Postdoc in synthesis and crystal growth of molecular conductors

within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Can you make a metal out of carbon and oxygen? The world is electrifying at an ever-increasing pace, driving up demand for metals extracted at high environmental and geopolitical cost. What if metal-like electronic materials could be built from two of the most abundant elements on Earth? We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to lead the experimental side of that effort.

About the project

We make salts of stacked oxocarbon rings, carrying unpaired electrons, packed face-to-face. Calculations from the Rahm group here at Chalmers (open access, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025) predict that such stacks should behave as one-dimensional metals, and potentially as superconductors. We have made a phase whose average structure matches that prediction in synchrotron powder diffraction and neutron total scattering. But the average is not the whole story, and whether the electrons are itinerant or localized depends on composition and the spacing between rings. Both are set by chemistry: by the counterion, the oxidation state and the route. Your job is to control these factors, to grow single crystals that would settle various scientific questions, and then to extend the family.

Main responsibilities

• Grow single crystals of inorganic molecular solids, extend the materials family and find better synthesis routes to it.
• Lead experiments in advanced materials characterization, including variable-temperature diffraction and total scattering, electron transport, magnetometry, spectroscopy.
• Coordinate with collaborators, publish results and disseminate them at national and international conferences.

Requirement profile

You have made new compounds yourself. Gloveboxes, Schlenk lines, single-crystal and powder diffractometers are everyday tools for you. You know enough about band structure and spin behavior to discuss the project with collaborators without needing to calculate any of it yourself. You are used to work in an interdisciplinary environment and to communicate with researchers from various backgrounds. And you keep records: every sample traceable to a reactant batch, a route and a date.

Meriting experience, roughly in order of priority

• Air- and moisture-sensitive preparative chemistry: alkali metals and strong reductants, sealed ampoules, inert-atmosphere transfer.
• Crystal growth of molecular or ionic solids, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction.
• Powder diffraction: indexing, Pawley and Rietveld refinement (TOPAS, GSAS-II, FullProf), ideally total scattering and pair distribution function analysis.
• Molecular conductors, radical and charge-transfer salts, or oxocarbon electrode chemistry.
• Synchrotron and neutron beamtimes; magnetometry, conductivity, EPR or solid-state NMR on air-sensitive samples.
• Co-authorship in studies combining experiments and theory.

Qualifications

• PhD in Chemistry, Materials Science or Physics. This eligibility requirement must be met no later than the time the employment decision is made. It is highly meritorious if the doctoral degree has been obtained within the last three years prior to the application deadline.
• Excellent communication skills in English (spoken and written)

The research environment

You will be employed in Daniel Weber's group at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, with close contact to Martin Rahm's computational group in the same department; a doctoral position on the theory side is announced at the same time, and the two are designed as a pair. In-house capabilities include an Ar glovebox, Schlenk lines, air-free PXRD, single crystal diffraction, TGA-DSC, Raman & IR spectroscopy, in part housed in the Chalmers Materials Analysis Laboratory. We regularly send samples to synchrotrons and neutron sources or go there ourselves.

Advanced characterization is carried out with collaborators at the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (Transport, Dash group), Chemistry (EPR, Larsson group), Uppsala University (magnetometry, Sarkar group), and the Swedish NMR Centre at Gothenburg University (solid-state NMR). The project has been accepted into the Chalmers Ventures technology transfer program, so there is a credible route from your bench to an application.

Contract terms and what we offer

A full-time, temporary employment of two years with a possible extension to three years. This is an employment, not a stipend: occupational pension, paid holiday, parental leave and full Swedish social insurance. Monthly salary is 42 500 SEK. Expected start as soon as possible.

Chalmers provides a cultivating and inspiring working environment in the coastal city of Gothenburg — read more about working at Chalmers and our benefits for employees.

Chalmers aims to actively improve our gender balance and works broadly with equality projects, for example the GENIE Initiative on gender equality for excellence. Equality and diversity are substantial foundations in all activities at Chalmers.

Application procedure

The application should be written in English and attached as PDF files.

• CV ("CV, Surname"), including a complete list of publications.
• Personal letter ("Personal letter, Surname"), 1-2 pages on your background, main results and future goals.
  • Include in your personal letter a clearly marked section of at most half a page describing a past project of yours on air-sensitive molecular salts, or on comparably demanding air-sensitive chemistry: the system, scientific context and method, one thing that went wrong, and what you did about it.
• Other documents: degree certificate or a statement of the expected date of defense, and two references with email addresses.

We will happily handle your application via our ATS (Applicant Tracking System) ReachMee. To get there, please press the "Apply" button under the advertisement on Chalmers website. The recruiting managers will get back to you as soon as possible.

The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the application is complete. Incomplete applications, and applications sent by email, will not be considered.

Application deadline: 15 October 2026.

For questions, please contact

Daniel Weber, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, daniel.weber@chalmers.se

*** Chalmers declines to consider all offers of further announcement publishing or other types of support for the recruiting process in connection with this position. ***

Chalmers University of Technology

Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level. The university has 3100 employees and 10,000 students, and offers education in engineering, science, shipping and architecture. With scientific excellence as a basis, Chalmers promotes knowledge and technical solutions for a sustainable world. Through global commitment and entrepreneurship, we foster an innovative spirit, in close collaboration with wider society. Chalmers was founded in 1829 and has the same motto today as it did then: Avancez – forward.