PhD Positions in Chemistry or Materials Science, Utrecht University, Netherlands (2016)

The production of chemicals and fuels using more sustainable energy sources is a grand challenge. Since catalysts are crucial for these processes, understanding their structure and behaviour at the nanometer scale is of great importance to both science and industry. The Faculty of Science is hiring three PhD students.

PhD-1: Catalyst synthesis.
Melt infiltration (MI) and deposition precipitation (DP) can be used for assembly of a wide range of catalysts and related materials such as photonic crystals. Both methods have been explored by us for synthesis of solid catalysts and hydrogen absorbents. Earlier we have studied solution impregnation using cryo-electron tomography. To study MI and DP we propose to use cryo-Electron Tomography in combination with Differential Scanning Calorimetry and expect to be able to arrive at breakthrough insights and catalysts. Supported metal catalysts thus obtained will be studied in synthesis gas conversion such as the Fischer Tropsch synthesis.

PhD-2: Light alkanes conversion.
Conversion of light-alkanes to aromatics is of great interest both industrially and scientifically. In many cases these catalysts combine a metal function for (de)hydrogenation and an acidic function for e.g. isomerisation, ring closure or aromatisation. It has been speculated, but hardly studied at a fundamental level, that the location of active sites with respect to each other play a significant role in catalyst performance. From work with Pt/Al2O3/zeolite we have obtained samples with Pt nanoparticles present exclusively on the alumina or exclusively on the zeolite . Electron tomography will be carried out to obtain unique and quantitative data on active site distributions in complex catalysts. The impact of the location of the metal particles on the conversion of light alkanes will be studied.

PhD-3: Solar Fuels.
A strongly emerging topic is how we can use sunlight to produce desired fuels and chemicals from H2O and CO2. This might be done directly by using photoactive materials, or indirectly by using sunlight-generated electricity and electrocatalysts. Major challenges are associated with the practical implementation, but the topic also poses very interesting fundamental questions. Building on experience in our group, carbon-supported Cu-based catalysts will be explored, which are uniquely capable to produce hydrocarbons, alcohols and other products with relatively high efficiency from reduction of CO2 and H2O. The influence of nanoparticle size, shape and composition will be investigated in detail, to reach understanding of how optimum selectivity to desired products can be achieved.

Requirements
We are looking for enthusiastic, motivated and skilled students holding an MSc in a relevant area of Chemistry or Materials Science. The candidate preferably has some experience with catalysis, catalyst synthesis, electrochemistry and/or electron microscopy.

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