As of November 2025, Alette Soede is pursuing her PhD at the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). She previously obtained a BSc in Molecular Science & Technology, a joint degree program offered by Leiden University and TU Delft. She continued her academic journey at the TU Delft, where she completed her MSc in Chemical Engineering in July 2025.
During her master’s degree, Alette focused on electives related to renewable energy generation and storage technologies. Through this, she developed a strong interest in understanding the chemical properties and mechanisms of functional materials.
For her master’s thesis she conducted research on perovskite solar cells within the Opto-Electronic Materials group. Her work focused on the deposition of thin films through thermal evaporation, as well as the characterisation of their structural, optical, and opto-electronic properties.
Her experience with thin films is now applied in her PhD project, which focuses on developing protective coatings for optical hydrogen sensors. In challenging environments such as electrolysers and fuel cells, these sensors require protection against contaminations from humidity, NOx, and hydrocarbons. Alette works on the deposition of thin polymer coatings through magnetron sputtering. By systematically varying the deposition parameters and studying the properties of the films, the project aims to develop a fundamental understanding of the coatings and facilitate a rational design.
TU Delft Optical Hydrogen Sensing & Thin Film Energy Materials 