Researcher in unipolar conduction polymers for organic batteries

Business environment: The LEPMI (UMR 5279) is a joint research unit involving Grenoble-INP, Grenoble Alpes University, CNRS and Savoie Mont-Blanc University. The laboratory brings together expertise in most areas of electrochemistry, particularly in electrochemical energy production and storage and photovoltaics, by combining materials science and electrochemical engineering. Team description MIEL (Material Interfaces Electrochemistry): under the management of Dr Cristina Iojoiu. Team is composed of 60 agents (19 researchers, 30 PhD students, 2 technical staff, and 9 collaborative researchers) The activities of the MIEL team encompass electrochemistry and materials science and mainly deal with electrochemical conversion and storage of energy of low (battery, PEMFC) and high (SOFC, SOEC) temperature devices. The cement of our activities as well as the use of electrochemical methodologies and common descriptors, focuses on the electrolyte, the electrodes and their interfaces. A team’s strength is to combine the conception and manufacturing of the functional materials, their in-depth characterizations (physical-chemistry, electrochemistry), and their integration into electrochemical devices related to the targeted application. The team activities are divided into 4 scientific axes that illustrate our expertise (synthesis, elaboration, characterization, electrochemistry) which are fed by numerous international and national collaborations. In addition, the experimental activities are exploiting a wide range of specific devices and different platforms such as the Battery, Raman, M2E and photovoltaic.

Position description: Lithium-ion batteries are considered as the most promising energy storage technology to enable the successful electrification of modern society’s mobility needs. However, beside the necessity for enhanced energy and power, two main issues exist which are the high cost and severe safety concerns. While the first is particularly related to the incorporation of pricey metals as Co, Ni or Cu, the latter is mainly associated to the easily flammable and unstable liquid electrolytes. Within this project, funded by Carnot “Energy de Future”, involving LEPMI and CEA Grenoble, these issues are addressed by realizing all-solid metal-free secondary batteries, employing organic active materials and single-ion polymer electrolytes (SIPEs). For the successful accomplishment of these challenging tasks will strongly benefit from the highly complementary strengths and competencies in polymer electrolyte and organic electrode synthesis/characterization, cell fabrication/testing and sustainability evaluation of the LEPMI and CEA partners. Working plan: The recruited person will be responsible for the synthesis and characterization of high ionic conductivity polymer electrolytes with good mechanical properties. Polymeric materials in the form of a membrane will be first characterized ex situ to determine their thermal, mechanical, electrochemical and transport properties. The best polymer electrolytes will then be incorporated and tested in the battery in collaboration with the CEA.