EMMI MATERIALS

The Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences of the University of Louvain, Belgium, offers a one-year postdoc position.

This position is part of a project aiming at fabricating - and studying properties of - flat catalytic nanoreactors on surfaces. These are built as one of the elements of a chemical nano-factory that is being developed in Louvain-la-Neuve.

The successful candidate will synthesize catalytic nanoislands consisting of metal/organic ligand complexes grafted on Si wafers by combining nanolithography with surface chemistry, and will monitor the reaction using fluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Parameters of interest are the catalytic rate, the diffusion of reagents to the nanoislands and of the products from the nanoislands. An interest for interdisciplinary research involving clean room technology (nanolithography), catalysis, microscopy, and physical chemistry is required. Although the synthesis of the reagents and ligands was performed in a previous phase of the project, a practical knowledge of organic chemistry will be useful.

The successful candidate will benefit from a tax-free post-doctoral grant including social security benefits, for a net amount (after all tax deductions) of about 2050 euros. Applicants should submit a letter of motivation (in pdf only) and a CV with complete bibliographic list (in pdf only) by e-mail to Prof. Alain M. Jonas (alain.jonas'at'uclouvain.be) before July 15, 2009. They should also arrange for three letters of recommendation being sent to Alain Jonas by reference professors or researchers.

Université catholique de Louvain
Institut de la Matière Condensée et des Nanosciences
Unité de Physique et de Chimie des Hauts Polymères et Unité de Chimie Organique et Médicinale