Postdoc (M/F) – characterization of nanostructured membranes for reverse electrodialysis

Job Description

Missions

Designing electrolyte membrane for blue energy conversion. The CellOsmo ANR project aims at developing a new generation of membranes to harvest osmotic energy from salinity gradients existing between fresh and salty waters (ocean, brine, and wastewater). Such energy is renewable, non-intermittent and the global reachable power is estimated to 1 TW (in comparison the 2020 hydroelectricity power only reached 0.02 TW).1 Such energy can be converted into electricity by reverse electrodialysis (RED) which relies on stacks of cation and anion exchange membranes to transport ions from salty to fresh water. The power generated by RED depends on the cell design, the salt gradient and the membrane properties.

Activity

The candidate will develop structural characterization methodologies of selected membranes synthesized by the partners of the ANR project including the evaluation of the nanoconfinement lengthscale by SAXS/SANS, of the grafted polyelectrolyte conformation by SANS, and of the swollen nanochannel morphology by electron and atomic force microscopy (SEM, TEM, AFM).
The CellOsmo project will provide key insights related to two main scientific questions:
- How to play with the copolymer macromolecular architecture, grafting onto conditions, formulation and process to tune the ion concentration and distribution, and the nanochannel size within a nanocellulose single ion electrolyte membrane?
- How ionic transport properties can be modulated through the electrolyte membrane architecture, and subsequently impact blue energy conversion efficiency?

Your Profil

Skills

PhD in Material Science, Physics or Chemistry.
Proven hands-on experience with SAXS/SANS techniques associated with programming skills (Pyhton)
Strong experimental skills would be a plus: spectroscopy, microscopy, electrochemistry
Knowledge on polymers, nanostructured materials would be a strong asset
Ability to work effectively in a multi-partner environment
Excellent communication skills in English (written and oral), French would be a plus.

Your Work Environment

The candidate will benefit from both CEA/IRIG/SyMMES and Cermav laboratories where he will have access to nanocharacterization platforms (in particular SAXS/WAXS at SyMMES) and AFM, SEM and TEM at CERMAV). This project will involve experiements inlarge scale facilities (ILL, ESRF). CELLOSMO is an PRCE ANR project involving IMP (Lyon, synthesis), Cermav (Grenoble, membrane functionalization, AFM, SEM), SyMMES (Grenoble, morphology characterization) and the Sweetch company (Rennes, membrane performances).

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

Between €3,040 and €3,300 gross per month, depending on experience

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

The research professions