PhD Studentship under Supervision of Prof. Erwin Reisner

PhD in (Bio)electrode Engineering for Sustainable Energy Conversion

A PhD studentship (international or UK nationality) is available starting October 2026 or sooner to join a highly collaborative project within the ‘SOLARSPOON’ consortium funded by the European Innovations Council. The project will be based primarily within Prof Erwin Reisner’s laboratory at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, working closely with Dr Jenny Zhang’s team at the same department, in additional to four other international organisations. The project aims to develop an all-in-one biohybrid device for the solar-driven production of food ingredients, with a focus on developing a photoanode that is compatible in food production conditions. See here more more details: http://ch.cam.ac.uk/news/cambridge-lead-%E2%82%AC4m-eu-funded-sunlight-food-technology-project-european-partners

The student will explore a number of photoelectrode fabrication techniques, and later will work with world experts in additive manufacturing (Prof Stephan Keller’s team from DTU) to incorporate it into new devices. This work will build on previous studies in our teams (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-019-0149-4).

The student will also be expected to carry out indepth electrode characterisation, using techniques including electrochemistry, spectroscopies and electron microscopy. They will be expected to work in multi-disciplinary teams, in particular, they will work closely with biologists to test the output of the electrodes with the context of biohybrid devices. More information about the Reisner Lab can be found here: https://www-reisner.ch.cam.ac.uk/

Applicants should have (or be about to obtain) a Masters or Honours degree in science, materials, engineering or similar degrees. Experience with materials science and strong communication skills are desirable. The candidate will gain experience a wide range of materials fabrication and characterisation techniques.