Ongoing shift within the chemical industry to use electrical power instead of fossil fuels has started. Electricity can be used as energy input to drive reactions, or, as the next step, enable novel electrocatalytic conversions at mild conditions. A particularly promising route is the electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 to CO (carbon monoxide). CO (annual production about 75 Mt, main feedstocks are methane and coal) is an important intermediate for the production of petrochemical products and plastics.
In this context, we develop a platinum group metal (PGM) free CO2-electrolyzer with high selectivity at ambient temperatures in aqueous electrolytes using anion exchange membranes (AEM). The flow cell includes molecular catalysts (Fe, Co) at the cathode, a strong originality of the project. The post-doctorate associate will participate in developing novel catalysts and perform cell characterization in lab scale environment. In a collaborative effort, several international partners produce novel paper-based highly porous electrodes, assemble and test cells and stacks based on catalysts and electrodes from the project.
Position is at the LEM (Laboratoire d’Electrochimie Moléculaire) at Université de Paris. As mentioned above, this project is an international collaborative effort with academic and industrial partners (Air Liquide, Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS), Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ)).
Profile: the candidate must possess research track record with several first authored publications in recognized international journals within the field of electrochemistry and/or electrocatalysis and electrochemical devices. Experience with industrial and scientific collaborations will be considered advantageous. Previous experience with supervision of doctoral students will be considered beneficial. Excellent communication skills in both written and spoken English is all-important.