Postdoc Position on Computational Modelling of Perovskite Solar Cells:

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)
TU/e is a mid-size technical university located in the heart of the high-tech industry in the Netherlands, named the Brainport region. Eindhoven is the fifth largest city in the Netherlands, and including suburbs it has about 420,000 inhabitants. TU/e is a highly ranked university both in research and education. Our training and research programs are highly regarded and we foster close relationships with companies, organizations and research institutes in the Brainport region and beyond.  Fundamental and applied research are equally valued here. The high rank of the TU/e is due to the impact of its scientific research and also to its scientific co­publications with industry. TU/e is a social and inspiring university with a fine culture. You will quickly feel at home, surrounded by people who share your scientific ambitions. The TU/e currently has nine departments, with over 11,000 students in total.

About the Postdoc project

Perovskite solar cells have established their place as one of the most exciting solar cell technologies currently under investigation. The efficiency of solar cells based on perovskites has rapidly increased from an initial promising value of 9% in 2012 to over 23%, making this the fastest-advancing solar cell technology. The impressive increase in efficiency has led to an enormous surge in interest. Despite the great potential, perovskite solar cell technology is still in the early stages of commercialization because of long term stability issues. Since the materials and device fabrication are still relatively new, there is a lot room for further research towards increasing efficiency and stability, prolonging lifetime.

The Computational Materials Physics group of Dr. Shuxia Tao at Centre for Computational Energy Research (CCER), at Eindhoven University of Technology is offering a 2-year postdoc position for a talented and motivated researcher with a strong interest in computational materials sciences and affinity with computational method and software development.

The research is supported by NWO START-UP grant “finding the small ions in perovskite solar cells”. The Postdoc researcher (together with a PhD candidate) is expected to develop an efficient DFT method, Density Functional Tight Binding (DFTB) for metal halide perovskites to study the mysterious role of the small inorganic cation and small halide anions in improving the stability of perovskite solar cells. The candidate will intensively interact with other computational scientists at CCER and experimental researchers (at TU/e and international institutes) as well as software engineers from Software for Chemistry and Materials (Amsterdam, the Netherlands).

Job requirements

The successful candidate should have:

  • PhD degree in Physics, Materials Science or Chemistry or closely related discipline completed in the last four years or expect to graduate within 2019.
  • Past experiences in the development and application of computational methods, such as, DFT, DFTB, MD and Force Fields development. Computer programming skills and software development experiences are highly appreciated.
  • The ambition to excel in energy research and tackle a complex computational and technical problem with independence.
  • A dynamic character and excellent communication skills to interact with colleagues with diverse background and to work efficiently at inter-disciplinary setting.

Conditions of employment

  • An exciting research project at the forefront of the field; a dynamic environment fostering fundamental science with a technological perspective.
  • A gross monthly salary in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement of the Dutch Universities, (scale 10 € 2.709 –  € 4.274) depending on your experience; additionally, 8% holiday and 8.3% end-of-year annual supplements.
  • An extensive package of fringe benefits e.g. assistance in finding accommodation, excellent technical infrastructure, the possibility of child care and excellent sports facilities.
  • PROOF program for personal and career development from TU/e.
  • In case of equal qualities, female candidates will be given the priority.

If you are interested in this position, please send in your CV, a personal motivation letter describing why you want the job (max 1 page), a list of relevant courses you followed, the grades you obtained, and digital copy your master and PhD thesis.

Application can be sent to Dr. Shuxia Tao (S.X.Tao@tue.nl). Applications without a motivation letter will not be taken into consideration.