Education

Internships

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.

Internship projects

Photo-induced halide segregation

Level: Can be tailored to the student

Period: Q4 of 2025 or later

Contact: Jop Wolffs (MSc)

Lead halide perovskites (LHP) are a very promising alternative material for cheap solar cells, and are currently seeing a lot of research interest. One of their favourable properties is the ability to change their bandgap by mixing in different halides. Unfortunately these mixtures segregate during illumination, forming domains with less favourable band gaps. This process is still not fully understood. We have recently developed an advanced setup for Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR), a variant of NMR where quadrupole interactions are probed in the absence of a magnet. This setup enables us to study LHPs with high resolution while also making it easier to in situ measurements. Using this, we hope to measure halide segregation under illumination as it is happening, and map their movements.

 The internship involves making a suitable mixed-halide LHP through mechanosynthesis, characterising it with routine NMR/NQR, and then developing and testing an addition to the NQR setup to illuminate as much of the sample as possible. 

NMReChem projects

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

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