Organisation/Company: UNIVERSITE ANGERS
Department: Human Resources - Recruitment
Research Field: Chemistry
Researcher Profile: First Stage Researcher (R1)
Positions: PhD Positions
Country: France
Application Deadline: 12 Jan 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/Paris)
Type of Contract: Temporary
Job Status: Full-time
Hours Per Week: 35
Offer Starting Date: 1 Mar 2025
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Offer Description Redox conducting polymers are a key solution to circumvent the main limitations of organic storage systems, allowing to retain the active organic matter onto the current collector by the insoluble character of polymer chains, introduce a wide variety of redox molecules on the skeleton of polymer chains capable of increasing the capacity and the energy density of electrodes, and to improve the conductivity because of the pi-conjugated character of polymer chains. Such qualities avoid «dead masses» in the electrodes, allowing to increase their performances. By tuning the HOMO and LUMO energetic levels of aromatic polymers, these organic materials have the potentiality to be reversibly oxidized and reduced, becoming relevant materials for both positive and negative electrodes in organic batteries. In these cases, dual p and n dopable conducting polymers are obtained. The project PolyBatt aims at preparing dual redox conducting polymers serving as anode and cathode in fully organic batteries. In these storage systems, redox molecules make a faradaic contribution to the capacitive storage in the polymer film for maximizing both the capacity and energy density. The ambition of the project is to increase the TRL level from 2 to 4 by validating the storage solution with a prototype at the laboratory scale.
Provisional project schedule: The work will be divided into two chemical and electrochemical tasks. The chemical task, planned over the first 6 months, will focus on the synthesis of monomers and preparation of polymers, while the electrochemical task, planned over the last 6 months, will involve electrode assembling and cell testing.
Expected results: The project PolyBatt aims at preparing redox duals conducting polymers. These polymers will be used as anode and cathode in organic energy storage systems. The project deliverables are polymers stable in temperature and during long time periods of charge-discharge cycles (a charge retention of 80% over 200 cycles is aimed), a specific capacity comprised between 50 mAh g-1 and 100 mAh g-1, a cell voltage more than 2 Volts, and an improved cyclability over the 0.1 A g-1 - 100 A g-1 current range.
Definition of research activities and tasks to be accomplished: The candidate will be in charge of the preparation of monomers and redox conducting polymers for storage application. The candidate will also be involved in the study of small prototypes at the laboratory scale based on the redox conducting polymers obtained both by chemical and electrochemical oxidation. Noted that the electrochemical tests will be achieved in a glove box.
The postdoctoral researcher should be comfortable with metal-catalyzed reactions and Schlenk-line protocol. The postdoctoral researcher will also be involved in cell assembling and testing (cells are routinely studied in a glove box).
We also look for other important qualities, such as:
Autonomy
Communication
Motivation
Specific Requirements Applicants must have a valid PhD degree of less than 3 years.
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