The Van't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS), one of eight institutes of the Faculty of Science, has a vacancy for a PhD candidate in single-atom and bi-atom catalysis.

Project description

This project is part of Dr Ning Yan’s Vidi grant funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). It involves rational approaches for the development of both single-atom and bi-atom catalyst on heterogeneous supports. This new catalytic material is fully inorganic, featuring bi-atom pairs as the active sites on the support, and will be applied in various reactions including the activation of O2 at ambient condition in the electrochemical oxygen reduction and alcohol oxidation reactions. The ultimate goal is to reveal and understand the cooperative catalysis effects of the bi-atom pair using in-situ Raman, IR and X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

You will collaborate extensively with HomKat group of Prof. Joost Reek for the part that involves the molecular design, synthesis and characterization of the pre-complexes. You may also get the opportunity to travel internationally to perform experimental work.

• Background in chemistry, materials sciences or closely-related disciplines;
• two-year master's degree (120  ECTS points) or a similar degree with an academic level equivalent to a two-year master's degree;
• the ability to collaborate and adapt in an international team;
• good communication skills in both oral and written English.

Experience in developing single-atom catalyst and/or synthesis of inorganic complexes is an advantage, as is a publication record in peer-reviewed journals.

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

The position is preferably starting from 1st October 2019. You will be appointed full-time at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on a temporary base for a maximum period of four years (18 months plus a further 30 months after a positive evaluation) and should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). An educational plan will be drafted that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. Based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week) the gross monthly salary will range from €2,325 in the first year to €2,975 in the final year, according to the Dutch salary scales for PhD candidates. This is excl. 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% end of year bonus. ​The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences

The Van't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) is one of eight institutes of the Faculty of Science. HIMS performs internationally recognized research, curiosity driven as well as application driven. This is done in close cooperation with the chemical, flavour & food, medical and high-tech industries. Research is organized into four themes: Sustainable Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Computational Chemistry and Molecular Photonics.

The electrocatalysis and fuel cell research group, led by Dr. Ning Yan, is aiming at developing new electrocatalysts for sustainable energy applications. We approach the goals in a multidisciplinary fashion and try to understand the fundamental principles of catalysis using both ex-situ and in-situ methods. We own or have access to an extensive fleet of high-quality analytical and materials characterization instrumentation, such as NMR, XPS, UV-Vis, MS, in-situ FTIR and Raman, aberration-corrected TEM and synchrotron facilities. The group is part of the Sustainable Chemistry Research Priority theme at the UvA and is working closely with heterogenous catalysis group (HCSC) led by Prof. Gadi Rothenberg and homogenous catalysis group (HomKat) led by Prof. Joost Reek.