PhD in Chemistry

Applications are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Natural Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Chemistry programme. The position is available from November 2022 or later.

Title:

Ionic Liquids - Nanosynthesis Game Changers

Research area and project description:

As part of a Villum Investigator grant [1] ionic liquids (room temperature molten salts) as transformative tools in the synthesis of nanomaterials will be explored.

Nanomaterials have become indispensable for modern life. Many technologies depend critically on nanomaterials with engineered properties and structures, including photocatalysts for hydrogen production and waste-water treatment [2], energy efficient phosphors for lighting applications [3], and thermoelectric materials for energy conversion [4]. Boundaries could be pushed further if more powerful tools for the tailored synthesis of nanomaterials were available. Here, ionic liquids (ILs) have the potential to be a true game changer. ILs, which can be built by a wide variety of cation-anion combinations with different functionalities, can act as the reaction medium, particle stabilizing and templating agent all-in-one, sometimes even as the reaction partner.

The goal of this PhD project is to develop a deep understanding of how ILs guide the formation of a nanomaterial and to apply this knowledge for the next era of nanosynthesis by proving that tailor-made ILs with specific functional groups and physico-chemical properties allow for the deliberate assembly of a nanomaterial or a nanostructure.

The project will take advantage of the latest possibilities offered by the Department of Chemistry and iNANO, together with large-scale facilities for neutron and synchrotron X-ray scattering.

The PhD candidate will manage a wide range of state-of-the-art synthesis (physical vapor deposition, microwave synthesis, mechanochemical and ultrasound synthesis) and characterization techniques with emphasis on structure analysis with diffraction methods (PXRD, SAXS, TEM, EDX) and become an expert in materials synthesis, structure and property determination.

For more background of this PhD project, please visit: www.mudring.org  and nat.au.dk/en/about-the-faculty/news/show/artikel/the-endless-possibilities-of-impossible-salt/

References:

1. https://veluxfoundations.dk/en/content/2021-villum-investigators-2021  

2. DOI: 10.1002/adsu.202000180; DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201700615.

3. DOI: 10.1039/C4CC05817H; DOI: 10.1039/C4CC04400B.

4. DOI: 10.1039/c6dt04323b; DOI:10.1039/c5tc01248a.