Latest News:
2025-06-10
Umeå University and Absolicon are offering a fully funded industrial PhD position.
Umeå Universitet and Absolicon are looking for a PhD for a fully funded PhD position in Solar Energy.
Umeå University and Absolicon Solar Collector AB are offering a fully funded industrial PhD position in applied materials science, focusing on the design and development of advanced solar selective coatings based on plasmonic nanocomposites. This research is carried out within the framework of the Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability (WISE) – Sweden’s largest-ever investment in sustainable materials.
Become part of a team that makes a difference for the world’s energy supply, turning energy production from fossil fuels to solar thermal heat. We work to bring the research from the lab to the market.
Thermal energy accounts for 50 % of the global consumption, making the implementation of solar thermal technologies are necessary step in the clean energy transition. The demand is found in district heating, desalination and in particularly the industrial sector, where heat and steam <400 °C represents a major share of energy consumption. For solar collectors to be competitive the levelized cost of energy must be reduced, for which a reduced component cost is central.
A critical component in these systems is the receiver, the performance of which is dependent on solar selective coatings. These coatings give the receiver high solar absorptance and low infrared emittance, while maintaining thermal durability. Current commercial coatings, though efficient, suffer from conformity and high cost, making coatings produced with sustainable, scalable and low cost methods necessary.
This project seeks to develop and optimize scalable solar selective coatings based on plasmonic nanocomposite materials. Using a combination of carbon nanotubes and metallic nanoparticles in a dielectric matrix, the coatings will be engineered to exhibit tunable optical properties through plasmonic and interference effects.
Scalable deposition techniques, including sol-gel based ultrasonic spray deposition, will be used to fabricate multilayer and gradient films with high reproducibility. Optical simulations will be used to guide the material choices and design of the nanocomposite coatings to simultaneously achieve high solar absorptance and low thermal emission.
The project is hosted by the Nano for Energy group at Umeå University and Absolicon Solar Collector AB, a world-leading company in solar thermal technology with operations and industrial partners worldwide.
You will be working in the lab in Umeå and do science conferences, but also join Absolicon in EU-projects, on industrial exhibitions and work with customers and suppliers to have the research make a difference in the world.
To be admitted for studies at third-cycle level you are required to have completed a second-cycle level degree or completed course requirements of at least 240 ECTS credits. Prerequisites include 240 ECTS credits (högskolepoäng) of higher education studies, of which 60 should be on an advanced level (Master’s level), or equivalent. In addition to these requirements, 120 ECTS need to be in physics. The requirements do not need to be fulfilled at the time of application but only at the enrollment. Fluency in English is mandatory.
We welcome candidates who are:
Experience of thin film deposition, spectroscopic methods, or modeling of optical materials is considered an asset but not required.
Please submit the following documents in English or Swedish:
Send your application to info@absolicon.com
For further information, please contact:
Prof. Thomas Wågberg, Principal investigator
Department of Physics, Umeå University
✉️ thomas.wagberg@umu.se
Joakim Byström, CEO, Absolicon Solar Collector AB
✉️ joakim@absolicon.com
