Post-doctoral position

Post-doctoral position

Laboratoire de Physique et d’Etude des Matériaux
ESPCI Paris

Contact : Brigitte.leridon@espci.fr or stephane.hole@espci.fr

Realization of a prototype of supercapacitor for energy storage

Profile : The candidate will have a PhD in experimental physics.
Competences : Electrical measurements ; electronics ; material physics ; solid-state physics ; simulations ;
Software : Labview, Matlab or Mathematica
Languages : French or English

Context : This position is granted by a pre-maturation project from University PSL.
The aim of this project is to realize a prototype of supercapacitor for energy storage device.

Our team recently unveiled the remarkable electric properties of a family of titanium oxides. These materials actually display colossal dielectric constant around room temperature, up to 109 at low frequency. This corresponds to a colossal value of the polarization. We have shown that this effect is due to ionic conduction inside the material [1,2]. Work is currently in progress to understand the microscopic properties of the material, and in particular possible mechanisms for local charge blockade.
This colossal value of the polarization also opens the way to fabrication of supercapacitor devices of a new kind. These supercapacitors could switch from a double-layer capacitor behavior to a pseudo-capacitor behavior, depending on the nature of the electrodes and various external parameters.
The aim of the project is to realize several prototypes of supercapacitors and to test them by performing charge/ discharge cycles or by measuring the charge distribution inside the material, using a technique especially designed in our Laboratory, the pressure-wave-propoagation (PWP) method.
The candidate will work in LPEM in ESPCI Paris in close collaboration with two senior researchers and one PhD student.

Skills : The candidate will have a strong experience in electrical measurements, resistance and capacitance measurements, and a strong interest for applied solid state physics. He (She) will be highly motivated to work in an academic environment but with a strong potential for exploitation of results and the perspective of transfer of knowledge to industrial partners, preparing him (her) to a possible future carrier in spin-off or high-tech private companies.