Electrochemist Research Scientist II - Materials Discovery Research Institute

Job Description

We have an exciting opportunity for an Electrochemist, Research Scientist II at UL Research Institutes, based in our Materials Discovery Research Institute (MDRI) Skokie, IL facilities. The Electrochemist, Research Scientist II, will play a pivotal role in accelerating the discovery and development of efficient materials, innovative designs, and robust systems for green hydrogen generation, conversion, and storage technologies. This will be achieved through the implementation of high-throughput methodologies, including automated synthesis techniques, advanced characterization methods, and various evaluation approaches, all supported by high-performance computation (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (MD) capabilities within MDRI.

The Electrochemist will leverage their expertise to significantly advance research and innovation in electrocatalyst synthesis and characterization, electrode preparation and evaluation, as well as cell configuration design and optimization. This research endeavor will encompass several areas, including but not limited to proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis, anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolysis, fuel cell technologies, flow batteries, CO2 electrolysis, and solid-state batteries.

UL Research Institutes:

At UL Research Institutes (ULRI), we expand the boundaries of safety science to create a more secure and sustainable world. For more than a century, we have studied the unintended consequences of innovation, designed solutions to mitigate risk and shared our findings with academia, scientists, manufacturers, and policymakers across industries. We identify critical safety and sustainability issues, asking the tough questions because we believe a safer world begins with knowledge.

Build a safer, more secure, and sustainable future with us. Join us and work with our Materials Discovery Research Institute team who conduct the research required to produce that knowledge and put into practice.

Materials Discovery Research Institute:

The Materials Discovery Research Institute (MDRI) works to develop and deploy new materials with the potential to address current global safety challenges. Pursuing materials that will help produce transformational safety breakthroughs, MDRI harnesses the power of advanced computing and high-throughput experimental methods to create innovative materials that will produce resilience for a sustainable future and protect individual and societal health.

We focus on today’s critical challenges, working to create new and better materials that will support renewable energy and environmental sustainability. Among our top priorities is research into materials capable of carbon capture and energy storage, with an eye toward reducing the adverse impacts of humanity’s reliance upon fossil fuel resources and enabling a transition to renewable energy sources.

Above all, our research builds on our commitment to a safer, more sustainable future.

What you’ll learn and achieve:

As the Electrochemist Research Scientist II, you will play a key role in the rapid growth of UL as you:

• Employ automated synthesis techniques, advanced characterization equipment, and various evaluation methods to develop novel catalysts with the assistance of HPC, AI, and MD.

• Utilize electrochemical combinatorial techniques to assess the performance of synthesized catalysts, identifying promising candidates for further development.

• Investigate the connections between electrochemical properties and materials science by exploring the kinetics, thermodynamics, and mechanisms of electrochemical processes. Generate high-quality datasets that are compatible with AI from synthesis, characterization, and performance testing.

• Scale up promising catalysts from R&D evaluations to development short stacks for integration into functional prototypes, collaborating closely with the engineering team.

• Test the multiple cell short stacks under industrially relevant conditions, conduct failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and demonstrate real-world feasibility and extended durability.

• Design and conduct experiments aimed at synthesizing, characterizing, and evaluating more efficient and cost-effective key materials for renewable energy technologies, including PEM and AEM water electrolyzers, flow batteries, fuel cells, and solid-state batteries.

• Create and develop electrochemical setups and apparatus for various experiments to analyze the properties and behavior of new materials under different electrochemical conditions.

• Collect and analyze data from experiments using advanced instrumentation and software tools. Interpret results and dra