Why Work at BNL?

Brookhaven National Laboratory (www.bnl.gov) delivers discovery science and transformative technology to power and secure the nation's future. Brookhaven Lab is a multidisciplinary laboratory with seven Nobel Prize-winning discoveries, 37 R&D 100 Awards, and more than 70 years of pioneering research. The Lab is primarily supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science. Brookhaven Science Associates (BSA) operates and manages the Laboratory for DOE. BSA is a partnership between Battelle and The Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University.

Organizational Overview
The Chemistry Division conducts basic and applied chemical research with an emphasis on new energy conversion pathways. Primary research subjects include catalysis and electrocatalysis for sustainable fuel synthesis and use, solar energy conversion to fuels, condensed phase molecular dynamics and radiation chemistry, electrochemical energy storage, and chemistry in extreme environments.

The Chemistry Division's Electron- and Photo-Induced Processes (EPIP) Group investigates molecular and charge dynamics relevant to energy conversion with an emphasis on understanding and applying ionizing radiation in molecular systems for charge separation or chemical transformations. Our group seeks to understand how properties such as charge delocalization, molecular orientation, spin and electronic coupling can be exploited to enhance solar energy conversion processes.

Position Description
The Chemistry Division has an opening for a postdoctoral research associate in the Electron and Photon Induced Processes Group. The successful candidate will perform experiments to improve our fundamental understanding of charge recombination and escape in nonpolar media involving delocalized charges in molecular systems. The research addresses fundamental challenges of creating long-lived intermediate molecular excited states that underlie processes to efficiently convert solar energy for use or storage (e.g. photovoltaics, photocatalysis). The research will emphasize use of picosecond to nanosecond pulse radiolysis at the Chemistry Division's 10 MeV Laser Electron Accelerator Facility (LEAF) to rapidly generate excited or charged states for study by transient absorption in the UV/Vis/NearIR/IR to determine energetics, spectra and energy/electron transfer rates. Research approaches involve close interaction of experiment and modeling and include some use of quantum chemical computations. The work will be under the supervision of Dr. Matthew Bird.

Position Requirements

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Requires a PhD in physical chemistry, or a related field.

• Research experience in the field of solar photochemistry, solar energy conversion, photocatalysis or organic electronics.

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities :

• Experience in the field of solar energy conversion in molecular systems.
• Prior use of pulse radiolysis, or other transient absorption spectroscopy techniques.
• Good grasp of kinetic modeling, thermodynamics and electron and energy transfer