Postdoc position in combining plasma treatment and (photo)catalysis towards an energy-efficient...

Last application date Jun 29, 2022 00:00

Department TW17 - Department of Applied Physics

Contract Limited duration

Degree You hold a PhD degree in Chemistry, in Engineering, in Bio-engineering or in Physics. The degree requirements need to be met at the start of your appointment.

Occupancy rate 100%

Vacancy type Research staff

Postdoc position in combining plasma treatment and (photo)catalysis towards an energy-efficient technology for abatement of polluted air.

Clean air is a major factor determining the well-being of all living creatures. There are a number of natural sources of air pollution, like volcanic eruptions, forest fires, plant, animal and soil emissions (biogenic sources) that have resulted in a delicate balance of natural occurrence of these atmospheric compounds over millions of years. Strongly disturbing this balance, human activities are responsible for many new sources of contamination of the earth atmosphere (anthropogenic sources). Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other gaseous compounds like ozone (O3), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ammonia (NH3) play an important role in the overall air quality. In this project it is our ambition to perform a systematic study and fundamental understanding of a combined non-thermal plasma and (photo)catalytic reactor system for the breakdown of common gaseous pollutants (VOCs) from the atmosphere. This will include the characterization of the three individual techniques (plasma, photocatalysis and oxidation catalysis), mainly aiming at gaining as much information as possible on material characteristics and oxidation performances. In a second stage, an integrated reactor will be constructed, combining plasma treatment with (photo)catalysis, both in-plasma and post-plasma. Based on the information gained on the individual components and kinetic parameters, this integrated system will be optimized in terms of flow patterns and fluxes, positioning of the (photo)catalyst in the reactor, external illumination and reactor geometry. The interactions and synergies will be studied by measuring both the plasma emission spectrum, absorption spectrum and the gas composition at different positions in and after the reactor

• You hold a PhD degree in Chemistry, in Engineering, in Bio-engineering or in Physics. The degree requirements need to be met at the start of your appointment.
• You are interested in academic and/or project-based research.
• You have experience in catalysis/plasma catalysis and/or plasma physics.
• You have excellent communication skills (spoken and written English)
• We offer you a contract of 1 year (possibility to extend it).

Send an email to [email protected] with your CV, cover letter, motivation, diploma and other documents that might be important.