PhD position (M/F) : Exploiting interface design: light-activated silicone architectures for soft robotics

Job Description

Thesis Subject

Silicone elastomers have been attracting a growing interest over the past decades, thanks to their wide range of excellent physical and chemical properties. Beyond their elasticity and high elongation strength, they are chemically inert, transparent, resistant to high and low temperatures, and biocompatible, which make them good candidates to solve timely challenges in fields with societal impact such as healthcare, electronics, or construction. In addition, their range of properties can be extended even further by turning them into architected materials.

The goal of this experimental PhD position, at the crossing between physics, physical chemistry and mechanics, is to explore strategies to extend to silicone materials the concept of “liquid foam templating” (ie, controlling the structure of a solid foam by controlling the structure of its liquid precursor). Recent work at ICS has highlighted a potential pathway in that direction, and the role of the PhD student will be to advance on the understanding of the physical mechanisms involved, to explore different solidification strategies (via regular catalysis and light-triggered polymerization), to establish structure/property relations of the obtained architectures in terms of mechanical properties, and to apply this fundamental understanding to generate architected materials for applications with strong impact in the emerging field of embodied intelligence for soft robots. This aspect will be part of an interdisciplinary collaboration allowing exchanges between 4 universities from EPICUR (Strasbourg, Amsterdam, Southern Denmark and Freiburg) within the framework of the SMILE EPICUR seed funding project (Soft Matter for Intelligent Life-Like Engineering).

A sufficient English level (B2 or above) is necessary for this project that will take place in an international environment.

Your Work Environment

The PhD student will be affiliated with the Doctoral School of Physics and Physical Chemistry (ED182). The Charles Sadron Institute (ICS) is a CNRS research unit located on the Cronenbourg campus. This multidisciplinary institute, dedicated to polymer materials and self-assembled systems, employs around 190 people, half of whom are non-permanent staff. The ICS is organized into 7 research teams, 4 technological platforms, as well as administrative and technical services. The Mulhouse Institute of Materials Science (IS2M) is a CNRS – University of Haute-Alsace joint research unit, comprising 10 research themes in the field of functional materials.

The PhD thesis, co-supervised by Aurélie Hourlier-Fargette (ICS), Thierry Charitat (ICS), and Arnaud Spangenberg (IS2M), will be primarily conducted at the ICS in Strasbourg (MIM and MCube teams), in collaboration with IS2M in Mulhouse. Regular visits to Mulhouse for experimental campaigns are planned and will be funded by a dedicated budget allocated by the ITI HiFunMat. The PhD student will benefit at ICS from experimental equipment covering X-ray tomography, mechanical characterization, interfacial characterization of liquid and solid systems, thin-film deposition, and microscopy, among others. These will be complemented by the cutting-edge polymerization infrastructures at IS2M for light-triggered polymerization aspects.

Both campuses (Cronenbourg and Illberg) are easily accessible by public transport and provide access to a CROUS university restaurant.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

2300 € gross monthly

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

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