Postdoctoral Scholar in Heterogeneous Catalysis, including Thermal Catalysis, Environmental Applications, Chemical Transformations, Single Atom/Cluster Catalysis, Emission Control, Greenhouse Gas Reduction/Utilization, Clean Energy Source Conversion, X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy etc.
We have 1-2 postdoc positions open now at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (CEE), University of California, Riverside. The postdoc researchers will be supervised by Dr. Fudong Liu (https://profiles.ucr.edu/fudong.liu; https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5gRxLTwAAAAJ&hl=en). The duration period for the positions is Jan-Jul 2025 to Jan-Jul 2027 (at least two years; early starting date is highly preferred).
The research directions include but not limit to heterogeneous catalysis, thermal catalysis, nanomaterial synthesis, single atom catalysis, cluster catalysis, environmental pollution control including HC/CO oxidation, NO/NH3 oxidation, NH3 decomposition, NOx reduction and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) removal, greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs etc.) reduction/utilization, clean energy source conversion etc. Duties include heterogeneous catalyst synthesis, experimental design, catalyst aging, reactor testing, catalyst characterization (preferentially with skills on synchrotron based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) technique), and reaction mechanism study etc.
The research team has strong catalysis research and application background, with advanced instrumentation for catalyst synthesis, aging, testing, characterization, and reaction mechanism study, as well as rich collaborative resources including synchrotron-based XAS, HAADF-STEM and DFT calculation + KMC simulation etc.
Candidates with PhD degree in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering or a closely related field, as well as strong motivation in both fundamental and applied heterogeneous catalysis research are encouraged to apply.
Candidates with strong interest can contact Dr. Fudong Liu (fudong.liu@ucr.edu) by sending (1) A cover letter detailing specific experience; (2) A copy of CV/Resume; and (3) A list of at least three references (only names, emails and institutions).
Only complete application materials will be considered. The search will continue until the position is filled.
For questions regarding the position, please contact Dr. Fudong Liu at fudong.liu@ucr.edu.
Minimum qualifications
- PhD must be completed prior to start date.
- PhD degree in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering or a closely related field, with strong heterogeneous catalysis research background.
- Strong motivation in fundamental and applied heterogeneous catalysis research; Hands-on experience in thermal catalysis research, especially for heterogeneous gas-solid interface catalysis.
- Demonstrated experience in the synthesis, catalytic activity testing and standard characterization techniques of metal, metal oxide and zeolite catalysts.
Preferred qualifications
- Demonstrated experience with heterogeneous catalysis, thermal catalysis, nanomaterial synthesis, and/or single atom/cluster catalysis.
- Demonstrated experience with physisorption, chemisorption, temperature-programmed reduction/oxidation/desorption/surface reaction techniques, and performing catalytic conversions in gas phase under flow-through ambient pressure or high pressure conditions.
- Demonstrated experience with instruments including Mass Spec, FTIR (transmission mode), GC, GC/MS etc.
- Demonstrated experience with microscopy and spectroscopy techniques such as TEM, SEM, in situ DRIFTS (FTIR), Raman Spectroscopy, XPS, XAS (XANES and EXAFS) etc.
- Demonstrated experience with environmental pollutant control (diesel and gasoline vehicle emission control, indoor air purification) including HC/CO oxidation, NO/NH3 oxidation, NH3 decomposition, NOx reduction and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) removal, greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC etc.) reduction/utilization, clean energy source conversion (alkane dehydrogenation, catalytic H2 production) etc.
- Mentorship experience of undergraduate and/or graduate researchers.
- Strong writing ability as demonstrated by publication record and fellowship/grant application.
Introduction to Dr. Fudong Liu: Dr. Liu has been working in heterogeneous catalysis, environmental catalysis, pollution control, greenhouse gas reduction/utilization, hydrogen production, and synchrotron-based technique (X-ray absorption spectroscopy) for material characterization for 20 years, in both academia (Tsinghua University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of California, Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Central Florida, University of California, Riverside as a tenured associate professor) and industry (BASF Corporation). He has published 150+ peer reviewed papers (including Journal of the American Chemical Society, Nature Communications, ACS Catalysis, Environmental Science & Technology, Applied Catalysis B: Environmentaletc.) with 11,000+ citations and H-index of 59 (Google Scholar), applied 40+ patents, and published 4 book chapters in heterogenous catalysis field. Dr. Liu received the 2009 CAS P&G Scholarship, 2010 CAS President Scholarship, 2011 CAS Excellent Doctoral Dissertation Award, 2012 International Association of Catalysis Societies (IACS) Young Scientist Award, 2013 Lu Jiaxi Young Talent Award, 2014 National Science &Technology Progress Award, 2019 National Natural Science Award, China, 2020 TechConnect Defense Innovation Award, 2023 Research Incentive Award at University of Central Florida, 2024 RINENG (Results in Engineering, Elsevier) Distinguished Scientist Award, and 2024 CAPEES-Carina Frontier Research Award, etc.
For more information visit https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/postdoc-positions-heterogeneous-catalysis-university-california-liu-cblje