This position is funded by a Royal Society Enhanced Research Expenses Request grant whose goal is develop novel atomistic modelling techniques to understand and control hot-carrier processes in plasmonic nanomaterials.
Hot carriers generated from the decay of localized surface plasmons in metallic nanostructures are promising for developing highly efficient solar energy conversion devices, such as solar cells or photocatalysts. However, despite much work fundamental questions about hot carrier processes remain unsolved and the lack of atomistic insight into these processes is holding back the field. To address this challenge, the post holder will contribute to the development of novel atomistic modelling techniques to simulate the interaction of light with nanoparticles and carry out calculations to discover novel nanomaterials with tailored compositions, shapes and environments to optimize the generation of hot carriers for specific applications.
Duties and responsibilities
Key Responsibilities include:
Developing new methods to study hot-carrier generation and thermalization in plasmonic nanoparticles Using the new methods to discover new plasmonic nanomaterials with tailored composition, shape and environment to enhance hot-carrier generation Associated data analysis and the interpretation of the data Assist the other Research staff in the day to day management of the research group laboratories To liaise with the other research staff and students working in broad areas of relevance to the research project, providing training where appropriate To write progress reports and prepare results for publication and dissemination via journals, presentations and the web To attend progress and management meetings as required and network with the other research groups To comply with relevant College policies, including Financial Regulations, Equal Opportunities Policy, Promoting Race Equality Policy, Health and Safety Policy, Information Systems Security Policy and Intellectual Property Rights and Register of Interests Policies To actively participate in the research programme of the Group To publish in high quality journals and to present data at national and international meetings To participate in Group research meetings and internal seminars To collaborate with other allied scientists within Imperial College and elsewhere in London and abroad, as appropriate To contribute to the smooth running of the Group’s laboratories and, facilities with other scientists, clinicians, technicians and students within the laboratories Assist in the supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate research students and research assistants as required To comply with the College, Division, and Unit safety practices and to attend courses on safety when appropriate Essential requirements
Candidates/post holders will be expected to demonstrate the following:
Hold a PhD in Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science or a closely related discipline, or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience
Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant within the salary range £36,694 - £39,888 per annum. Experience in using electronic structure theory to model light-mater interactions of nanomaterials with applications to plasmonics Experience in programming for parallel computer architectures Experience with the tight-binding formalism Practical experience within a research environment and / or publication in relevant and refereed journals Knowledge of electronic structure theory for modelling light-matter interactions Knowledge of programming and code development for parallel architectures Further information
Further information can be obtained from Johannes Lischner – [email protected]
Further guidance may be sought from Mrs Darakshan Khan ([email protected]).