Postdoctoral Fellowship on Multiscale Manufacturing of Nanoporous 2D Material Membranes

Prof. Kemal Celebi’s group at Zhejiang University (ranked in top 3 in China) has an open postdoc position on multiscale manufacturing of nanoporous membranes made of 2D materials. The project aims to develop techniques to enable next generation ultra-efficient membrane separators for water treatment and energy applications.

Project background and aim:

Graphene and other 2D materials have recently attracted tremendous attention among membrane scientists due to their novel ultrafast membrane transport paradigm associated with their atomic-scale thickness. In the last few years, such membranes have been demonstrated to exhibit ultrahigh gas permeances, ultrafast selective proton transport and highly-efficient water desalination. However, all such demonstrations have been small-scale proof-of-concept studies, due to the difficulties related to both preparing large scale monolayers without defects and controllably perforating such thin layers.

The project focuses on solving the bottlenecks for ultrathin membrane manufacturing by developing novel interfacial transfer methods and using intrinsically porous 2D materials. Prof. Celebi has extensive experience in manufacturing atomically-thin membranes and testing fundamental transport properties – in particular, demonstrating one of the first nanoporous graphene membranes (Science 344, p289) and preparation of 2D material membranes by interfacial transfers.

Research environment:

Zhejiang University (ZJU) is ranked as the 3rd best university in China (ARWU) and 5th worldwide in terms of research output in materials science (Nature Index). Prof. Celebi’s group facilities are located at the ZJU-UIUC Institute, a joint institute between ZJU and University of Illinois. The group has convenient local access to a large microfabrication-oriented cleanroom, SEM, FIB, AFM, Raman and many other experimental tools.

Compensation and living environment:

Qualified candidates are offered a salary between CNY 180k-255k/year and subsidized housing depending on their background and experience. The group is located at the newly-constructed International Campus of ZJU in Haining, which is a well-organized and affordable town in the eastern suburbs of Hangzhou, also within 1.5-hour reach from Shanghai.

Eligibility:

Candidates should have a PhD degree in materials science, chemical engineering or a related field. The candidates should have experience in basic chemistry experiments and/or surface characterization (SEM, AFM, etc.). Background in synthesizing/handling 2D materials or membranes is highly valued.

General Requirements:

a.   The applicants should be under 35 years old. 

b.   Ph.D. degrees from domestic C9 universities, or from “A plus” disciplines of the fourth round of national discipline assessment by China Academic Degrees & Graduate Education Development Center, or from top overseas universities are highly appreciated.

c.   Applicants should have excellent academic performance and research capability, and be diligent, active, and responsible, and have a good spirit of teamwork.

d. Fluent spoken English and excellent English writing skills are necessary.

Contact:

Interested candidates can send a CV to kemalcelebi@intl.zju.edu.cn

Websites: https://person.zju.edu.cn/en/celebi & https://zjui.intl.zju.edu.cn/en

Address: ZJU-UIUC Institute, Zhejiang University, 718 Haizhou East Road, Haining, Zhejiang, China 314400