Missions

The Conservation Research Centre (CRC) is a partner in the EU-funded SIMIACCI project on cutting-edge indoor air quality challenges in Cultural Heritage institutions. The aim of the project is to design and develop easy-to-use, customised, energy-saving and environmentally-friendly solutions and tools to purify ambient air by targeting effectively certain pollutants, in order to better preserve heritage collections. One of the major objectives is to offer alternatives to traditional air treatment systems, which are often costly and energy-consuming. In this context, the CRC is designing and testing cellulose composites and other materials enriched with porous hybrid crystalline solids, in particular MOFs (Metal-Organic Frameworks), capable of selectively adsorbing gaseous pollutants known to damage heritage collections in museums, libraries and archives (cultural and creative industries sector). These gases targeted include polar volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formic acid, acetic acid and formaldehyde (doi.org/10.1002/anie.202211583 ; doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2023.11.013), as well as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrogen sulphide.
The successful candidate will work as part of a multidisciplinary team, interfacing with the partner laboratories, and will be responsible for developing the MOF-loaded cellulose matrices, testing their effectiveness in the laboratory and during on-site measurement campaigns, modelling the sorption kinetics of the various gases, and validating the prototypes through performance, stability and compatibility tests with museum environments. This work will use a variety of analytical methodologies and standardised protocols (mechanical tests, accelerated ageing, compatibility tests with heritage objects, chromatographic and spectroscopic analyses).
In addition to his/her research activities, the candidate will take part in project meetings and consortium meetings, where he/she will present the progress of his/her work, as well as in international conferences in the fields of heritage science and air quality.

Activités

- Produce cellulosic composites ultraloaded with MOFs
- Carry out structural, physico-chemical and mechanical characterisations using instruments from the partner laboratories (TGA, FTIR, DRX, MEB-EDX, sorption-desorption isotherms, GC/MS, tensile testing, accelerated ageing)
- Implementing tests to monitor the effectiveness in the laboratory and in-loco in the MNHN rooms (PID analyses)
- Testing the innocuousness of the new materials to sensitive Heritage reference materials using standardised methods (photographic activity test, cross-contamination ageing test, etc.)
- Carry out performance/competition tests in conditions involving mixtures of pollutants that are representative of actual exposure situations in museums
- Test the regenerability of the composites
- Write and publish articles in peer-reviewed journals highlighting the results of the research project
- Communicate the results of the research at international consortium
conferences/meetings and at regular laboratory meetings and seminars.

Compétences

The successful candidate will have a degree in chemical engineering or a PhD in physical chemistry or materials science.
Selection will be based on the following scientific and technical criteria:
- Knowledge and experience with structural characterisation techniques
- Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team
- Proven experience in writing and communicating scientific results
- Fluency in scientific English and good writing skills in French and English
- Experience of research in a multidisciplinary context is desirable

Contexte de travail

The successful candidate will work mainly at the CRC (CNRS UAR 3224, MNHN site du Jardin des Plantes-Paris 5e, CRCC team) and will be required to carry out certain analyses and characterisations at IMAP (UMR 8004 CNRS, ESPCI, ENS, Paris 5e) and in collaboration with ENSICAEN and the start-up SQUAIRTECH specialising in problems relating to indoor air quality (VOCs, NOx).

Contraintes et risques

Wearing PPE (chemistry laboratory)