Light and Electricity generation for sensing (Interdisciplinary Project)

Project Overview

Global availability of clean water is vital to sustainable development, but water purification requires a lot of energy. Interfacial solar seawater desalinisation aims to achieve energy efficient evaporation using localised heating at the water’s surface. This is typically achieved by floating a porous, hydrophilic, and light-absorbing material on water, which draws up water through capillary action while facilitating evaporation by absorbing sunlight and converting it into heat.  Many of the best light-absorbing materials for photothermal evaporation involve metals, which can be expensive/rare and pose pollution risks. Organic (i.e. carbon-based) materials, offer a promising alternative, combining strong light-absorption and the potential to be extremely affordable. This project has two key aims:

1) To identify low-cost organic light-absorbers with high light-to-heat conversion efficiency; and

2) To investigate generation of electricity from the ion gradient generated by water evaporation for low-power, distributed applications such as sensors and wireless communication modules.

PhD Project

This interdisciplinary PhD project will involve and develop a range of different skills. You will:

1) Use chemical insight to identify promising candidate materials, drawing inspiration from organic solar cells, photocatalysts, and naturally occurring UV photoprotective compounds.  

2) Use a range of ultrafast and steady state spectroscopic techniques to:

• Directly resolve the conversion of photon energy into localised heat

• Build a mechanistic understanding of energy conversion processes in different materials

• Assess how these processes are affected by the ionic and pore environment.

3) Examine the potential for electricity generation though photogenerated ion gradients, using measurements such as current-voltage response under solar illumination & electrochemical impedance spectroscopy under both dark and illuminated conditions.

Eligibility requirements

Applicants must meet Victoria University of Wellington entry requirements for admission to a PhD. Award of the scholarship is conditional on the university accepting your enrolment. The successful applicant will be guided through the process of formally applying for admission.

This is an interdisciplinary project. Applicants from physics, chemistry, or related fields are welcome. Useful skills for the role are listed below and it is expected that applicants will have strength in some of these areas and be willing to learn the rest.

• Spectroscopy and electrochemistry: common techniques such as UV-Vis absorption, photoluminescence, quantum efficiency, cyclic voltammetry, current-voltage characteristics under illumination

• Optics & lasers: alignment and safe working practises with laser, including either continuous-wave or pulsed excitation.

• Wet-lab skills: surface deposition, handling of chemicals.

• Numerical modelling and analysis: proficiency coding in Matlab, R, or Python.

This project is based in Wellington, New Zealand and is available for immediate start.

Contact

To express your interest in this scholarship and PhD research opportunity, please prepare the following items:

• A brief CV including qualifications, academic achievements, list of publications, work history, and references.

• A copy of your academic transcript(s).

Please submit your application via email to the supervisor of this project: Paul Hume (paul.hume@vuw.ac.nz) by October 12th, 2025.

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