PhD grants : Sintering strategies for defect-controlled lead-free piezoelectric ceramics

36 months doctoral funding (june 2024-may 2027)

Profile and skills required : Student in Master or Engineering school in Physics, Chemistry or Materials Science.

Motivated and dynamic student with strong abilities for experimental work, a good knowledge of English (written and spoken) as well as writing abilities.

A research experience in a laboratory is welcome.

Summary of thesis project : In the scope of an ongoing European project dedicated to the investigation of new lead-free piezoelectric compositions and disruptive material manufacturing technologies for applications, the young researcher will investigate processes of ceramic sintering of selected lead-free piezoelectric compositions using different sintering techniques. The influence of the sintering processes on material’s microstructure, defect states and functional properties will be evaluated. Emphasis will be given to the effects stemming from the size, crystallinity and surface structure of the synthesized ceramic particles (chemical environment at particles’ surface, surface roughness and reactivity) and also interfaces in the sintered ceramics, especially grain boundaries (etching or melting, lattice reconstruction, cementation, species reduction/oxidation). Besides the objectives of applications, the aim is also to develop environmentally friendly materials for the increasing demand of piezoelectric devices by considering the abundance of natural resources and targeting minimization of energy consumption and carbon footprint, in compliance with REACH/ ROHS regulations on hazardous substances and low consumption processes for new generations of actuators and transducers.

Location: The PhD time will be shared in two one-year periods between GREMAN laboratory in Tours, France (http://greman.univ-tours.fr/; first year) and Jozef Stefan institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia)(https://www.ijs.si; second year). The third year will be shared between the two laboratories and willdepend on the ongoing research and results, and the manuscript of the thesis writing.

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