Description :
Nanofluidics open new opportunities for water treatments, desalination and energy harvesting but also for energy storage. In this framework Heterogeneous Lyophobic Systems (LHS) stands as an original approach for quick storage of mechanical energy at interfaces. LHS are based on forced intrusion and spontaneous extrusion cycles of water, or brine, at pressure of several hundreds of bar in and out of ultrahydrophobic nanoporous or even sub-nanoporous particles. LHS are currently prepared as dense suspensions of ultra-hydrophobic nanoporous particles in water. Such preparation approach gives a poor control of inter-particles voids, and limits the full exploitation of intrusion/extrusion cycles within intra-particle nanopores. This project, based on a collaboration between the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique et le Laboratoire Rhéologie et Procédés, aims at initiating a new strategy to optimize the inter-particle structure by means of cellulose-based scaffold and to understand the fully multi-scale liquid transport within the nanoporous particles/cellulose composite.

Description of the work :
The postdoctoral offer project aims at developing a new and scalable method of processing by crossflow ultrafiltration to produce innovative cellulosic composite textures from nanometric to micrometric length scales charged with sub-nanoporous particles.

The postdoc role will be to develop composite material and optimize their structure and organization in relation to their functional properties (mechanical strength, micro/nano void fractions). To do this, he/she will implement nanocrystals or nanofibrils celluloses combined with ZIF-8 particles.

Implementation will be carried out by a tangential ultrafiltration process. One of the objectives of his work will be to understand the organizational mechanisms involved. For this purpose he/she will use either in situ characterizations during the processing by in situ small-angle X-ray and light scattering (SAXS-USAXS and SALS) or direct ex situ observations of composite films made, by electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and X-ray diffraction (WAXS).
In parallel, the postdoc will interact with an engineer hired on a pre-maturation CNRS project working on the on the energetic valorization of intrusion/extrusion phenomena.

Expected profile of the candidate :

 The candidate must hold a PhD with skills in fluid mechanics, physico-chemistry, soft matter and/or processes.

 Experience in structural and/or mechanical characterization of colloids, and possibly in membrane separation processes, would be appreciated.


References :
Picard, C. et al. J. Chem. Phys., 154, 164710 (2021), doi.org/10.1063/5.0044391.
Michelin jamois et al. PRL, 115, 036101 (2015), doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.036101.
Semeraro, E. et al. Colloids Surf. A, 584, 124030 (2020), doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2019.124030
Pignon, F. et al. Carbohydrate Polymers, 260, 117751 (2021), doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.117751

Reference : liphy-lrp-tec21

Date de démarrage : 01 septembre 2021

Durée : 12 mois

Contacter :
Laboratoire Rhéologie et Procédé, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique
Frédéric Pignon, Cyril Picard
LRP/LIPhy Domaine Universitaire Université Grenoble Alpes
email : cyril.picard@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr

Page web : https://www.laboratoire-rheologie-et-procedes.fr/