Characterizing the mechanism of (photo)electrcatalytic processes, whether experimentally or theoretically, is a formidable challenge. From an experimental perspective the challenge is twofold: the (electrified) solid/liquid interface
in general precludes the use of techniques that use electrons or atoms as probes and, even given an appropriate probing technique, experiments performed under steady-state reactive conditions are generally not capable
of distinguishing reactive intermediates from unwanted side products. This later limitation is particularly acute in many (photo)electrocatalytic systems of interest where timescales from femtosecond (elementary step of electron
transfer) to second (diffusion of reactants, products and electrolyte) are all known to be significant.

In our group we perform "femtoelectronchemical" experiments in which heterogeneous electron transfer is initiated using femtosecond optical pulses and the resulting structural evolution at the interface probed using sum frequency generation and optoelectronic spectroscopies with femotsecond time resolution.

We seek a PhD student and post-doctoral researcher to work on applications of these approaches to electron transfer across the Pt/water and Hematite( -Fe2O3)/water interfaces, in both cases under potential control.
For the post-doctoral researcher we seek an individual with deep experience with amplified femtosecond lasers and nonlinear optical spectroscopies. A background in elecrochemistry would be a plus but is not required. For the PhD student we seek an individual with a good BS/MS in Physics or Chemistry and course work or research experience on relevant topics (e.g.
spectroscopy, statistical mechanics, solid state physics, etc).

To apply for the post-doctoral position please send a letter of motivation, your CV and list of publications, and contact information for at least two folks who can provide references to Kramer Campen (richard.campen@unidue.de) and Yujin Tong (yujin.tong@uni-due.de).

To apply for the PhD student position please send a letter of motivation, your CV and list of any
publications and your certificates, also to richard.campen@uni-due.de and yujin.tong@uni-due.de.

Both positions will remain open until filled.
For more information about either position or why the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the Ruhr region in which it it is located, is a particularly interesting place to do this sort of work feel free to contact either of us.