PhD in Carbon Capture and Conversion in Electrochemical Membrane Reactors

The development of integrated CO₂ capture and conversion as a cornerstone of the net-zero transition is driven by ambitious goals and targets set by the European Commission, among others, under the European Green Deal. Achieving these targets is expected to create strong business cases, where carbon is no longer a costly liability but a valuable feedstock for sustainable fuels and chemicals. Based on these ambitions, the market for CO₂ capture and conversion technologies in Europe alone will grow into major opportunity, making it highly attractive for the European manufacturing and chemical industries to invest. However, the technology is not yet fully mature, which creates technical, economic, and scale-up risks during implementation. These uncertainties result in higher-than-expected costs and limit widespread adoption. Breakthrough innovations are therefore needed across the entire value chain—from efficient capture technologies to advanced catalytic processes—to reduce risks and accelerate cost reductions.

HyCARB is a national project in which multiple academic and industrial partners join forces to develop innovative and competitive processes for CO₂ utilization, with a strong focus on producing fuels and materials directly from industrial waste gases and CO₂ using renewable energy and green hydrogen. The aim is to significantly reduce emissions while strengthening the competitive position of the EU chemical sectors in a net-zero world https://www.tno.nl/en/newsroom/2025/07/significant-impulse-sustainable-industry/. This PhD position is part of HyCARB project and it will focus on the development and evaluation of advanced catalytic materials and reactor concepts for integrated CO₂ capture and conversion.

About the group: The work will be carried out in the Catalytic and Electrochemical Processes for Electrochemical Interfaces group at DIFFER, led by Michail (Mihalis) Tsampas. The research work in the group is devoted to electrochemical membrane reactors for solar fuel production and the electrification of the chemical industry. Our work spans the full spectrum from material and component development to the design and operation of laboratory-scale systems, with the overarching goal of developing scalable solutions. We utilize a variety of polymeric and ceramic ion-conducting materials to couple renewable energy-driven processes with applications such as water electrolysis, nitrogen and carbon dioxide fixation.

Responsibilities and tasks:

• Development and evaluation of gas diffusion electrodes in electrochemical half-cells
• Assembling and characterization of anion exchange membrane electrode assemblies
• Electrochemical characterization of the membrane electrode assemblies.
• Physico-structural material characterization (UV-Vis, XRD, XPS, SEM)
• Gas phase analysis of reaction products (GC, QMS, FTIR)
• In situ experiments with IR absorption spectroscopy.
• Preparation of scientific papers and conference communications.
• Supervision of BSc and MSc students.
• Contribution to the scientific and collaborative research environment of involved institutes.

Job requirements

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related discipline.
• Practical experience in polymeric membrane fuel cells or electrolysers, electrocatalysis, electrochemistry, or spectroscopy will be regarded as a plus.
• Strong analytical skills, initiative, and creativity.
• A genuine curiosity for science and motivation to pursue high-level research.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative, international, and multidisciplinary environment with a positive team spirit.

This position is for 1 FTE, will be for a period of {link time} and is graded in pay scale PhD. The position will be based at DIFFER (www.differ.nl) and the working location will be at TU Eindhoven. When fulfilling a position at DIFFER, you will have an employee status at NWO. You can participate in all the employee benefits NWO offers. The gross monthly salary starts with €2968,- in the first year and increases to €3801,- in the fourth year of your employment. The salary is supplemented with a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of year bonus of 8.33%. We have a number of regulations that support employees in finding a good work-life balance. At DIFFER we believe that a workforce diverse in gender, age and cultural background is key to performing excellent research. We therefore strongly encourage everyone to apply. More information on working at NWO can be found at the NWO website (https://www.nwo-i.nl/en/working-at-nwo-i/jobsatnwoi/)

The Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER) performs leading fundamental research on materials, processes, and systems for a global sustainable energy infrastructure. We work in close partnership with (inter)national academia and industry. Our user facilities are open to industry and university researchers. As an institute of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) DIFFER plays a key role in fundamental research for the energy transition.

We use a multidisciplinary approach applicable on two key areas, solar fuels for the conversion and storage of renewable energy and nuclear fusion – as a clean source of energy. This is a joint PhD position with University of Twente is available at DIFFER in the group of Catalytic and Electrochemical Processes for Energy Applications in the area of integrated carbon dioxide capture and conversion in electrochemical membrane reactors.