Post Doctorate RA - Materials Sciences – Peptoid Nanomaterials Synthesis

Overview

At PNNL,our core capabilities are dividedamongmajor departments that werefer to as Directorates within the Lab focused on a specific area of scientific research orother function, with its own leadership teamand dedicated budget.

Our Science & Technologydirectoratesinclude National Security,Earthand Biological Sciences, Physical and Computational Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus.

The Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate's (PCSD’s) strengths in experimental, computational, and theoretical chemistry and materials science, together with our advanced computing, applied mathematics and data science capabilities, are central to the discovery mission we embrace  our most important resource is our people—experts across the range of scientific disciplines who team together to take on the biggest scientific challenges of our time.

T the Physical Sciences Divisionstewardsdiscovery science research portfolios including catalysis, material science, separations, analytical chemistry, geosciences, and chemical physics. Our research strives to refine our molecular-level understanding of multiphase systems and phenomena including complex interfaces. We discover and apply new knowledge to address major national priorities and needs in energy sustainability through the development of new energy storage technologies and the creation of high-value fuels and materials from abundant wastes.

We are looking for a self-motivated Post Doctorate RA to join our team in the Physical Sciences Division  successful candidate will be vital in developing peptoid-based functional nanomaterials, which will include peptoid polymer chemistry, self-assembly of sequence-defined peptoids into crystalline nanomaterials, peptoid-based control over inorganic nanocrystal formation, peptoid folding, and fundamental understanding of solution peptoid crystallization processes. This position will require active collaboration with scientists from different areas including chemists, materials scientists, theorists, and device assembly and evaluation personnel.

This on-site position is located at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) campus in Richland, Washington.

• Conducting synthesis of sequence-defined peptoids using solid-phase processing and their purification.
• Conducting experiments for self-assembly of sequence-defined peptoids into hierarchical nanomaterials and understanding peptoid solution crystallization, multifunctional Layer-by-Layer (LbL) coating and/or spin coating using peptoid-based crystalline nanomaterials.
• Developing an understanding of the peptoid polymer chemistry and peptoid polymer folding.
• Determining important parameters of self-assembling peptoid sequences, such as pKa, critical micelle concentrations (CMC), critical chain length for macromolecular crystallization.
• Controlling the formation of inorganic (nano) crystals using surfactant-like peptoids and self-assembled peptoid nanomaterials as tunable scaffolds.
• Troubleshooting coating materials and evaluating them for selective moisture transport and (super) omniphobicity.
• Characterizing the structures and morphologies of peptoid-based biomimetic materials using a range of experimental techniques, including Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM).
• Providing timely report on research progress and presenting organized results to the internal and external teams.
• Leading manuscript development and maintaining a strong overall publication record in peer-reviewed scientific literature.
• Disseminating the research results via participation in research conferences.
• Interacting, communicating, and coordinating with a multidisciplinary team of researchers within the Material Sciences group, PSD, and across PNNL.
• The ability to adapt, refine, or innovate experimental tools based on research needs.
• Ability to work independently and take initiative in the completion of tasks important to the projects. These include preparation of first drafts of manuscripts for…