Post-doctoral position in polymer and materials chemistry

- Synthesis of monomers and polymers
- Automated synthesis of polymers
- Polymer characterization (SEC, HPLC, NMR, MS)
- Preparation of multilayer films
- Characterization of multilayer films (Ellipsometry, XPS, QCM, UV-Vis spectroscopy, AFM)

The aim of this post-doctoral research will be to synthesize and study the spatial organization of digitally-encoded polymers. In such macromolecules, the monomer units are used as a molecular language to store information. These polymers are synthesized by multi-step chemistry. Within the frame of this thesis, digital polyelectrolytes (i.e. polyanions) will be synthesized and characterized. Afterwards, these polymers will be assembled with non-coded polyelectrolytes through a layer-by-layer deposition process. The growth and morphology of the resulting thin films will be characterized using various surface analytical tools.

This work will be performed in the context of a collaborative ANR project involving the Institut Charles Sadron (monomer/polymer synthesis/characterization, multilayer film preparation/characterization) in Strasbourg and the Institute of Radical Chemistry (analysis of the coded films by DESI-MS) in Marseille. The research will be conducted at the Institut Charles Sadron. In particular, the candidate will join both the Precision Macromolecular Chemistry (PMC) and the Polyelectrolyte, Complexes and Materials (PECMAT) groups. The research will be supervised by Jean-François Lutz (CMP) as well as Olivier Felix and Gero Decher (PECMAT).