Research Associate in Chemistry

Job summary

The purpose of this post is to develop scalable synthetic routes to promising plasmocatalysts for energy (e.g. water splitting, CO2 conversion, etc.) and environmental applications (e.g. NOx remediation) identified earlier in the project, with significant experience in at least one of these disciplines an essential requirement for the position. The post is funded by the EPSRC Programme Grant (EP/W017075/1), New Perspectives in...

Job listing information

• Reference NAT01493
• Date posted 2 August 2023
• Closing date 31 August 2023

Key information about the role

• Location White City Campus - On site only

• Position type Full time, fixed term
• Salary £45,593 – £47,376 plus benefits

• Department Department of Chemistry
• Category Researcher / Non Clinical Researcher

Job description

Job summary

The purpose of this post is to develop scalable synthetic routes to promising plasmocatalysts for energy (e.g. water splitting, CO2 conversion, etc.) and environmental applications (e.g. NOx remediation) identified earlier in the project, with significant experience in at least one of these disciplines an essential requirement for the position. The post is funded by the EPSRC Programme Grant (EP/W017075/1), New Perspectives in Photocatalysis and Near-Surface Chemistry: Catalysis Meets Plasmonics (CPLAS). The primary purpose of this post is to develop scalable synthetic routes to promising plasmocatalysts for energy (e.g. water splitting, CO2 conversion, etc.) and environmental applications (e.g. NOx remediation) identified earlier in the project. This will include the use of hydro/solvothermal and chemical vapour deposition synthetic routes.

The materials grown will be physically and functionally characterised using a suite of methods. For physical characterisation, this will include the use of thin-film X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS), UV-visible transmission/ reflection spectroscopy, and transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS). For functional characterisation this will include photocatalytic NOx conversion testing (in accordance with ISO 22197-1:2016) and photoelectrochemical water splitting testing (e.g. (photo)current-voltage curves, incident photon-to-current efficiency testing, chronoamperometry stability testing, Clark electrode/ GC measurement of H2/ O2 production, etc.)

In this post, you will mentor PhD and Master’s students in the Solar Coatings Group aligned to the project. You will work in multi-disciplinary teams within the chemistry department, college and universities involved in the CPLAS project. You will present regular updates on their project progress to the Solar Coatings Group and CPLAS team (typically bi-weekly). This will include presentations to company contacts involved in the CPLAS project (e.g. Pilkington NSG), which may involve visits to company sites across the UK. You will also be expected to present your and related group findings at national and international conferences (at least one national and one international conference per annum). The applicant should work diligently to publish their work, and to work alongside their assigned mentees to publish their project work, in notable peer-reviewed scientific journals. The applicant will also be expected to work with their supervisor to attract external research funding. 

Duties and responsibilities

These include:

• To develop scalable synthetic routes to promising plasmocatalysts for energy and environmental applications
• To mentor PhD and Master’s research project students aligned with the CPLAS project, assisting with their supervision and training
• To work with the Laboratory Manager to manage the laboratory of the Solar Coatings Group (Labs B01 and B05, MSRH, White City); including the safety inductions of new researchers, maintenance of allotted items of equipment, monitoring of lab tidiness, and purchasing of chemicals where requirement
• To present regular updates on their project progress to the Solar Coatings Group and CPLAS team (typically bi-weekly)
• To present your and related group findings at national and international conferences (at least one national and one international conference per annum)
• To publish your project work, and to help their mentees publish their project work, in notable peer-reviewed scientific journals
• To work with your supervisor to attract external research funding (e.g. assist in writing bids for research grants)

Essential requirements

These include:

• Hold, or be near completion of, a PhD in Chemistry
• Experience working independently and as part of a team of researchers to deliver project goals
• Experience in bringing your own creative thought to a research project
• Experience in problem solving a spectrum of issues that can arise during a research project
• Experience conducting research of the highest quality, ensuring the validity and reliability of their findings
• Experience conducting in-depth analysis, thinking deeply about their findings
• Experience mentoring students
• Experience presenting your research at group meetings, and conferences
• Experience working with other research groups on a collaborative research project
• Experience publishing their research in notable peer-reviewed scientific journals
• General knowledge of the field of photocatalysis

Further information

This is a full time, fixed term position for 1 year with possibility of extension. You will be based at White City Campus. Your expected start date is 15 January 2024.

Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Andreas Kafizas – a.kafizas@imperial.ac.uk

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level. http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research/ 

Documents

• Job Description Research Associate.pdf