Postdoc Position in the Field of Plasma Nanotechnologies

Workplace: Department of Physical Electronics, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic

Type of Contract: temporary position with 14-months contract, non-academic

Working Hours: 1 FTE (full-time employment of 40 hours per week)

Expected Start Date: January 2022 or negotiable with respect to immigration timelines for non EU candidates

Number of Open Positions: 1

Application Deadline: 20. 12.2021

EU Researcher Profile : R2

About the Workplace

Masaryk University is the second-largest university in the Czech Republic with ten faculties, more than 5000 staff, and more than 30 000 students.

Faculty of Science MU, a proud holder of the HR Excellence in Research Award by the European Commission, is a research-oriented faculty, offering university education (Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degree programs) closely linked to both primary and applied research and high school teaching of the following sciences: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Earth sciences. We are the most productive scientific unit of the Masaryk University generating around 40 % of MU research results.

Department of Physical Electronics at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University provides courses and guarantees fundamental and applied research in the fields on plasma physics, plasma applications, and nanotechnology. It has a tradition of more than 50 years. The R&D Centre for Low-cost Plasma and Nanotechnology Surface Modifications CEPLANT was established in 2010 as part of the Department of Physical Electronics and was funded by the European Structural Funds and has been recognized by the European Union as a Key Enabling Technologies (KET's) centre.

Job Description

The postdoc will work within the research group Plasma Nanotechnology and Bioapplications (PNB; https://plasma.sci.muni.cz/en ) that is a part of the DPE. The main activities of the group are the development of atmospheric-pressure plasma sources, their optimization, innovation and customization for the surface modification of materials such as non-woven fabrics, nanofibers prepared by electrospinning, rigid and flexible polymers, wood, metals, semiconductors etc. used in a wide range of industrial fields. Very recently the PNB group started the research of plasma modification of highly porous graphene and graphene oxide (GO) aerogel-like materials and nanocomposites. The group is active also in the field of plasma agriculture and plasma bio-decontamination.

The postdoc will be engaged in research of atmospheric-pressure plasma modification and reduction of graphene oxide nanocomposites utilizing various surface diagnostic tools. The GO / reduced GO coatings on textiles, polymers and coating deposited by electrospinning method will be modified by atmospheric plasma generated by various DBD sources with the focus on unique type of surface DBD, so-called diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge (DCSBD). DCSBD has several advantages in comparison with other commercial plasma sources and has a high potential for a transfer to the practice. Therefore, it is expected that postdoc will be skilled in research of polymer chemistry, nanomaterials synthesis and plasma technologies for surface modification. The applicant will be a part of the young team closely collaborating with domestic and abroad industry partners.

Key Duties:

• preparation and characterization of carbon nanomaterials, including graphene, graphene oxide and nanocomposites
• previous skills in the research of electrically conductive polymer composites
• experience and skills with electrospinning techniques for the preparation of nanofibers with emphasise on the preparation and optimization of chemical solutions
• experience in operating of atmospheric DBD plasma sources is welcome
• experience with surface analytical techniques e.g., SFE, FTIR, SEM, AFM, EPR, RAMAN
• preparation of antibacterial polymer composite materials assisted by plasma technologies
• processing and analysis of the experimental data
• dissemination of research results and presentation at international conferences and workshops