Please note: unless otherwise specified, the internships are only available for students with a nationality of an EU-member state and/or students from a Dutch university.
DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research) is one of the NWO institutes and focuses on a multidisciplinary approach of the energy research combining physics, chemistry and materials engineering. The institute is an important part of the energy research strategy of NWO and FOM. The DIFFER mission is to carry out leading fundamental research in the field of fusion-energy and solar fuels, in close collaboration with academic institutions, research institutes and industry.
Photo-electrochemical (PEC) solar fuel conversion is one of the most promising techniques to convert solar energy directly into its most versatile form of energy, a fuel. However, the efficiency is still low and degradation too high. We have several open BSc/MSc/internship projects for both experiments and modeling & simulation.
In the group of Electrochemical Materials and Interfaces, we are working on identifying the limiting processes at photo-electrochemical water splitting interfaces. For this, we use a combined experimental and modeling & simulation approach. Main experimental techniques are thin film deposition, thin film materials characterization (e.g. UVVIS, SEM, XRD), and photo-electrochemical characterization by e.g. cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. From the modeling and simulation site, we are currently focusing on Density Functional Theory simulations. For both experiments and modeling & simulations, we have several open projects and are looking for enthusiastic students who are motivated to carry out research in this highly multi-disciplinary field of energy research.
If you are interested, please contact Dr. Anja Bieberle (a [368] bieberle [28] differ [368] nl (Dr. Anja Bieberle)), +31 (0)40 3334 801.
