The project is funded by KU Leuven and concerns the understanding and the exploitation of a new hyphenated instrumentation, which we called NMR-Relaxorption. It combines simultaneous measurements of adsorption and desorption with low-field NMR measurements of signal intensity and relaxation/diffusion. This concept was published recently (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jacs.1c03716) and has spanned enormous interest in the field of synthetic and natural porous materials such as zeolites, MOFs, COFs, geological samples and polymers, because of the new dynamical information that it provides. It is still in its infancy in terms of understanding the mechanisms of signal relaxation and sorption and it offers a wonderful opportunity for a PhD student to learn magnetic resonance and explore using techniques from high and low-field NMR towards a very applied project. Several model chemical systems have been identified towards controlled calibration experiments, offering a very solid field step in this exploration. Instrumental advances are also underway offering an unprecedented sensitivity enhancement, which improves further the limits of detection during the sorption process and allows us to study the entire isotherm curve.

We are looking for a very motivated and creative candidate with strong background in physics and chemistry and engineering who is interested in learning in depth magnetic resonance and apply it in various chemical systems. Basic knowledge in magnetic resonance and chemistry of porous materials is a plus, and skills in computational or engineering applied physics are welcome. The applicant should have strong English skills, both orally and in writing, and an ability to interact and collaborate with colleagues.

Our group is performing research on magnetic resonance methods and instruments pushing the frontiers of knowledge and technology towards new and unexplored areas. We are inspired by real world problems from the fields of chemical engineering, bioscience engineering, biomedicine and industry, and our aim is to develop new approaches and tools and propose solutions that help answering these questions. We are equally involved in spectroscopy (NMR) studies, as well as in imaging (MRI) using both high-field, high-resolution methodologies, and low-field relaxation and diffusion approaches.

KU Leuven (University of Leuven) has been a center of learning for nearly six centuries. Today, it is Belgium's largest and highest-ranked university and, founded in 1425, one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Europe. The university caters to over 60 000 students from more than 140 countries. KU Leuven's three doctoral schools provide internationally oriented PhD tracks for more than 4 000 doctoral students. KU Leuven and affiliated knowledge institutes provide fertile ground for innovation and high-tech entrepreneurship in the Leuven region. This favorable climate for knowledge-driven entrepreneurship and innovation makes the Leuven region an attractive location for many high-tech companies.