PhD position targeting antifouling coatings capable of tunable and passive delamination

PhD position targeting anti-fouling coatings capable of tunable and passive delamination

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This project, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, aims to develop a new class of chemical coatings capable of tunable and passive delamination and applicable in real-world water facilities. Removing layers such as coatings, graffities, or (bio) fouling from surfaces is challenging because these layers by design adhere well and withstand external stimuli. New (chemical) solutions for on-demand delamination of such layers would bring the coating industry closer to circularity, enabling easy to clean and safer surfaces for public spaces as well as waterworks systems.

We believe chemically programmable coatings capable of on-demand release (delamination and debonding) would allow for facile and clean recycling. This type of programming, however, require selectivity and rapid changes in the coatings properties. In this context, the CRN group recently reported a microfluidic method to bestow simple chemical coatings with the capacity to transduce, delay, and perturb chemical signals. Your project aims to translate this microfluidic method into anti-fouling coatings capable of tunable and passive delamination.

Join a team of junior researchers (PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers), and shape a rapidly emerging field with your insights. You will learn how to design chemical reaction networks at material interfaces and become a forerunner in chemically-programmable coatings. Briefly, the core objective of this PhD project is to synthesize novel peptides, functionalized with moieties for anti-fouling properties, and incorporate them onto material surfaces to enable reactive or sacrificial properties in real-world applications.

Your main tasks will include to:

• Developing (and derivatizing) polylysine-coated microfluidic channel capable of signal processing.
• Demonstrating programmable release of sacrificial coatings.
• Learning surface modification techniques based on known chemical coupling strategies.
• Incorporating of anti-fouling properties through anti-fouling polymers or cation scavengers.

PhD students are expected to develop scientific independence and complete research projects. We are looking for a collaborative, creative, and excellent colleague with:

• A M.Sc. degree in chemistry or equivalent,
• Demonstrable research experience in peptide and/or polymer synthesis.
• Well-developed communication skills, including an excellent command of written and spoken English.
• Ability manage your project independently in a multidisciplinary environment.
• Motivation to acquire additional skills, ranging from basic programming to surface techniques to analytical chemistry, should the project need it.
• Multidisciplinary approach, with the purpose of getting insights while testing the effectiveness of the coatings against in organics deposition and microbial adhesion

• As a PhD student at UT, you will be appointed to a fully-paid full-time position for four years, with a qualifier in the first year, within an exciting scientific environment;
• Your salary and associated conditions are in accordance with the collective labour agreement for Dutch universities (CAO-NU);
• You will receive a gross monthly salary ranging from € 3.059,- (first year) to € 3.881,- (fourth year);
• There are excellent benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%, and a solid pension scheme;
• A minimum of 232 leave hours in case of full-time employment based on a formal workweek of 38 hours. A full-time employment in practice means 40 hours a week, therefore resulting in 96 extra leave hours on an annual basis;
• You will have a training programme as part of the Twente Graduate School, where you and your supervisors will determine a personalized plan for a suitable education and supervision;
• A family-friendly institution that offers parental leave (both paid and unpaid);
• You will have a training programme as part of the Twente…