Fabrication of Novel Materials and Devices for CO2 Reduction

Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Biological and Chemical Engineering programme. The position is available from 01 April 2025 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title:
Fabrication of Novel Materials and Devices for CO2 Reduction

Research area and project description:
This PhD project will be based in the section for Process & Materials Engineering at The Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering at Aarhus University, which has research focus almost entirely on development of new sustainable solutions, materials and processes for the green transition.
This project aims to investigate new approaches to the preparing novel thin-film materials and structures for their application in catalysis for energy applications (e.g. CO2 reduction) as well as to characterize and test the new films and structures. Two promising classes of materials will be initially explored – fuctional oxides and nitrides – and their opportunities explored for their CO2 reduction potential using various deposition and excitation methods.

The project has received financial support from the Novo Nordisk Fonden. You will be joining a new and growing innovative and exciting cross-disciplinary research team which has excellent infrastructure and access to state-of-the-art facilties for the project. You are expected to autonomously carry out research work under supervision. You may co-supervise students (MSc and BSc) in their projects. You will expand your research portfolio and share your research findings through high-impact publications and presentations at international conferences, contributing to the advancement of thin-film materials and deposition methods for developing novel approaches for CO2 reduction.

Deposition Methods to be used in the project include Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), which allows for precise control over film thickness and composition at the atomic scale as well as Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) which has the ability to acheive high deposition rates and deposit a wide range of materials.

By combining the unique properties of novel categories of materials (e.g. functional oxides and nitrides) with advanced thin-film deposition techniques and innovative excitation methods, the aim is to develop highly efficient and sustainable energy catalysis systems that can contribute to mitigating the global climate change challenge.

Project description: For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above and upload it as a PDF in the application.

Qualifications and specific competences:
Applicants to the PhD position must have a relevant Master’s degree (120 ECTS) or at least one year of a Master’s degree related to chemical engineering/science, materials engineering/science, process engineering/science or electronic engineering/science and experience in characterization:

• Education and training on Thin-Film Engineering is a must
• Strong expertise within experimental work
• Research experience on thin-film material science especially on functional oxides, nitrides is a plus
• Self-motivated, pro-active, team- and goal-oriented personality
• Full command of the English language

Place of employment and place of work:
E.g.: The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work Biological and Chemical Engineering, Åbogade 40, 8200 Aarhus.

Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information are invited to contact:

• John William Phair, [email protected] (main supervisor)

How to apply:
Please follow this link to submit your application.

Application deadline is 10 January 2025 at 23:59 CET.

Preferred starting date is 1 April 2025.

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide.

Please note:

• Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be taken into account.
• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
• Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background.