Fully funded Ph.D. scholarship at the University of Iceland for 3 years supervised by Dr. Egill Skúlason, Professor of Chemistry. This Ph.D. position is supported through the Nordic University Hub funded by NordForsk. The overall project “Nordic Consortium for CO₂ Conversion (NordCO2)” consists of twelve research teams from nine Universities in five Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland) where they all study CO₂ conversion to fuel or other chemicals with various experimental and theoretical techniques. The Ph.D. students and post-docs involved in this project will do research visits in other groups of this consortium where the length of those stays will vary between candidates. Several Ph.D. courses and summer schools will be organized by NordCO2.

We are seeking exceptionally qualified applicants for this position. That means only students with high grades and research experience in their B.Sc. and M.Sc. studies in chemistry, applied physics or chemical engineering from top universities will be considered.

The project involves density functional theory (DFT) calculations and ab initio molecular dynamic (AIMD) simulations of the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) on transition metal and metal oxide surfaces. Explicit solvent and electrolyte effects will be included and free energy barriers will be calculated for CO₂RR at varying applied potential and pH values towards different products such as formic acid, CO, methane, methanol, ethylene and ethanol. Close comparison is made with experiments each time and the ultimate goal is to identify new catalysts to test experimentally.

This position is open for applicants with a background in modelling with DFT calculations and AIMD simulations in the field of catalysis, and preferably with experience of electro-catalysis. Besides a strong scientific background it is important that the candidate has a good technical writing ability and verbal communication skills.

Applications should be sent to [email protected] before 1^st April 2018 with the subject: "Application for the NordForsk funded Ph.D. position". The application should include a CV, a cover letter describing why the candidate should be considered for this position, transcripts of the B.Sc. and M.Sc. courses and grades, and a list of two Professors/advisors that have supervised the student in his/her B.Sc. and/or M.Sc. research project and are willing to provide a letter of recommendation.