Phd Position Netherlands

Two Phd Positions in Hydrogen Storage Research at Delft University Of Technology

Department/faculty: Applied Sciences
Level: Master degree
Working hours: 38 hours per week (1 FTE)
Contract: These positions have a temporary employment basis of four years (48 months).
Salary: maximum of € 2612 per month gross with full-time employment

Applied Sciences

The Faculty of Applied Sciences is the largest faculty of TU Delft, with around 550 scientists, a support staff of 250 and 1,400 students. The faculty conducts fundamental, application-oriented research and offers scientific education at the bachelor, master and doctoral levels. The faculty is active in the fields of Life and Health Science & Technology, Nanoscience, Chemical Engineering, Radiation Science & Technology, and Applied Physics.

This research is being conducted by the Delft Institute for Sustainable Energy at Delft University of Technology. The research is performed at the faculties of Applied Sciences and the faculty of Aerospace Engineering, using in-house facilities for chemical synthesis, characterisation and computation. Performing experiments abroad at international large-scale neutron scattering and synchrotron facilities will also be an integral part of the work. The project receives funding from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO/ACTS).

Job description

Hydrogen storage is a major bottleneck in the development of a future energy economy based on hydrogen as an energy carrier. Key to competitive hydrogen storage is the development of lightweight, cheap and safe materials that can be reversibly loaded under temperature and pressure conditions suitable for applications. Surface adsorption of hydrogen in porous, crystalline materials such as metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) provide materials with record specific surface areas per gram material, and are therefore proposed as potential hydrogen storage materials.
Our research focuses on the design of new materials using first principles modelling, chemical synthesis and the fundamental characterisation of the hydrogen sorption. Characterisation of the adsorption using macroscopic methods as well as in situ neutron diffraction will be performed to determine which are the most favourable positions of hydrogen in the crystals with the optimum adsorption interaction strength. With this knowledge new materials will be designed, aiming at improved characteristics and higher capacity. For this research we have openings for two highly motivated PhD students who will work on the project in close collaboration; one with a synthetic chemistry background and one with a physics background.
For more information, please visit: http://www.rrr.tudelft.nl/fame.

Requirements

The PhD student in synthetic chemistry must have a strong synthetic chemistry background and additional experience with physical chemistry experimental characterisation methods.
The PhD student in physics or physical chemistry will have a strong physics or physical chemistry background and affinity with first principles modelling and/or experimental techniques operating at the microscopic/atomic scale.??

Conditions of employment

The successful candidate will be employed by the TU Delft for a fixed period of 4 years within which he or she is expected to write a dissertation leading to a doctoral degree (PhD thesis). Benefits and other employment conditions are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.

Information and application

For more information about this position, please contact F. M. Mulder, phone: +31 (0)15-2784870, e-mail: f.m.mulder@tudelft.nl. To apply, please send a detailed CV along with a letter of application before 31-02-2009 to Nicole Banga, e-mail: n.d.banga@tudelft.nl. Applications will be accepted until the position has been filled.

When applying for this position, make sure to mention vacancy number TNWRRR-069.

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