• Are you passionate about a career in research or industry?
• Work as part of the Printable PV team at CSIRO’s Flexible Electronics Laboratory
• Apply for a Monash University - CSIRO PhD studentship now!

 
CSIRO Manufacturing and Monash University welcomes applications for this joint PhD scholarship. Successful candidates will be enrolled in Monash University, and co-hosted by CSIRO through the financial support from the Australia – India Strategic Research fund – AISRF.  The supervisors are Prof George Simon (Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University) and Dr Hasitha Weerasinghe (Manufacturing Flagship, CSIRO).
 
You will work as part of the Printable PV team at CSIRO’s Flexible Electronics Laboratory on a research project on flexible and printable electronics devices. The project involves close research collaboration with Monash University, CSIRO, Indian Institute of Science – Bangalore, India as well as an Australian industrial partner (Norwood Industries).
 
During the project you will work on highly promising next generation Flexible Electronics device technologies (Photovoltaics and Batteries) within a team of highly skilled research scientists, postdoctoral and research graduate students at CSIRO and Monash University.
 
The primary focus will be on developing New Barrier Encapsulation for Flexible Energy Storage and Photovoltaic (PV) devices. You will be expected to develop strong fundamental knowledge and skills in the area of thin film deposition and characterisation, fabrication of flexible PV and battery device using state?of?the?art printing and coating facilities at CSIRO.
 
You will also be part of advanced device characterization, encapsulation and stability studies, and studying the degradation mechanisms of flexible battery and PV devices at CSIRO and Monash University.

Outline of Initial Activities:

• Completion of lab inductions and HSE documentation.
• Gaining skills on PV device/module fabrication using spin?coating method and the advanced roll?to?roll printing/coating facilities at FEL.
• Learning PV device/module characterization methods (IV, IPCE, Photocurrent mapping, EL, PL, thermal imaging etc.).
• Gaining experience on PV module encapsulation using existing and new materials.
• Device Performance Stability tests – ambient/outdoor/accelerated, Mechanical Stability tests – Bending, de?cohesion analysis
• Preparation of Barrier films. (ALD at MCN)
• Barrier film Characterization (WVTR, OTR, Ca test)
• Development and testing of new edge?seal materials and new Encapsulation Architectures.
• Gaining skills on flexible battery device fabrication.
• Learning battery characterizing methods, encapsulation of flexible batteries and stability tests.

Eligibility/Requirement:
To be eligible to apply you must be able to meet Monash University admission criteria: https://www.monash.edu/graduate-research/faqs-and-resources/content/chapter-two/2-1

Applicants should have completed a bachelor’s degree with first class honours. They may also have completed a master’s degree in either Materials Science or Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry or Physics.

Applications are open to: Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents, and international students with eligible visa currently residing in Victoria.

Desirable skills:
Research experience in the subject area of film deposition techniques, semiconductors, solar energy and electronics. In addition to technical skills, excellent English and scientific writing ability is desired.
Both CSIRO and Monash University are values?based organisations. You will need to demonstrate behaviours aligned these values, namely:

• Integrity of Excellent Science
• Trust & Respect
• Positive and Creative Spirit
• Delivering on Commitments
• Health, Safety & Sustainability

Location: Flexible Electronics Laboratory – CSIRO (Clayton, Victoria)
 
Scholarship: $27,872 tax free scholarship per annum for up to 3.5 years. Successful candidates will also be able to apply for a competitive CSIRO Postgraduate Top?up scholarship. If successful, the student will receive an additional $7,000 per year plus a generous operating budget of up to $10,000 per annum.

Reference:  68681
 
How to Apply:
To express your interest, please email Professor George Simon at George.Simon@monash.edu or Dr. Hasitha Weerasinghe at Hasitha.Weerasinghe@csiro.au with your CV and cover letter outlining your future research directions and your suitability to the selection criteria.

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Applications close:  Tuesday, 25 August 2020