PhD position as part of the MSC-ITN “Design of discontinuous coatings with enhanced de-icing properties” (ESR11 SURFICE)

We are looking for a young graduate with a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science or Materials Engineering with outstanding grades, with experience in designing experimental set-ups, surface science, wetting, icing, for a 36-month doctoral position in the area of icephobic surfaces.

The candidate will participate as an early-stage researcher (ESR) to the Marie Skłodowska – Curie Innovative Training Network (MSCA-ITN) project: “Smart surface design for efficient ice protection and control” (SURFICE), a project under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

The project will be carried out at KU Leuven (Belgium), under scientific supervision of prof. David Seveno https://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/en/person/00089681, secondments of 3-6 month at different MSCA-ITN partner institutions will be part of the project.

The ESR will be affiliated as doctoral Student of the KU Leuven, from which she/he shall obtain a PhD degree in Materials Engineering.

Job Description

The project will focus on the design of discontinuous coatings, i.e. not uniformly covering the underneath surface, to facilitate de-icing. You will work at the Department of Materials Engineering of the KU Leuven (www.mtm.kuleuven.be). The Department is responsible for education, research and service to industry and society related to materials science and engineering. Both, the university KU Leuven and the Department of Materials Engineering are world-wide strongly positioned in the important rankings related to research, innovation and education.

You project will be structured in the following phases:

• design and setup of an experimental strategy to combine inkjet printing of heat conductive inks and local contrast in temperature, roughness, wettability, and elasticity.
• Identification of a link between the physical chemistry properties of the discontinuous coatings and the enhanced de-icing properties.
• Conceptualization of the experimental results into a theoretical framework transferable to various surfaces.
• cross-correlations with outputs from: (i) iCVD polymer coatings, developed at TU Graz in the group of prof. Anna-Maria Coclite, (ii) soft polymer coatings, developed at University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy), in the group of prof. Carlo Antonini; and (iii) polymer coatings developed at TU Delft in the group of prof. Santiago J. Garcia.
• Completed validation of the theoretical framework.

Based on the proposal, three secondments at SUSOS (CH), 2 months, at University of Milano-Bicocca (IT), 2 month, and FFT (UK), 1 month are planned during the PhD programme. These may be modified if more relevant/productive secondments become available as the work of the ESR and the SURFICE network evolves.