Crystallography News Online

PhD student for fundamental studies on materials for solid oxide fuel cells

Empa is a Swiss Science and Technology Institution of the ETH-Domain. The Empa Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics and ETH Zürich is offering an exciting position for a PhD student for fundamental studies on materials for solid oxide fuel cells:

“Driving forces of metal-insulator transitions in rare earth/transition metal -oxides: Correlation of electronic structure and transport properties”

The applicant should hold a degree in Physics, Materials Science, or a closely related discipline.

This PhD project is stimulated by the need for better electrode for solid oxide fuel cells - an emerging technology for environmentally more compatible energy, and for high temperature electrochemical applications in general. The mechanisms of electrical and thermal transport in ceramic materials at elevated temperatures are complex and not well understood. At high temperatures, the electric conductivity of ceramics is typically caused by ions and by polarons. One interesting, empirical observation is that many “good” electrodes are located at the border line between insulators and conductors. Conductivity depends on a delicate balance between defect chemistry and band structure, which is altered by temperature and oxygen partial pressure.

The material under investigation belongs to the class of strongly correlated fermion systems, which play a role in superconductivity and colossal magnetoresistance. Advanced X-ray spectroscopy techniques play a significant roll in elucidating transport mechanisms in such systems. The PhD student will adopt these approaches and techniques to address metal-insulator transitions at high temperatures, including important aspects of defect chemistry.

Our challenging project requires an enthusiastic, self driven experimentalist with a sound theoretical background in solid state physics, preferably ligand field theory. Participation in experimental campaigns at synchrotron or neutron radiation sources is mandatory and will require frequent international travel. Hands-on experience with synthesis of ceramics, electrochemical instrumentation, and spectroscopy and scattering is particularly welcome. Data modelling may be necessary. This is a joint Ph.D. project with EMPA and ETH Zürich, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and by the European Union. The candidate will be hosted at EMPA’s Fast Ion Conductors Group. Thesis advisor is Prof. Dr. Ludwig J. Gauckler.

The position is available immediately.

Please direct your application to:
Empa
Dr. Artur Braun
Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics
Überlandstr. 129
CH-8600 Dübendorf
Switzerland

www.empa.ch/abt123