Postdoctoral Fellow for Clean Energy Materials

at  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division (CSD) is looking for a Postdoctoral Fellow to join the team in the field of bio-inspired electrocatalysis.
This project is funded by the Clean Energy Manufacturing (CEM) program by the DOE’s Office of Science. The goal of this program is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing the selectivity and efficiency of (photo)electrochemical systems, with a downstream objective of developing functional, bio-inspired signaling approaches for controlling catalyst reactivity in artificial systems. In this role you will design and build multi-site electrocatalytic and photo-electrocatalytic systems while developing methods for assessing the activity of, and coordination between, different catalytic sites. Design of systems and analysis of results will be done within a highly collaborative team featuring experts in catalysis, photoelectrochemical system design, scanning probe microscopy, stochastic modeling and simulation, and operando X-ray characterization. Collaborations with other solar fuels efforts ongoing at LBNL, such as those performed by the Liquid Sunlight Alliance, are also possible.
The technical scope of the position will require a broad range of technical and analytical expertise. As a result, the applicant, while not expected to have experience in each of the methods required for the position, will be expected to demonstrate a solid foundation of chemical and physical principles along with an ability and eagerness to learn and apply new techniques.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience with enzymatic or bio-hybrid catalysis
• Experience with stochastic modeling techniques.
• Experience with automation of laboratory workflows.
• Experience with MATLAB, python or R for data analysis.

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Berkeley Lab (LBNL) addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 16 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
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• Design and fabrication of electrodes and electrochemical devices using techniques such as atomic layer deposition, thin film deposition (e-beam and metal-sputter deposition), and electrodeposition.
• Work in concert with team members conducting structural and functional materials characterization including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy (XAS and XES), x-ray fluorescence (XRF), infrared spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Some of the X-ray methods will be carried out at synchrotron beamlines such as Advanced Light Source (ALS), Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), and LINAC Coherent Light Source (LCLS).
• Apply analytical chemistry techniques including gas and liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
• Perform test cell fabrication using computer-controlled machine tools.
• Data workup and analysis using standard computational tools such as Matlab and/or python programming environments.
• Work on a team designing a multisite catalytic system using knowledge of catalysis activity and mass transport.
• Quantitative analysis of multi-modal characterization data and comparison to applicable simulations.
• Working knowledge of the theoretical and practical aspects of chemical kinetics.
• Reporting to team members at one-on-one and collective weekly meetings.
• Writing publications for peer-reviewed journals.
• Presenting at conferences and internal meetings and workshops.