own detection principle: continuous sub-100 nm thin films read out via optical reflectance/transmittance changes and nanoparticle arrays for which the detection relies on localized surface plasmon resonance. Despite their apparent similarities, their optical and structural response to hydrogen has
never been directly compared. In response, for the case of Pd1−yAuy (y = 0.15−0.30) alloys, we directly compare these two systems and establish that they are distinctively different. We show that the dissimilar optical response is not caused by the different optical readout principles but results from a fundamentally different structural
response to hydrogen due to the different nanostructurings. The measurements empirically suggest that these differences cannot be fully accounted by surface effects but that the nature of the film−substrate interaction plays an important role and affects both the hydrogen solubility and the metal-to-metal hydride transition. In a broader perspective, our results establish that the specifics of nanoconfinement dictate the structural properties of metal hydrides, which in turn control the properties of nanostructured devices including the sensing characteristics of optical hydrogen sensors and hydride-based active plasmonic systems.@en

This project focuses on the urban renewal of (delta) metropolises and concentrates on the question how to design resilient, durable (subsurface) infrastructure in urban renewal projects using parameters of the natural system – linking in an efficient way (a) water cycle, (b) soil and subsurface conditions, (c) soil improvement technology, and (d) opportunities in urban renewal (e.g. urban growth or shrinkage). The subsurface is the technical space, the engine room of a city, housing the vital functions of water, electricity, sewers and drainage, but also housing the natural system that is crucial for a stable, green, healthy and livable city. Especially the effects of climate change, the boosts for an energy transition and the fact that there are less financial mean makes the intelligent use of the subsurface more important. This prublication reprots on the explorative method to get insight and design methods for the urban renewal of (delta) metropolises where resilient, durable (subsurface) infrastructure is carefully balanced out with parameters of the natural system. The question “how can the different technological artefacts in the subsurface be synchronized offering more space and adding to a better urban quality?” is answered by working with the municipality in an interdisciplinary explorative research and design. The exploration was framed by co-creation in workshops and use of provocative scenario's; later a more precise elaboration of these results were done in the working group.@en

New forms of mobility offer opportunities to make urban areas along highways more resilient by using those specific areas for the ecological and functional improvement of the city. This requires spatial interventions that approach the highway, the buffer zone and the specific urban area along the highway as a whole rather than as separate zones that just happen to be juxtaposed. Anticipating new forms of mobility, how can we design the correlation between these spaces and how can these spaces foster resilient urban systems? To examine the correlation between highway and city, combinations of five highway prototypes and three urban types that represent the majority of urban territories along highways in the Netherlands are studied. The approach is executed in two phases: the polluted buffer zones will be cleaned in the first phase and the potential of the urban area will be activated in the second phase. This involves opportunities for waste- water treatment, energy production and newly built programme. How can the different combinations create spatial opportunities to enhance the resilience of a specific area? In this context, climate change, the energy transition and quality urbanization are of key importance. The need to mitigate and adapt changes in the hydrological cycle, to reduce energy dependency and find more renewable energy sources is increasing, but at the same time there is less space available to achieve these things. For each urban type, current qualities and opportunities to create a balanced relation between human and natural systems can be defined in relation to the present situation. The scale at which resilience influences the new urban systems shows the overwhelming potential of the space around the highway once new technological innovations in the field of mobility and environment are combined. New correlations between human and natural systems transform the as yet orphaned fragments of land into pioneer zones that enhance the resilience of the city by its improved ecology and additional housing programme. @en