In general, students must hold an official Spanish bachelor’s degree or equivalent and a master’s degree or equivalent, with a minimum total of 300 ECTS credits between both degrees.

Additional information

PhD with talent and motivation to work on experimental projects in nanotechnology and organic solar cells. Strategies include the engineering, fabrication and characterization of different polymer-based organic solar cells. Degree/Master`s degree, or equivalent in biomedical engineering, physics, chemistry or materials science. Enthusiastic, energetic, motivated, social and organized. Knowledge of English and Spanish Matlab and Origin Software skills Experience in manufacturing and characterization of organic solar cells.

Principal researcher & Thesis director

Marsal Garví, Luis Francisco (lluis.marsal@urv.cat)

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have seen a tremendous surge in power conversion efficiency in the last decade. Particularly, those made from bulk heterojunction solution-processed active layers have seen the highest potential for practical applications sucha as indoor applications, Internet of Things, etc. In this respect, polymer and small molecule donors have both received extensive attention and as a result have led to PCE over 19 %. The aim is optimize the current processes, identifying the most critical steps and parameters and to achieve efficiencies over 20%. Also, we want to use new polymers and analyse the effect of metallic nanoparticles to increase of the light absorption or photovoltaic conversion. Finally, the stability and lifetime of the OSC will by investigated under different ambiental conditions.

Contract Duration: 48 months

Full/Part time: Full time

Academic qualifications required to be an eligible candidate:

In general, students must hold an official Spanish bachelor’s degree or equivalent and a master’s degree or equivalent, with a minimum total of 300 ECTS credits between both degrees.

PhD with talent and motivation to work on experimental projects in nanotechnology and biosensing. Strategies include the engineering/fabrication of different nanoporous structures to improve detection performance, the incorporation of novel capture probes for continuous detection, and their integration with a microfluidic system.Bachelor`s/Master`s Degree, or equivalent in biomedical engineering , physics, chemistry or materials science. Knowledge of English and Spanish Matlab and Origin Software skills Manufacturing – Porous alumina and silicon anodization, and surface functionalization. Characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy and reflectometric interference spectroscopy. Enthusiastic, energetic, motivated, social and organized.

Principal researcher & thesis director

Marsal Garví, Luis Francisco (lluis.marsal@urv.cat)

Phd thesis co-director

Josep Ferre (josep.ferre@urv.cat)

Description of the thesis project

The thesis focus on the design, fabrication, and characterization of microfluidic sensor device based on nanoporous anodic structures. The microfluidic porous device will be utilized to detect biomarkers that play a critical role during the initiation and progression of inflammation-generated biological conditions (cancer, atherosclerosis, alzheimer’s, etc). Measurement of biomarkers has always been challenging due to factors such as low concentration (pM), interference from heterophilic antibodies, and an extremely dynamic and transient secretion process. The standard techniques are time-consuming and expensive, so research efforts have focused on developing alternative sensing systems such as integrated nanomaterial-based diagnostic tools and indicators. Nanoporous Anodic Alumina (NAA) provides an excellent platform for developing smart and accurate optical biosensors. NAA can be used as an optically active substrate with real-time and in situ spectroscopic technique such as reflectometric interference spectroscopy.

Contract Duration: 48 months

Date when the candidate is expected to start at the new position: 01 October 2024

Documentation required: