Application deadline: 2nd May, 2014

The Ph.D. position, jointly financed by the Swedish research Council (VR), the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA) and the Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW), is available in the group of Prof. Xiaodong Zou at Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University. The PhD project is to developnew methods for structure determination of porous materials by 3D electron microscopy.

Knowing the 3D atomic structure is essential for understanding the properties and functions for all materials. Modern transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can provide structure information down to the atomic resolution and has been one of the most important techniques for studying new functional materials. One major problem of TEM is that the images are only 2D projections of a 3D object. The aim of the Ph.D. project is to develop new methods and strategies for structure determination of porous materials by 3DEM, i.e. to combine 2D images in different orientations into 3D and push the resolution of the 3D imaging. Porous materials such as zeolites and metal-organic frameworks have well-defined pore structures and are interesting in catalysis, sorption and separation. The successful candidate will apply 3DEM to characterize novel porous materials and investigate the structure-property relationships of these materials. The candidate will work closely with synthetic chemists in academia and companies, so she/he should have a strong collaborative and communication skill, be self-motivated and a good team player. Good knowledge in programming is desired but not necessary.

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