PhD Student Position in the Laboratory of Nanostructures at Surfaces

The Laboratory of Nanostructures at Surfaces (LNS) headed by Prof. Harald Brune explores novel physical and chemical properties emerging from quantum effects in surface-supported nanostructures.

The project 

The project combines atomically resolved sample characterization with spatially integrated, highly sensitive chemical analysis with the goal to establish a structure – catalytic property relationship for small surface-supported metal clusters with size going down to the single atom limit. Indeed, the latter likely represents the ultimate goal in terms of material consumption, catalytic selectivity, and activity. The first analysis is performed with variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (VT-STM) and the chemical reactivity is studied with a homebuilt tool for the detection of very small amounts of molecules that are formed in a reaction catalyzed by the surface. The tool enables dosage of pulses of two reactant gases onto the surface and to detect the product molecules. As in our recent work1, where we showed that only 7 Pt atoms are needed for the catalytic CO oxidation, we plan to investigate self-assembled small metal clusters, and other well-defined nanostructures or single-atom catalysts. For the latter, some promising examples have emerged in the past decade such as monomers dispersed on metal oxides.2–4

Requirements 

Applicants should have a M.Sc. degree in Physics or equivalent, be highly motivated, and have experimental skills. Fluency in English, both written and spoken, is required.

The PhD position, under the supervision of Prof. H. Brune, is available from now on, with the starting date being open to discussion (with preference around June 2023).

Application procedure 

Please send a motivation letter, an updated CV, a transcript of records, as well as the name and contact information of two references by e-mail to Francesco Armillotta (francesco.armillotta@epfl.ch) with the subject line “Application for PhD student position at LNS – Name Surname”.

EPFL: http://www.epfl.ch

Lab: http://lns.epfl.ch

References 

1. Yin, H., de Groot, J.-G. & Brune, H. Highly Ordered and Thermally Stable FeRh Cluster Superlattice on Graphene for Low-Temperature Catalytic CO Oxidation. ChemPhysChem 24, e2022006 (2023).

2. Novotný, Z. et al. Ordered Array of Single Adatoms with Remarkable Thermal Stability: Au/Fe3O4(001). Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 216103 (2012).

3. Kyriakou, G. et al. Isolated Metal Atom Geometries as a Strategy for Selective Heterogeneous Hydrogenations. Science 335, 1209 (2012).

4. Meier, M. et al. CO oxidation by Pt2/Fe3O4: Metastable dimer and support configurations facilitate lattice oxygen extraction. Sci. Adv. 8, eabn4580 (2022).