PhD in Flow Battery Research (m/w/d)

Job Description

As one of the most innovative and fast-growing companies in The Netherlands, Elestor offers, in collaboration with our academic partner Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), an exciting PhD opportunity with plenty of scope for both personal and professional development.

Opportunity

Elestor has an exciting opportunity for a PhD in flow battery research. The goal of this doctoral thesis is to investigate new porous electrodes to improve the power density and energy efficiency of hydrogen-iron flow batteries.

You'll investigate the influence of electrode composition and morphology on the performance and durability properties of Elestor's electrodes.

Specifically, your research will focus on:

1. Enhanced protection of the electrocatalyst on the hydrogen side to increase lifetime, e.g. by an ionomer nanostructure or protective coatings.
2. Investigation of the mass transport - surface area trade-off to enhance performance.
3. Once there is measured proof of improved robustness and performance in hydrogen iron flow battery cells, the optimized electrodes will be prepared using scalable mass electrode production process with reduced energy consumption to reduce cost.

The project is funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network "SPACER". To be carried out by one doctoral candidate at Elestor, with PhD supervision at TU/e Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, and with direct collaboration with and support from the Elestor team, as well as Elestor's founder & CTO Wiebrand Kout.

Job Requirements

Education, skills and experience

• Master´s degree in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Physics, or a related discipline.
• Experienced and interested in working in a laboratory. Familiarity with instrumental analytical techniques in electrochemistry, surface chemistry and chemistry.
• Knowledge about fuel cell, electrolyser and/or flow battery systems.
• Self-motivating, well-structured working style as well as ability to contribute effectively to the team.
• Good networking skills. Next to working with the Elestor team, you're given the opportunity to work as part of an international, interdisciplinary team of in total 17 doctoral candidates, based at universities and companies throughout Europe. Using your 'people skills', you can build a highly valuable professional network in a short amount of time. We're looking for a candidate with team spirit and the ability to help create and extend this pan-European network.
• An entrepreneurial mindset. This is an in-company PhD position, with a clear aim to bring the new technology to the market soonest. So if you're able to think science and business at the same time, this is the right PhD opportunity for you!
• The ideal candidate is eager to learn and thrives effortlessly in the Elestor culture (with a positive mindset, agility, and proactiveness). You possess technical creativity, curiosity, and a drive to investigate, translate and implement best practices and solutions from other (non-)established industries.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are a prerequisite.
• You're given the opportunity to work abroad at two of our project partners during planned secondments at Fraunhofer ICT for one month, and at Prague University of Chemistry and Technology for two months.
• Following the rules of the Marie Curie fellowships, the candidate may not already have a PhD, and shouldn't have resided in The Netherlands for more than 12 months out of the previous 36.

Elestor's Mission & Relevance

Imagine a world without polluting power plants, powered purely by clean electricity...

...this world is closer than you think. The sun and the wind are powerful enough, and so are the technologies to harvest their energy. However, possibilities to store renewable energy (sustainably, cost-effectively) are lacking; Long-Duration Electricity Storage (LDES) is ''the missing link'' in the energy transition.

It is Elestor's mission to cut the cost of electricity storage. We develop large-scale, cost-effective H2-FE storage technologies technologies that are carbon neutral and durable, thereby unifying the interests of the planet, people, and business profitability.

About The SPACER project

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Networks are joint research and training projects funded by the European Union. Funding is provided for doctoral candidates to carry out individual project work in a country other than their own. The training network "SPACER" is made up of 21 partners, coordinated by Fraunhofer ICT in Germany.

Funding is provided for doctoral candidates from both inside and outside Europe to carry out individual project work in a European country other than their own. SPACER aims to develop new architectures for porous electrodes to improve the power density and energy efficiency of flow batteries, enabling affordable and durable long-duration energy storage. The approach is to use hierarchical structures, i.e. complex material layers that can be optimized to specific battery chemistries and flow phenomena from the microscale up. The developed technologies will be validated in half-cells and full working batteries at industrial partners.

Strong collaboration is expected with other project partners in areas such as multiscale modelling of porous electrodes, advanced imaging and characterization, and validation in electrochemical cells. High-quality training programs and other support will help you to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. You'll be supported by two mentors within the SPACER project, and will have multiple opportunities to participate in professional and personal development training.

Through your work you'll gain a unique skill-set in researching next generation electrochemical flow cells through prototyping and characterization of novel electrode materials. You'll be given the opportunity to finish the project with a PhD thesis and to disseminate your results through patents, publications in peer reviewed journals and presentations at international conferences.