Engineering N-doped WO₃ Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

The “Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux” (UMR5026) is a Joint Research Unit of the CNRS, of the University of Bordeaux and Bordeaux INP.
The ICMCB has strong expertise in solid state chemistry, materials science and chemical processing. It uses this know-how for the development of new materials and new concepts for materials synthesis, shaping and recycling, covering the application fields energy, environment, health, electronics and photonics. Recently, the ICMCB has also become active in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

We are searching for a M2 internship candidate, for a position hosted at the Bordeaux Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry (ICMCB), within a PhD project conducted in the framework of the SusMatEner Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (Horizon Europe), in collaboration with TU Darmstadt and Saint-Gobain.

WO₃ thin films are studied as electrode materials for water splitting applications. Sputtered WO₃ films deposited in our group show promising photoanode behavior for PEM-PEC (photo-electrochemical) water splitting, while no significant activity is observed in the dark. Nitrogen doping has been identified as a promising strategy to extend the photoresponse of WO₃, although reported outcomes vary depending on how nitrogen is incorporated into the material. Building on this, the project aims to investigate hybrid and doped WO₃ architectures as a route to improve WO₃-based photoanodes for oxygen evolution photo-catalysis.

The candidate will focus on tuning and optimising RF-sputtering deposition conditions to produce N-doped WO₃ thin films, and characterising their structure, composition, optical and photo-electrochemical properties, in order to investigate their potential as improved photoanode materials for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in water splitting, compared to the baseline WO₃ material developed in the lab.

The successful candidate will join the research group at ICMCB and work closely with a PhD student and senior researchers, benefiting from hands-on training and active scientific supervision throughout the internship.

We are looking for a motivated M2 candidate with a background in Inorganic Chemistry, Materials Science, or a closely related field, with an interest in thin film deposition and electrochemical/photoelectrochemical characterisation. Prior experience with sputtering, XRD, or electrochemical methods is appreciated.