Postdoctoral Fellow (f/m/d) | Spectro-electrochemistry investigations on IrOx degradation for the PEM water electrolysis

 The Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) in Mülheim an der Ruhr studies fundamental chemical processes for energy storage in chemical molecules.

As part of the H2Giga lead project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, solutions for the energy conversion are to be developed. In particular, the causes of the degradation of IrOx, the most frequently used and most efficient catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction in PEM electrolysis, will be investigated. This requires close cooperation with companies in the chemical industry and energy generation as well as academic research institutes.

With a starting date of 1st of April 2023 and limited for 2 years, the Institute is looking for a postdoctoral fellow (f/m/d) – Spectro-electrochemistry investigations on IrOx degradation for the PEM water electrolysis.

Your task

• In-situ spectro-electrochemical investigations for the assessment of the degradation phenomena on IrOx catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction
• Design of spectro-electrochemical cells for the study of the catalyst structure transformations during OER
• Investigation of the origin of IrOx degradation with in-situ techniques like XAS, ICP-OES and MS, in-situ Raman, in-situ Uv-Vis etc.
• Interface-role to other sub-projects of the cluster and preparation of their results for the own sub-project
• Information and communication within the project

Your qualifications

• Completed scientific higher education and doctorate in natural sciences or engineering with a focus on electrochemistry, physics or chemical engineering
• Preferably relevant work experience in the fields of electrochemistry and engineering, with focus on water electrolysis
• Experience in dealing with instrumental analytics, spectroscopy techniques that can be combined with electrochemistry techniques and interpretation of big data sets as well as simulation and programming would be advantageous 
• Teamwork, good communication and presentation skills 
• Very good knowledge of the German and English language (spoken and written) is necessary

We are looking for a self-motivated personality with independent, target-oriented, and systematic operation. High degrees of self-initiative, creativity as well as collaborative skills are prerequisites.

Salary of the temporary employment is in accordance with the German state public service salary scale (pay level E13 TVöD-Bund) and the accordant social benefits.

The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals. Furthermore, the Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply.

Application

Please send your application with all important documents preferably by email (as pdf document) with the subject “IS024” until December 23rd, 2022 to:

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion
Dr. Ioannis Spanos
Stiftstr. 34-36
45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr
Germany

E-Mail: ioannis.spanos@cec.mpg.de

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