Thermal Energy Storage / Fifty percent of our daily energy usage is in the form of thermal energy.  In view of the energy challenges ahead of us, compact heat storage could offer opportunities to bridge the mismatch between availability and consumption of energy. Inorganic crystal hydrates have the potential to be used as storage media. Discharge happens via hydration reactions involving a phase transition of the crystal lattice due to water incorporation.

Challenge / Stabilize the crystal hydrates to prevent pulverization and deliquescence. The hydrates undergo volume changes during (de)hydration cycles.

Project aim and description / You will develop inorganic/organic composites consisting of a crystal hydrate and a polymeric binder or coating. To understand the impact of the organic stabilizer on the crystal hydrate, you will investigate the hydration/dehydration reactions in presence of the stabilizer: the width of the metastable zone, the nucleation and growth characteristics and the phase change kinetics with TGA-DSC, XRD and NMR. In a second step you will investigate the behavior of the newly developed inorganic/organic composites in a reactor bed. As this project is part of the Mat4Heat program, you will work within a team of 5 PhD's, all  studying various aspects of heat storage materials.

Working location / The work will be done in the group Transport in Permeable Media (TPM) at the Applied Physics department of the Eindhoven University of Technology. TPM owns the DarcyLab (https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-labs/darcy-lab/ ), which has a wide range of NMR imaging facilities, CT, XRD and Thermo Analytical instruments to monitor and visualize the water dynamics during phase changes.  The project is embedded in a large national program Mat4Sus and intensive cooperation with TNO (the Dutch Organization for Applied Research) is foreseen.

• Do you have a MSc degree in physics, physical-chemistry or material science?
• Do you have experience with NMR imaging and CT?
• Do you dream of contributing to a breakthrough in the area of renewable energy?
• Do you have very good programming skills (Matlab, C, C++)?

If so, you are the right candidate for this position.

We offer:

• A full time appointment for four years by Eindhoven University of Technology http://www.tue.nl/en/;
• Gross monthly salary from € 2325 (first year) to € 2972 (fourth year) in line with the Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities;
• A package of fringe benefits, including holiday allowance of 8% end-of-year allowance of 8,3%, a development program for PhD students (Proof program), and sport facilities.

All PhD studentships in Applied Physics include a limited contribution to educational tasks of the department, equivalent to around 5% of the contract time. Please note that for candidates with specific interest in teaching and education there are options for a 5-year PhD studentship with a total equivalent of around 25% educational tasks. Please express your interest to the vacancy holder/supervisor in charge.