PhD position “Combinatorial Synthesis and High-Throughput Characterization of Multinary Vanadate Thin Film Materials Libraries for Solar Water Splitting” at the International Max Planck Research School for Interface Controlled Materials for Energy Conversion.
Starting as soon as possible: To be performed at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, faculty of mechanical engineering, Chair for MEMS Materials, Prof. Alfred Ludwig
General Introduction: The project will be conducted along the following two lines:
A. First, promising initial experiments on doping/alloying of BiVO4 by Nb, W, Mo, Ta will be continued. These systems are of interest as theoretical studies show a decreased bandgap in comparison to BiVO4 suggesting higher overall efficiency. Furthermore, the search will be extended to M-V-O-N systems using reactive sputtering in Ar/O2/N mixtures.
B. Second and more generally, the search for promising materials in the A-V-O A=(Nb, W, Cu, Mn) materials systems will be extended, starting with composition spreads around the already reported Mn2V2O7. Finally, upscaling experiments of identified hit compositions onto the wafer scale by depositing nanostructured tandem absorbers in combination with co-catalysts will be conducted.
Requirements:
- Master’s degree with interest in developing new materials for solar water splitting using the combinatorial approach.
- A background in materials science and materials chemistry as well as experiences in thin film technology electrochemistry would be beneficial.
Contact and further detail: surmat@mpie.de
Elke Gattermann
International Max Planck Research School SurMat,
Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH
Max-Planck-Str. 1
40237 Duesseldorf, Germany
Phone: +49 221 6792 476
