Doktorand - Recycling of solar cells

Sustainability and reliability of renewable energy sources are significant problems of modern society, and securing the material supply is the bottleneck that we can solve by creative recycling approaches. As the team member of the research group, the PhD student will challenge to overcome this issue and support the society to reach sustainability goals. This position will allow the student to develop skills and knowledge on not only the solar cell, recycling, chemical/metallurgical technologies, and advanced material characterization techniques but also communication, reporting, and creative thinking.

Information about the research/the project/the division
The project aims to demonstrate a circular material flow for critical raw materials in the solar energy industry by developing efficient recycling and combined material production processes. The research challenges the resource limitation barriers to renewable solar energy production by proposing an innovative approach. Separation of the organic compounds from solar modules and also silver, indium, copper, and gallium recycling process chemistry will be investigated during the project.

You will work in the Nuclear Chemistry & Industrial Materials Recycling research group included in the Division of Energy and Materials at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. The Nuclear Chemistry & Industrial Materials Recycling research group comprises 9 senior scientists and 11 PhD students and postdocs. The research group is highly international, both regarding international collaborations and in the staff, which currently represents 11 nationalities.

The group is specialized in aqueous chemistry, solvent extraction, high-temperature processes and supercritical fluid technology, which are used for both recycling of materials and nuclear applications. The research has initially focused on the recovery of precious metals and then come to include also rare earth metals (REM). Currently, research projects of the group cover the main waste-related global problems such as recycling of batteries, electronic waste (WEEE), solar cells, metallurgical production waste, and other items containing valuable metals or REM. The investigation and recovery of metals from ash from incineration of municipal waste is also the long term research field of Industrial Materials Recycling.

Major responsibilities
Your major responsibility is to pursue research in line with the project, publish and present scientific articles and take part in discussions. You will also be expected to take responsibility for some of the departmental duties and participate in teaching activities in the field of Chemistry.

Position summary
Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to a maximum of five years.

Qualifications
We are looking for you with a decisive personality to overcome the research based problems and not to lose motivation in temporary difficulties. As a PhD student, it´s important for you to show perseverance and commitment to gaining new knowledge. Also, we think you´re a person who finishes assigned work and strives to achieve in your field. Curiosity and an enthusiastic approach to the research field is something we seen in a potential candidate.

We believe that you have the ability to work and think independently. You show self-confidence when discussing your opinion with others. At Chalmers you will be working in an international research group and we believe that you are open-minded and see the benefits of diversity at your future workplace.

To qualify as a PhD student, you must have a master's level degree in Chemistry, Metallurgy and Material Science or Physics before the expected employment date. The position requires sound verbal and written communication skills in Swedish and English. If Swedish is not your native language, you should be able to teach in Swedish after two years. Chalmers offers Swedish courses.

Chalmers continuously strives to be an attractive employer. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

Our offer to you
Chalmers offers a cultivating and inspiring working environment in the dynamic city of Gothenburg.
Read more about working at Chalmers and our benefits for employees.

Application procedure
The application should be marked with Ref 20200193 and written in English. The application be attached as pdf-files, as below:

Please use the button at the foot of the page to reach the application form. The files may be compressed (zipped).

Application deadline: 1st of June - 2020

For questions, please contact:
Dr. Burçak Ebin, Energy and Materials,
burcak@chalmers.se
+46731455083