PhD student in online battery health monitoring - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The Department of Chemistry - Ångström conducts research and education in the chemistry field. The department has more than 260 employees and has a turnover of 290 million SEK. At the department's six programs, we conduct very successful research of a high international standard. We have a large number of externally funded research projects, often with international cooperation and we see continued good growth in our subject area. The department has education assignments in engineering programs and master's programs. More information is available on our website.

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Effective monitoring of battery health is crucial to design high-performance and long-life batteries for a sustainable and circular society. The research project aims to develop an accurate, reliable, and versatile sensing method to monitor battery health online based on acoustic emission. Specifically, battery aging processes that result in AE active fingerprints will be collected and jointly studied by electrochemical/ physicochemical characterizations, automated experimentation coupled with signal-processing and machine-learning, cell life-cycle testing (e.g. accelerated aging, fast-charging, etc.), and techno-economic analysis.

The work will be carried out mainly at Ångström Advanced Battery Centre (ÅABC), which is housed within the Ångström Laboratory – one of Europe’s best equipped Materials Research Laboratories. ÅABC involves the full-time activities of >80 researchers, of whom 8 are Senior Staff; the remainders are PhD students, postdocs, researchers and assistant professors. The group produces ca. 5 PhD theses annually. It is the leading research environments for the development of electrochemical storage materials and advanced battery technology in the Nordic countries. The focus of research is on modern commercial and next- generation Li-ion batteries, and future battery chemistries such as Na-ion, Li-S, organic electrodes, solid- state, etc. The expertise lies in synthesis of electrode and electrolyte materials and electrochemical testing, but equally important are the development and application of operando characterization, such as vibrational spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, diffraction, etc. and combinations of them.

Duties
We are looking for a highly motivated and ambitious student for this challenging project. The student will design, plan, and execute the experimental work, often in collaboration with colleagues, critically analyze and discuss the results, and disseminate the work orally at scientific conferences and written in the form of papers in peer-reviewed journals. Finally, the student is expected to be a good team player, and also participate in all mandatory group activities, including becoming the responsible person for specific lab equipment.

Requirements
The student should have a background in chemistry, physics, material science, chemical engineering or equivalent. In addition, the student is expected to:

• has been awarded a second-cycle qualification, or
• has satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second cycle, or has acquired essentially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.
• have excellent oral and written proficiency in English. 
• have experience in electrochemical energy storage systems and/or material characterization

Consideration will also be given to good collaborative skills, drive and independence, and how the applicant’s experience and skills complement and strengthen ongoing research within the department, and how they stand to contribute to its future development.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7.  Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2023-08-01 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala.

For further information about the position, please contact: Leiting Zhang, leiting.zhang@kemi.uu.se.

Please submit your application by 20 June 2023 UFV-PA 2023/2263.

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