PhD student in Novel Semi-solid Electrolyte Concepts

The Department of Chemistry - Ångström conducts research and education in the chemistry field. The department has more than 270 employees and has a turnover of 300 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.

Duties
The electrolyte is a central component in all rechargeable batteries and there are an enormous number of degrees of freedom in the design. At the research frontier, one focus is to further develop today's liquid electrolytes in order to eliminate or significantly reduce the amount of solvent, with fundamental advantages in both performance and safety.

The focus of this project is on using entropy as a design parameter for creating semi-solid electrolytes either by: i) mixing different conventional salts to find eutectics, ii) designing new easily melting salts, or iii) using special additives to create deep eutectic systems – and iv) combining i-iii. The methods are primarily physico-chemical characterization, to achieve composition-structure-dynamics correlations and increased understanding for further rational design, as well as proof-of-concept electrochemical tests in standard setups, to evaluate basic performance.

The PhD student will be part of Prof. Patrik Johansson's new research group at Uppsala University, which is itself part of the research environment Ångström Advanced Battery Centre (ÅABC). This fundamental, yet application-inspired, research project connects to national and international collaborations and is funded by the Swedish Research Council within the framework of a Distinguished Professorship Grant for "Next Generation Batteries".

Requirements
The applicant must have:

• a Master's degree in chemistry (or related disciplines) and possess a good understanding of physical chemistry and materials chemistry, or
• completed course requirements of at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits at advanced level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, , with content that is relevant to the doctoral education or
• have acquired essentially equivalent knowledge in some other way within or outside the country.
•  must have excellent capabilities in written and oral English
• knowledge and skills in the atomic and molecular structure of materials

Great importance will be placed on personal qualities such as collaborative skills, drive and independence, and how the applicant is judged to be able to complete the doctoral education through their experience and competence.

Additional qualifications

• previous experience of and skills in experimental analysis of disordered materials, such as glasses, polymers and liquids
• previous experience of battery and electrolyte chemistry and technology
• previous experience of electrochemical methods for battery evaluation

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2025-09-01 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

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

For further information about the position, please contact: 
Prof. Patrik Johansson, patrik.johansson@kemi.uu.se and
Prof. Daniel Brandell, daniel.brandell@kemi.uu.se

Please submit your application by 23 June 2025, UFV-PA 2025/1786.