PhD positions

OPEN POSITIONS:

Characterizing and tuning the properties of Tandem Solar Cells 

Deadline: december the 9th, 2022

Requirements: Master's degree in physics or chemistry

Job offered: 3-year Phd

Contact: luis.carlos.pardo@upc.edu

Description:

In the framework of the 2021-call for the Ecological Transition financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Group of Characterization of Materials (https://gcm.upc.edu/en) of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (https://www.upc.edu/en), located in Barcelona, offers the following position:

- 3-years doctoral contract

on the project: Making cost-efficient tandem solar cells real: crystalline chalcogenide thin films meet quasi-molecular materials (MIRACLE).

The overall goal of the project is the development of state-of-the-art, cost-effective and high- conversion efficiency photovoltaic tandem cells fabricated with naturally abundant materials, and based in particular on thin films of kesterites (Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄) and of quasi-molecular chalcogenides and chalco-halides (Sb2(S,Se)₃ and Sb(S,Se)(I,Br)). 

The tasks of the PhD candidate/research technician will include:

- characterization of the above-mentioned materials, and their thin films, by means of X-rays and neutron diffraction (normal scattering and reflectometry), inelastic neutron scattering, and Mössbauer spectroscopy.

- characterization of both thin films and photovoltaic devices by means of dielectric spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy.

Either position can optionally include laboratory supervision assignments to first-year Bachelor students in Engineering curricula.

The research team where the technician/doctorate will be involved includes experts specialized in different tools, such as thin-film growth, photovoltaic Device fabrication and testing, DFT and molecular dynamics simulations, X-ray scattering, neutron elastic and inelastic experiments, and dielectric spectroscopy and calorimetric characterization of materials.