PhD Position: Ion transport and synthesis -dimensional nanopores and nanoporous membranes

PhD Position:
Ion transport and synthesis of two-dimensional nanopores and nanoporous membranes

Leiden University was founded in 1575 and is one of Europe’s leading international research universities.

The faculty of Science and the Schneider group within the Leiden Institute of Chemistry are looking for a PhD candidate to join us in the Laboratory of 2D materials.

“Ion transport and synthesis of two dimensional nanopores and nanoporous membranes”

Disciplines: ion transport chemistry and physics, nanopores, energy devices, fuel cells, osmotic energy, membrane chemistry and physics, organic chemistry

Current separation technology is crucial for many aspects of human life and accounts for ~15% of the world’s energy consumption. Additionally, in the development of next‑generation power solutions based on fuel cells and ion batteries, the membrane is an essential component that directly determines device efficiency. While the particle flow through separation columns is directional at the atomistic scale, undirected Brownian motion dominates in state‑of‑the‑art membranes.

2D membranes have the potential to overcome this intrinsic deficiency and shift the paradigm of particle transport from disordered Brownian motion to unidirectional flow. In the project we will develop 2D polymer heterostructure membranes (2

DHMs) combined with functionalized graphene. They offer ultimate thinness (leading to shortest diffusion lengths), precision pore geometry/size (resulting in high size‑selectivity, even for hydrogen isotopes), and high functionality (fostering chemical/charge selectivity and ionic gating), making them ideal membrane materials to realize selective and unidirectional ion transport. We will combine theory and prediction, chemical design, and on‑water/liquid surface synthesis, as well as in‑situ ion transport investigations to develop robust 2

DHMs. We will synthesize 2

DHMs in the form of horizontal and vertical heterostructures, for which reliable structure‑property correlations will be established. We will take advantage of lattice vibrations, nuclear quantum, and electrochemical effects, and consequently reformulate classical diffusion theory to consider these game changers. As a result, we will achieve innovative 2

DHMs for selective proton and ion transport with high permeance, laying the foundations for the next‑generation membrane technologies. 2DPolymembrane will unlock the unique opportunities of 2

DHMs for innovative energy device integrations (proton/aqueous metal batteries, fuel cells, and reverse osmotic power generators), where the merits of ultrathin precision 2

DHMs will result in the highest selectivity and highest particle flow, and thus a fundamental device performance beyond the state‑of‑the‑art.

The PhD students will be supervised by Grégory Schneider (Leiden Institute of Chemistry), and work in close collaboration with the teams at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (Prof. Xinliang Feng) and at the Dresden University of Technology (Prof. Thomas Heine).

Separation processes are essential in our daily lives, from drug development and purification to cleaning wastewater. These processes, however, use a lot of energy due to the thicknesses of the membranes, together with the random movement of particles. The 2DPolyMembrane project is working to change that paradigm. By developing special 2D membranes that allow particles to flow in a single direction, this project could significantly improve the efficiency of separation technologies.

Leiden University is one of Europe’s leading international research universities.
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