There are always opportunities for both Bachelor and Master students to participate in our research! For a list of our own current ideas for internship projects, scroll down. In addition, you can always ask if it possible to participate in something else that catches your eye from our research, or just come around to explore ideas.
Most of our internship projects are suitable for the Bachelor's Science, Chemistry and Molecular Life Sciences and the Master's specialisations of Molecular Sciences. But our research has a strong interdisciplinary character; physical tools are used to study chemically relevant materials and processes. Some of our projects are therefore suitable for students of Physics and Astronomy. Furthermore, it is possible to put more emphasis on theory or experiment depending on the students' background.
A typical internship at the Magnetic Resonance Research Center is structured as follows: the student starts by compiling and reading literature relevant to the project. In the meantime, the student is acquainted with the NMR hardware by their supervisor and learns how to set up different NMR experiments. Depending on the project it might be necessary to focus more on sample preparation, hardware modification, signal processing, modelling or theoretical aspects. At the end of the internship a report is written by the student and he/she will give a presentation about the project.
Required background
Introduction to Magnetic Resonance (NWI-MOL058) is a required course for all projects except some purely theoretical ones. In addition, a strong understanding of quantum mechanics and Fourier analysis is strongly recommended.
Contact
The projects listed below include the relevant contacts. For projects not listed below or questions, please contact one of our academic staff members.
Investigating Sodium Aluminium Oxychlorides as solid state Na battery electrolyte materials
The aim is to identify the local Al coordination environments in Al-based Na oxyhalide solid electrolytes and understand how they differ between samples prepared by heat treatment and ball milling. In particular, we want to determine whether a higher proportion of bridging oxygen promotes the formation of a connected structural framework that supports continuous Na-ion transport pathways. This would establish Al-O-Al connectivity as a potential structural descriptor for improved ionic conductivity.
Contact: Dr. Ernst van Eck (in collaboration TUD Prof Dr M Wagemaker)
InP and InAs quantum dots, surface and interface characterisation using 31P, 75As and 19F NMR
The aim of this project is to elucidate the interface of semiconductor nanoparticles with the outside world. Most importantly the outside surface of the quantum dot needs to be clean without many lattice defects. This can either be achieved by shelling them or by etching the with HF. Both have a profound effect on the quantum efficiency of the quantum dots. Using NMR we want to gain insight into the interface structure .
Contact: Dr. Ernst van Eck (in collaboration TUD Prof Dr A Houtepen)
Thermochemical heat storage as seen through 1H solid state NMR
The ultimate goal of this research is to help develop low-temperature heat storage for domestic heating and hot tap water production. Therefore, the materials used must withstand charging temperatures up to 150 degrees Celsius. Additionally, only water vapor is considered as the adsorbent, as it is low-cost and non-toxic. A suitable class of materials for such use is known to be salt hydrates. Some salt hydrates, such as MgSO4, or CaCl2, have already been researched for this purpose. However, there is still much to learn and improve thermochemical materials before their commercial development.
Contact: Dr. Ernst van Eck (in collaboration TUE Dr J Aarts)
Identifying the catalytic sites in zeolite ZSM5. A combined NMR and computational study
Zeolites are aluminosilicate microporous molecular sieves. By substituting Si by for instance Al a charge imbalance is created on the crystal lattice which is compensated by a cation. This site becomes catalytically active, a so called Bronsted or Lewis acid site depending on the precse structure. Where the aluminium substitutes in the lattice greatly determines not only it’s catalytic activity but also the accessibility of the substrate. Using NMR on single crystals and DFT calculations we try to identify exactly where the aluminium substitutes .
joint project between theoretical chemistry and the MRRC, 1 or 2 students
Contact: Dr. Ernst van Eck and Daria Galimberti
Core shell InP/ZnSe quantum dots. Looking at the interface with 67Zn-NMR
Material science
Quadrupolar NMR
Bachelor or Master
Contact: Dr. Ernst van Eck
Solid state electrolytes for Li-ion battery applications. Solid state NMR investigations into ion mobility and structure
Material science
Battery systems
Bachelor or Master
Contact: Dr. Ernst van Eck
Characterise speed vs. accuracy of machine-learned tensor predictors for crystal DFT
Quantum Chemistry (DFT)
Machine learning
Master
Contact: Jop Wolffs (MSc.)
Optimising the sample arrangement and holder design for parallel detection of the NMR signal using MRSI
MRSI (combination of liquid 1H NMR and MRI)
CAD design
Bachelor or Master
Contact: Marie Harder (MSc.)
Analysis of complex mixtures (coffee, tea, liquor, weed) at micromolar concentrations using hyperpolarised benchtop NMR
Analytical science
Physical chemistry
Bachelor or Master
Contact: Bono Jimmink (MSc.)
Contact: Dr. Evan Zhao
Within the NMReChem group, internship projects are available on various aspects of NMR spectroscopy, electrocatalysis and redox flow batteries. The student will develop a skill set in either NMR spectroscopy or electrochemistry, both are fundamentally fun and practically useful. Systems of interest are 1) electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide; 2) electrochemical synthesis of ammonia; 3) redox flow battery. All these projects center around the overarching goal of helping mitigate climate change. A list of what is currently on offer can be found below, or on the group website. For enquiries of project details, please contact Evan.
Project 1. MRI of flow in advanced redox flow battery electrodes
Project 2. Synthesizing and understanding redox-active organic molecules for redox flow batteries
Project 3. Developing coupled operando NMR and EPR methods for studying redox flow batteries
Project 4. Machine-learning analysis and optimization of redox flow batteries
Project 5. Understanding Li nitridation for electrochemical ammonia synthesis by operando NMR
Project 6. Machine-learning force field calculation of reaction intermediates for Li-mediated ammonia synthesis
Introduction to Magnetic Resonance (NWI-MOL058)
Magnetic Resonance I (NWI-MOL057)
Magnetic Resonance II (NWI-SM023D)
Magnetic Resonance IIIb: solid-state NMR (NWI-SM044A)