Thesis subject: Elucidation of reaction pathways for hydrogen reduction by in situ methods

You will join the diffraction group at the ILL, Grenoble, France, and work on the powder diffractometers D1B and D20. They are specialised for time-resolved in situ investigations on solids, their phase transitions and chemical reactions. You will develop gas-flow cells for the study of solid-gas reactions with in situ neutron diffraction and implement these on D1B and D20. Complementary in situ X-ray powder diffraction will be carried out at Leipzig University, Germany.

The aim of the PhD project is to understand reaction pathways of the reaction of metal oxides with hydrogen on an atomic level by using in situ techniques in order to deepen our knowledge on industrial processes (ore smelting) and to work out synthesis strategies for reduced transition metal oxides. Target compounds include oxides of chromium, iron, tungsten and the strongly correlated electron systems in SrFeO_3−𝛿, LaNiO₃ and SrRuO₃. In situ neutron diffraction will allow to extract structural details including oxygen defects and hydrogen content for all phases, including intermediates. This will allow to improve both industrial processes (e. g. green steel) and chemical lab-based syntheses for functional materials.