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- PhD position-Optimising antimicrobial & cleaning longevity & residuality of polymer-surfactant films
You will join ID10’s team at the ESRF. ID10 is a versatile instrument dedicated to a wide range of surfaces studies on soft matter systems. The aim of the PhD project is to develop and characterize novel formulations that give the surfaces in home, work and public places long-lasting protection, preventing the spread and growth of pathogens without the need for repeated sanitisation.
You will have to develop and implement the relevant methodology to study relationships at different length and time scales: the molecular structure of the polymer, the surfactants and the antimicrobial actives; the physical interactions and self-assemblies of these ingredients in solution; the equilibrium in-plane and out of plane interfacial structures formed during drying a film on model hydrophilic and hydrophobic substrates; the 3-dimensional structure of the film (thickness, topography, uniformity/inhomogeneity). X-ray and neutron scattering experiments will be complemented by AFM, surface tension, and contact angle measurements, Brewster Angle Microscopy, light scattering to study the self-assembly in solution, rheometry, ellipsometry and QCM to study polymer-surfactant interactions at model substrates.
You will be involved in developing novel sample environment for relative humidity and temperature control to study the nature of phase transitions during the film formation, using nano/micro-focused GISAXS/GIXRD.
Further information may be obtained from Oleg Konovalov (tel.: +33 (0)4 76 88 27 31, email: konovalov@esrf.fr) and from Ralf Schweins (+33 (0)4 76 20 70 91, email: schweins@ill.eu).
More details about the application procedure on www.innovaxn.eu/for-students/documents/
The successful candidate will be enrolled in the doctoral school of University Bristol (UK) and based full-time at the ESRF and ILL (Grenoble, France), other than a six months secondment at Company Procter & Gamble. Additional visits totaling no more than 3 months may be made to the University Bristol (UK) when needed. Furthermore, a varied pedagogical training programme will be offered to the successful candidate throughout the 3-year PhD project.
More details on the InnovaXN program on www.innovaxn.eu
InnovaXN is a Horizon 2020 MSCA COFUND programme providing an opportunity for 40 industrial companies to work with 40 PhD students, performing advanced research and exploiting the unique characterisation techniques of the ESRF and ILL. Through collaborations with industry, innovation will be the central theme of the programme. This will provide a unique cross academic-industry science setting, secondment opportunities and society-relevant research, training the future key researchers able to tackle major research and societal challenges.