About the position

We are now looking to appoint a summer worker in the Spectroscopy Division

The Spectroscopy group is responsible for 5 instruments that probe material dynamics using inelastic and quasi-elastic neutron scattering. A wide variety of behaviours can be probed to determine material functionalities ranging from diffusional or hopping motions of atoms, the rotational modes of molecules, sound modes and molecular vibrations, recoil in quantum fluids, magnetic and quantum excitations or even electronic transitions. The 5 instruments of the spectroscopy division are MIRACLES, a backscattering spectrometer, CSPEC, a cold flight spectrometer, BIFROST, the extreme environment spectrometer, T-REX, a bispectral time of flight spectrometer and VESPA, a vibrational spectrometer. This role will support the scientific developments on VESPA.

As a chemistry summer worker you will be involved in the following project:

Chemistry problem:

Ammonia borane (NH3BH3) is a material for chemical hydrogen storage, i.e. the material can be recharged after hydrogen release. There are some issues with the recharging  and some attempts to optimize the system by even “charging” it more to make NH4BH4. Since the charging/release causes chemical changes in the structure, it is  important to understand what is happening in the processes. Our collaborators want to perform high pressure neutron diffraction experiments to understand the changes in structure when going from NH3BH3 with high pressure of H2 to NH4BH4. Since natural boron (B) adsorbs neutrons quite strongly and hydrogen causes a background for neutron diffraction, it is necessary to make B11-isotope exchanged and deuterated ND311BD3. This is a reaction that involves four steps to go from boric 11B(OH)3 to Na(11B)D4 to ND3(11B)D3. The aim is to first try the synthesis using the natural isotopes (cheaper!) before making 500mg of the isotope enriched compound. I have done the synthesis before, so I know it works. However, we need to check again and optimize as much as we can.

This is a typical compound that will be used also on the vibrational spectrometer VESPA (https://ess.eu/instruments/vespa). While the deuteration is usually not necessary as H is better visible, 11B is needed.

This work involves handling hazardous chemicals (in a safe surrounding) as well as using several lab techniques, e.g. reflux, distillation, filtration, purification, recrystallization, working in inert atmosphere, as well as analysis techniques to assure the purity of the product (FT-IR, XRD). The time spend will be mostly in the laboratory but also writing the experimental description, calculating amounts and yields and evaluation FT-IR spectra and X-ray diffraction patterns.

About you

A suitable background for this position would be:

• Upper Secondary Education (gymnasiet): Naturvetenskapsprogram (NA) with an interest in chemistry.
• Good written and oral communication skills in English
• Minimum age 18 years.

We believe that you enjoy communicating and collaborating with a variety of people in an international environment. You are good at taking initiative and not afraid to ask questions.

Duration and location

This is a summer work position of 3 months.  

Planned start date is 22 June 2026 or per agreement.

Your workplace is on-site at ESS in Lund, Sweden.