Institution: Wrocław Doctoral School of Institutes of Polish Academy of Sciences,
Institute of Low Temperature and Structural Research, Polish Academy of Sciences
Position: PhD student – scholarship holder in the NCN research project
Scientific discipline: Chemical Sciences
Date of announcement: 29.10.2024
Application deadline: 28.11.2024
Date of competition settlement: Recruitment results will be announced within 7 days after the end of the interviews.
Planned date of commencement of education and participation in the project: 01.01.2025
Link to WSD IPAN website: https://www.intibs.pl/en/for-students/doctoral-school.html
Link to INTiBS PAB website: https://www.intibs.pl/en
Keywords: phosphors, persistent luminescence, up-conversion, lanthanides, nanofluorides
Wrocław Doctoral School of Institutes of Polish Academy of Sciences (WDS IPAS) announces a special recruitment for a PhD student – scholarship holder in the research project: " Using a model of local charge trapping and relaxation in upconverting rare earth ion doped nanofluorides to obtain infrared induced visible persistent luminescence ", carried out on behalf of the National Science Center OPUS 26 (grant no. UMO-2023/51/B/ST5/00837) in the Division of Optical Spectroscopy of the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of Polish Academy of Sciences in Wroclaw.
Recruitment is conducted in accordance with the Rules of Recruitment to the Wrocław Doctoral School of Institutes of Polish Academy of Sciences
https://www.intibs.pl/images/Szkola_doktorska/Dokumenty/Zasady_rekrutacji/Recruitment_rules_WDS_IPAS_2022.pdf
Requirements for the candidate
The application should include a filled application form at the link https://www.intibs.pl/en/for-students/rules-of-recruitment.html and presented in Polish or English:
- diplomas: matriculation or higher secondary school certificate, Bachelor’s (engineering), Master's Degree diploma in chemistry, Physics, material engineering or related disciplines or an equivalent certificate of graduation or an official document from the applicant’s university stating when the MSc defense is due. The diploma should be provided before taking the oath (the commencement of education),
[in the case of candidates who do not meet this condition: (1) a copy of the diploma of completion of first-cycle or third-year master's degree studies and (2) an application to the School Council for admission to recruitment, including a description of proven scientific achievement of the highest quality],
In the case of obtaining a professional title M.Sc. outside the European Union - additionally originals of MSc diploma and its transcript with grades, both certified with an apostille or authenticating (legalization) in the diplomatic representation of the Republic of Poland (in that country). Documents submitted without proper authentication will be considered as not meeting formal requirements.
- a duplicate (certified copy) of the entire grade book/Transcript of Records of the first- and second-cycle program (or full-cycle Master’s degree program), or a supplement to the degree with grades from the entire course of study, or a student’s grading report from all years of their studies confirmed by the Dean’s Office, together with the calculated average grade from their studies;
- a certificate of English-language skills at B2 level or higher or information in the diploma supplement that the candidate completed an English course at the required level as part of the university program (if the supplement does not describe the level of the course, a certificate from the Dean’s Office is required;
- a cover letter with an indication of the research topics within the framework of the research project;
- additional documents proving the candidate's suitability for scientific work (list of publications and conference presentations, list of completed courses and postgraduate studies, obtained language certificates, activity in scientific circles, etc.).
Doctoral Student Responsibilities
- Implementation of an individual research plan, consistent with the research project; 2. Synthesis of luminescent fluoride materials; 3. Structural characterization of the obtained materials; 4. Spectroscopic characterization data analysis, preparation of reports and scientific publications; 5. Participation in scientific conferences.
Scholarship
The doctoral scholarship will be paid a maximum of 4 years in the monthly amount of:
- 5000PLN (the amount will be reduced by the cost of mandatory social security contributions, etc., about 24%) until the month in which the doctoral student's mid-term evaluation at the doctoral school was conducted
- not lower than specified in the Law on Higher Education and Science and applicable executive regulations the amount will be reduced by the cost of mandatory social security contributions, etc., about 11%) after the month in which the student's mid-term evaluation at doctoral school was conducted
The scholarship will be paid after deduction of all components, in accordance with the applicable regulations and in accordance with the Act of 20 July 2018 Law on Higher Education and Science (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 742).
Joining the competition
Candidates wishing to enter the competition should submit all documents specified in the Rules of Recruitment to the Wrocław Doctoral School of Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences
https://www.intibs.pl/images/Szkola_doktorska/Dokumenty/Zasady_rekrutacji/Recruitment_rules_WDS_IPAS_2022.pdf
Candidates' applications for admission to the School must be submitted by 28.11.2024
a) by email to the address (preferred method of application); however, the original documents should be delivered before the studies start (a failure to meet this requirement will result in the candidate’s name being removed from the list of doctoral students),
b) in person at the School’s Secretariat Office at the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 2 Okólna St. in Wrocław, from 9 am to 3 pm
or
c) by registered mail or courier (the date on which the Secretariat Office received the documents is considered to be the delivery date) to the following address: WSD IPAN, ul. Okólna 2, 50-422 Wrocław.
Description of the research project and the PhD thesis
The primary objective of the project is to obtain, study and discuss the luminescence properties of new class of materials that combine persistent luminescence (PersL, arising from the slow release of trapped charge carriers in the process of thermal stimulation) observed in the visible and near-infrared range AND the properties of up-conversion (UC), i.e. the luminescence due to multiphoton excitation, being in this case the only process leading to PersL. Despite initial work in this direction, no such PersL-UC material has yet been obtained that would allow such a phenomenon to be observed with high efficiency within a single host. The main scientific problem to be solved is to adjust the band structure of the designed PersL-UC materials in such a way as to match (1) the energy gap to allow the PersL process to proceed according to the local model (2) the electron levels of the dopants and (3) the trap energies resulting from the presence of the defects produced. As a result of the match achieved each of the planned processes can be carried out efficiently with an efficiency that allows the traps to be filled by the UC process and, as a result, PersL emission in the visible light or NIR range. The solution to this problem is planned to be achieved by the results of computational and experimental studies of the energy structure made for materials doped with ions of selected dopants, selection of appropriate chemical compositions and verification of the obtained data by optical spectroscopy methods.For this purpose, the project intends to work on obtaining and studying fluoride materials doped with rare-earth ions (RE3+) in this way, and in order to obtain, on the one hand, up-conversion properties while, on the other hand, such engineering of defects in the crystal structure of the host material that the energy can be trapped within the energy gap. Synthesis based on "green chemistry" methods, particularly those based on room-temperature co-precipitation will be developed to obtain good quality (Ca, Sr, Ba)F2 (MF2) materials, doped and co-doped with transition (TM) and RE3+ ions, characterized by narrow grain size distribution and high phase purity. Using the MF2 host in the proposed concept, the pumping effect of PersL in the UC process, comparing only the efficiency of the UC process itself, will be at least an order of magnitude more effective than, for example, in oxide hosts. It is planned to carry out studies using theoretical methods (DFT) for selected chemical compositions of materials in order to determine the energy gap, the expected structural defects and their energies, change in valency of dopant ions, the degree of dopant clustering and their verification by experimental studies (absorption, EPR, HR-TEM, TL, XPS). UC spectra will be measured for samples at different power densities of excitation with a wavelength matched to the Yb3+ absorption, for which TL curves will be measured at < RT (carried out in the same measurement chamber), through which the possibility of trap generation due to illumination with high IR laser power density will be confirmed and their depth determined. The project will finally aim to describe the UC-PersL mechanism in detail for the first time, in particular the energy transfers in the UC process leading to trap occupancy. The assumed range of excitation in the near infrared, as well as possible emission from the recombination center in addition to the visible, falls at the beginning of the so-called biological window, as well as the telecommunications window in ranges for which it is possible to use existing detectors commonly used as optoelectronic infrastructure components. This will enable the future use of the proposed materials as luminescent markers in biological systems without the problem of autofluorescence of the entire system, which is common with high-energy radiation excitation, or the danger of phototoxicity. .
Additional information
For additional information, please contact the project manager Prof. Dariusz Hreniak (e-mail: , tel. +48 71 3954176).
Personal information
Candidates' personal data are collected and processed by the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research of Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław in accordance with the information on personal data processing available at
https://bip.intibs.pl/artykuly/rodo-1