Microalgae are tiny powerhouses. They grow fast, capture carbon dioxide, and can be converted into biofuels—offering a potential alternative to fossil fuels. But there’s a catch: these organisms are picky about light. They prefer to absorb red wavelengths, just shy of invisible infrared, which makes up only a fraction of natural sunlight.
What if we could convert ordinary sunlight into exactly the wavelengths algae prefer?
That’s the challenge Jasmin Fisher Balil, a PhD researcher in Peter Schall’s group at the University of Amsterdam, is tackling as part of the European research project SUN-PERFORM. Her team is developing light-converting nanocrystals that can be embedded in transparent polymer foils and applied to algae cultivation tanks called photobioreactors.
The materials doing this work—perovskite nanocrystals—have been notoriously unstable. They degrade quickly when exposed to moisture, oxygen, or even just light itself. For years, this instability has kept them confined to laboratory settings, limiting their practical use.
Now, Jasmin’s research group has demonstrated a solution: by combining three complementary strategies—chemically modifying the crystal structure, engineering the molecular coating on the nanocrystal surface, and encapsulating everything in protective polymer—they’ve achieved month-long stability in red-emitting nanocrystals. This addresses multiple degradation pathways simultaneously, overcoming what had been a major bottleneck.
We’re now testing these foils underwater to mimic real bioreactor conditions. The next step is integration into operating photobioreactors to see how well they perform at scale.
Sharing results and ethical considerations
Jasmin recently presented this work at NWO Physics 2026, a conference that brings together early-career researchers and established names from across the physics community. “I appreciate the diversity of backgrounds at NWO Physics,” she says. “That makes it an especially good place to present multidisciplinary projects like SUN-PERFORM—people come in with open minds.”
Most of her conversations were with researchers working on perovskite materials for solar cells. “The challenges we face are similar, but how we tackle them is quite different. It was valuable to compare strategies across applications,” she explains.
The conference also sparked broader reflections.
One theme I didn’t expect to come away with, was the role of physics in defence and the broader ethics of research. It raised questions every researcher should engage with: Do we really understand how our work fits into the wider world? Where does our funding come from, and what are we contributing to?
For Jasmin, working in large international consortia like SUN-PERFORM—which includes a dedicated life cycle assessment component—helps counter the tunnel vision that can develop in specialized research. “Especially when research is moving toward application, questions of sustainability and responsible use become unavoidable. I think ’s valuable that we’re actively thinking about real-world impact from the start.”
While no single conversation at the conference directly changed her research direction, Jasmin left feeling energized: “I’m genuinely proud of how much progress we’ve made in a relatively short time. Seeing where we stand in the broader landscape of materials research was motivating.”
The work is still in development, but solving the stability challenge marks a significant step. If these light-converting foils prove effective in real bioreactor environments, they could help make algae-based biofuels and carbon capture more economically viable.