Research Fellow (Interdisciplinary), ChBE

Job Description

Positions are available for Research Fellows (or Post-doctoral Fellows) in the research group of Prof. Siowling Soh, at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS).

The group’s general program of research involves the coupling of organic materials, mechanical forces, and electrostatics at different interfaces (e.g., solid, liquid, or gas). This coupling is currently greatly under-explored and poorly understood in science. At the same time, the coupling gives rise to many fascinating new natural phenomena for exciting fundamental discoveries and development of impactful and original technologies.

The general approach of the group is to conduct original programs and new directions of research with strong fundamental science. The group is highly interdisciplinary and involves engineering (e.g., fluid mechanics), materials science, chemistry, and physics. Different organic materials are used, including polymers (e.g., stimuli-responsive polymers), hydrogels, and covalent organic frameworks (COFs).

One project involves an original system that harvests water energy from nature (e.g., rain and rivers) and directly generates electricity by solid-liquid charge separation with high energy conversion efficiency. Other projects involve clearing virus-laden atmospheric aerosols and preventing the spread of infectious diseases (e.g., COVID-19) and development of clean surfaces that do not adhere any dust on them. Another research involves stimuli-responsive polymers for small molecular separation, smart delivery, and intelligent soft machines.

A recent exciting and emerging field from our group is the development of novel mechanocatalysts for performing mechanochemical reactions with high energy conversion efficiency. Harvesting energy from mechanical forces of nature (e.g., wind or water flows) is a novel and sustainable approach to performing chemical reactions.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate is preferably someone open-minded to conducting original fields of research, independent, and hardworking. Because the research of the group is highly interdisciplinary and many projects in different disciplines are ongoing, candidates with a Ph.D. from a wide range of backgrounds will be considered for different projects, including engineering (e.g., chemical, mechanical, etc), materials science, chemistry, and physics.

If interested, please contact Prof. Siowling Soh at the following email address: siowling@nus.edu.sg

For more information on the background of the research, please refer to: https://blog.nus.edu.sg/chessl/