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Alex Blokhuis

@alexblokhuis.bsky.social

500 followers 430 following 62 posts

Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow, systems #chemistry, complexity, nonequilibrium thermodynamics at Hermanslab, IMDEA Nanociencia. #chemsky Chemistry content creator 🔬: https://linktr.ee/alexblokhuis

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Dec 26

Our companion paper was published for Christmas! ⛄🎄🧪, pdf: chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
We illustrate new tools we developed exploiting dimensional information in reaction monitoring data, opening up new ways of doing kinetic and mechanistic studies. #chemsky #chemistry

Case studies of dimensionality in chemical data

The ambition to relate intrinsic features of chemical data to the underlying chemical reaction networks (CRNs) is not new, but has experienced only modest success. This may partly be attributed to a ...

chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Alex Blokhuis

ARN Seminar @arnseminar.bsky.social · 15d

#autocatalysis #chemsky 🧪⚗️

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Reposted by Alex Blokhuis

The Matter Lab @thematterlab.bsky.social · Aug 25

Have you ever wanted to use computer vision to speed up your materials research, but weren’t sure where to start?

High-throughput synthesis can generate huge libraries of new materials. However, characterization often lags behind, becoming the real bottleneck in discovery.
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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Aug 22

Many thanks to my collaborators Nicola Vassena and Peter Stadler 🤝.

Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Aug 22

🐛 Principle of length: autocatalysis-free oscillators must exceed a critical number of reaction steps to enable oscillations.
⚙️ Efficient evaluation methods: greatly expanding the scope of oscillators that can be assessed and their characterization.
📖 And much more! 3/3

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Aug 22

Some highlights:
🧮 Mathematical recipes for constructing and evaluating oscillators
✍ New structural insights into what makes and breaks oscillations
🧪 Oscillators yet to be experimentally realized, employing no autocatalysis, or even no catalysis at all (!) 2/3

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Aug 22

Our new preprint 📑 about oscillating chemical reactions ⚗ just came out! arxiv.org/abs/2508.15273
We introduce tools 🛠️ that expand the scope of oscillators that can be analyzed, and use them to extract a lot of new qualitative and quantitative insights about oscillating chemical reactions! 1/3

Stoichiometric recipes for periodic oscillations in reaction networks

Oscillatory chemical reactions are functional components in a variety of biological contexts. In chemistry, the construction and identification of even rudimentary oscillators remain elusive and lack ...

arxiv.org

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Jul 15

I always was amazed by this idea that Van der Waals forces can lift a whole gecko. I suppose contact electrification is also a good explanation of why gecko's don't stick well to PTFE.

Reposted by Alex Blokhuis

Stefano Canossa @stecanossa.bsky.social · Jul 14

I just found that geckos🦎 don't rely (if not for an estimated 0.1%) on #VanderWaals interactions for their grip, but on 'contact electrification'... and that leaves me disappointed and thrilled at the same time 😶 #ChemSky

Role of contact electrification and electrostatic interactions in gecko adhesion | Journal of The Royal Society Interface

Geckos, which are capable of walking on walls and hanging from ceilings with the help of micro-/nano-scale hierarchical fibrils (setae) on their toe pads, have become the main prototype in the design ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Reposted by Alex Blokhuis

ARN Seminar @arnseminar.bsky.social · Apr 19

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Reposted by Alex Blokhuis

ARN Seminar @arnseminar.bsky.social · Apr 17

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Apr 12

CuSO4, KSCN 🧫⚗️🧪
#RealTimeChem #Chemsky #Systemschemistry #Science #STEM #Chemistry

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Mar 26

CoCl2, K3Fe(CN)6 🧫🧪⚗️
#RealTimeChem #chemsky #systemschemistry #STEM #chemistry #science

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Mar 12

CuCl2, K3[Fe(CN)6] 🧫⚗️🧪
#RealTimeChem #Chemsky #systemschemistry #STEM #science #chemistry

Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Mar 10

Ho, SnCl2 🔬⚗️🧪
#RealTimeChem #Chemsky #systemschemistry #STEM #science #chemistry

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Mar 6

FeCl3, NaOH 🧫🧪⚗️
#chemsky #RealTimeChem #systemschemistry #chemistry #STEM #science

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Reposted by Alex Blokhuis

Oliver Steinbock @osteinbock.bsky.social · Mar 5

We can determine the composition and concentration of solutions from photos of dried drops! Our latest paper in
@digital-discovery.rsc.org describes how RODI 🤖 collects a 23,500-image library and ML/AI performs analyses

doi.org/10.1039/D4DD...

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Mar 5

This is some fun chemistry 🧪⚗️
#chemsky

NanoUp - Maspoch Group @wearenanoup.bsky.social · Mar 5

Could spray-drying be used for organic synthesis? Find out in our latest research paper on the synthesis of organic molecules through spray drying! Kudos to Gerard and the team! #MyFirstChemSci is all I need 🕺🏼

👉🏻 pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Synthesis of organic molecules via spray-drying

Confining chemical reactions within microdroplets has attracted significant attention from chemists due to the accelerated reaction rates resulting from the drastically smaller reaction volumes than i...

pubs.rsc.org

Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Mar 4

CuCl2, Fe 🧫🧪⚗️
#RealTimeChem #chemsky #chemistry #systemschemistry #STEM #science

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Mar 1

Zn, SnCl2 🔬🧪⚗️
#RealTimeChem #Chemsky #STEM #systemschemistry #chemistry #science

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Feb 25

CuCl2, Na2S2O5 🧫🧪⚗️
#Realtimechem #chemsky #STEM #gel #reaction-diffusion #science #systemschemistry

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Feb 10

Cool 🔥

arXiv bot (cond-mat) @krxiv-cond-mat.bsky.social · Feb 7

Mutual Multilinearity of Nonequilibrium Network Currents
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2502.04298
Sara Dal Cengio, Pedro E. Harunari, Vivien Lecomte, Matteo Polettini

https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.04298

arXiv abstract link

arxiv.org

Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Feb 9

Speculations about hypothetical new elements in spectra from the sun. 🧪⚗️
📕 Introduction à la chimie générale (1919) by H.Copaux

Today, "coronium" is interpreted as Fe13+, i.e. iron ionized thirteen times.
#chemsky #chemistry

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Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Feb 7

CuBr2, K2C2O4 🔬🧪
#chemsky #RealTimeChem #Chemistry #STEM

Alex Blokhuis @alexblokhuis.bsky.social · Jan 27

CuSO4, CoCl2, NaOH 🧫🧪⚗️
#chemsky #RealTimeChem #STEM #chemistry #gel #science #reaction-diffusion #systemschemistry

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Reposted by Alex Blokhuis

Zwicker Group @zwickergroup.bsky.social · Jan 24

We wrote a review on the "Physics of droplet regulation in biological cells": arxiv.org/abs/2501.13639 Beside the basic #physics of phase separation, we discuss three aspects that separate cellular from traditional droplets:

A schematic picture of a cell, showing condensates, a nucleus and the cytoskeleton.

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