The candidate will have the opportunity to work at the synchrotron facility of Elettra (Trieste) atAPE-HE beamline. The PhD student will become a recognized expert of the X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and will perform experiments for investigating the surface reactivity ofmaterials especially for catalytic applications (metal oxides, metal organic frameworks, perovskites, etc.).The project will touch many advanced topicsin the field of material scienceand among them the study of the reactivity of Hydrogen inside solid oxide fuel cells(SOFCs)will be addressed.SOFCs devices convertthe chemical energy of H2directly into electrical work, and are efficient and environmentally clean(H2O is the byproducts), since no combustion is required.A SOFC is mainly composed of two electrodes (the anode and the cathode), and a solid electrolyte.In particular the focus of the PhD thesis will be the observation and the understanding of theH2oxidationmechanismsthat occurson the surface of different types of anode.In order to pursue this target the candidate will use the synchrotronradiationto perform operandoXAS.The XAS spectroscopy is a very powerful techniquewhich provides the electronic structure andthelocal geometric informationof the absorber element.Recently at APE-HE beamline has been developed a new device that allows to perform operando XAS experiments at 1 bar up to 450°C.This kind of setup is a very new opportunity also because there are only few devices like this inthe world and it is only waiting for your forefront discoveries.The candidate will join a large group formed by several PhD’s and post doc’s coming from different countries operating the different instruments present at our laboratory. The international environment is also enriched by the presence of many international groups coming to perform experiment at our beamline and the candidate will have the chance to participate to some of them. Furthermore,the candidate will spend a period abroad for experiments in other facilities, schools and international conferences. The candidate will also be trained at others techniques,present in our lab, and that we use as anchillary characterization in ours experimentssuch as: XRD, XPS, SEM, gas chromatography, computational simulation of XASspectra. We kindly invite you to write us for further information on the project and for planning a visit to our laboratory.
