Postdoctoral Researcher - Thermal Energy Storage Materials

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Mar 27

Applications are closed

Job
Full-time
Entry Level
Research & Development
Sustainability
$73.2K - $120.8K
Golden

Requirements

Must be a recent PhD graduate within the last three years.* Must meet educational requirements prior to employment start date.
Additional Required Qualifications:
The successful candidate will have a PhD in Chemistry, Materials Science, or equivalent.
They must demonstrate expertise in:
Synthetic chemistry
Inorganic chemistry
Thermodynamics and kinetics
Thermal energy storage materials (ideally phase change or thermochemical systems) and/or high temperature processes
Degradation processes (corrosion, chemical changes, etc)
Analytical chemistry (ie SEM, TEM, EDS, TGA, DSC, NMR, XRD, and other)
A strong history of publication

Responsibilities

The Building Thermal Energy Sciences Group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a leading research group focused on clean technologies and decarbonization approaches for infrastructure and renewable technologies. We are currently seeking a postdoctoral researcher to join our team to perform chemical synthesis, thermal treatment, and analytical experiments for a multi-institutional project on thermal energy storage materials. The goal of this work is to gain fundamental insights on the primary degradation mechanisms that reduce the performance of thermal energy storage materials for grid-scale energy storage.
The research project will focus on characterizing and mitigating the impacts of structural and compositional heterogeneities on interfacial behavior and degradation mechanisms (corrosion, phase separation, thermal decomposition, and mechanical fractures) in thermal energy storage materials. The role of the successful postdoc candidate will be to synthesize materials and to perform chemical and thermal treatments for further characterization and to develop new materials based on insights gained from experiments.
This position will provide access to state-of-the-art instrumentation available at NREL and networking and collaboration opportunities with a multi-institutional team including leading universities and national laboratories.
The candidate should be self-motivated in research planning and progression, with guidance and mentorship provided by NREL staff scientists. In addition to collaborating with internal and external partners, the researcher will present scientific findings at domestic and international conferences and publish peer-reviewed articles.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Science & Healthcare

Industry

1001-5000

Employees

1977

Founded Year

Mission & Purpose

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a Department of Energy national lab, is #TransformingEnergy as the nation's primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL's Mission: NREL develops renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and practices, advances related science and engineering, and transfers knowledge and innovations to address the nation's energy and environmental goals. NREL's Strategy: NREL has forged a focused strategic direction to increase its impact on the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) and our nation's energy goals by accelerating the research path from scientific innovations to market-viable alternative energy solutions.