Every year we host several national and international master students and a smaller selection of bachelor students and interns for projects that relate to our activities in fundamental and applied research. We support your stay in St. Gallen with an allowance and housing. The ideal length of a project work is around 6 months. Our open and international research environment as well as our good contacts to industry and ETH Zürich are assets, highly esteemed by students. We have many years of experience in hosting Master projects from many different countries and a very intercultural open spirit.

You can always send an unsolicited application with a CV and letter of interest to (manfred.heuberger-at-empa.ch), or, more specifically contact the responsible person as listed for the currently open project topics following below.

Manfred Heuberger

Currently open project topics:

Are you a motivated master student and looking for opportunities to challenge and strengthen skills in Polymer, organic and Material chemistry? Are you eager to do a master-project, while gaining valuable experience in a research project for industrial needs? The following projects are offered on immediate basis:

Master Thesis Opportunity in Material Science

• Project: Investigation of polymer-assisted reduction of silver oxide during melt extrusion

Introduction

Nanometals can enhance polymer functionality; however, current methods for incorporating metals into polymers are limited. We developed a thermal, solvent-free, and scalable process to compound silver salts into molten polymers, forming silver nanoparticles. This method works via the reduction of the silver salts by assistance of the polymer melt to produce particulate composite polymers exhibiting antimicrobial properties.

Project objective

The scientific questions are how polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) melt is able to assist reduction of silver oxide, and what are the process variables controlling the particle size. The investigation will first look at the processing side. For systematic studies, a model liquid will also be used in parallel to study the chemical reaction products.

Expected outcome

Understand the process conditions that leads to the formation of well distributed silver nanoparticles and the mechanism behind it.

Contact, location and duration

The project will take place in Empa St Gallen under Advanced Fibers group. The duration of the stay is at least 5 months, with a flexible start date. Accommodation can be provided by Empa in St. Gallen. To apply, please send your CV and a brief motivation letter to Fayez Alfayez at

Master thesis

• Project: Development of Thermosets with flame retardant properties for composites having thermomechanically and chemically recyclable features

Supervisor: Dr. Arvindh Sekar, Dr. Sabyasachi Gaan

Commercial polymers obtained from liquid precursors being "cured" are known as thermosets. These find niche applications in everyday life. But unfortunately their end-of-life fate is questionable, as most end up in landfills or incinerated. This is even more in focus when flame-retardant materials are being used in plastics.

In this Master Thesis/project, the candidate will work with us to explore vitrimer materials as inherently flame retardant thermosets. Currently at Empa, we have a library of flame retardant molecules with terminal acids, amines or alcohol moieties, and we expect the help of the student to incorporate our flame retardants into resin formulations. Primarily, the student would work in an organic synthesis laboratory, performing polymerization/polycondensation reactions, before eventually using them for thermoset fabrication. A complete characterization of the formed thermosets would be performed: physical, chemical, thermal and mechanical, before using these resins in pre-pregs for composite manufacture.

Your profile:

You are the perfect fit for this position if you:

- are currently a Master Student with experience working in an Organic / polymer chemistry / Material Sciences / Composite material lab setting.

- are willing to learn new chemistry/ material science lab skills, as this is a relatively interdisciplinary field.

- are able to think independently, and communicate well with others in the group/your supervisor.

If interested, contact ;

Internship or Master thesis 

• Project: Development of new recyclable and fire resistant vitrimers

The development of recyclable plastics is a key research focus in today’s world due to their environmental issues, and non-renewability concerns. Recently, vitrimeric materials have attracted great attention as an exciting class of renewable plastic due to their potential to exhibit strength, durability, and chemical resistance approaching that of traditional thermosets, while exhibiting end of life recyclability. This is due to their chemical structure, as vitrimers possess dynamic covalent crosslinks, which imparts stability while being reprocessable. The project that we proposed for this internship/Master thesis is to develop a new vitrimer material which offer simultaneous fire protection and full recyclability. Phosphorus based flame retardants with tailored physical and chemical properties are used as environmentally friendly additives for application in fibers, PU foams and wood based materials. In this project we aimed to develop a new vitrimer using phosphorus precursors and amine monomers which will be linked together using an unprecedented reactivity in vitrimers.

The project involves synthesis of monomers with heteroatoms (P and/or S) followed by preparation of different thermoset materials. You will also learn modern techniques for FR polymer characterization, while working in a professional and dynamic research group. Your competence in solid-state polymerization process is the basis for your success.

Supervisor: Dr. Cedric Hervieu, Dr. Sabyasachi Gaan

Your profile: You are the right person for this position if you are enthusiastic about plastic recycling and sustainability. Preferably, you:

• Currently a Master Student with a specialization in Organic / polymer chemistry / Material Sciences / composite material or in a related field;
• Are willing to learn new chemistry/ material science lab skills, as this is a relatively interdisciplinary field.
• Have good organization, prioritization, and communication skills and are able to work effectively and independently within a collaborative environment.

For further details please contact:  or sabyasachi.gaan@empa.ch

• Project: Development of unsaturated polyester resin formulations with flame retardant properties for compositesSupervisor: Dr. Arvindh Sekar, Dr. Sabyasachi Gaan

In this Master Thesis, the candidate will work with us in collaboration with an external resin manufacturing company for their composite requirements. Currently at Empa, we are building up a library of flame retardant molecules with terminal acids and alcohol moieties, and we expect the help of the student to incorporate our flame retardants into resin formulations. Primarily, the student would work in an organic synthesis laboratory, performing polymerization/polycondensation reactions to obtain the oligomeric resins. He/She will have access to multiple characterization tools like GPC, NMR, elemental analyses and if shown sufficient progress, can also proceed to use these resins and cure them in molds with additives to obtain films which can be subject to other thermo-mechanical analyses.

Your profile

You are the perfect fit for this position if you:

• are currently a Master Student with experience working in an Organic / polymer chemistry / Material Sciences / Composite material lab setting.
• are willing to learn new chemistry/ material science lab skills, as this is a relatively interdisciplinary field.
• are able to think independently, and communicate well with others in the group/your supervisor.
• wish to experience what an industrial project expects from and offers to you.

for further details please contact 

 

• Project: Next-Generation of Catalytic Plasma Coatings for Green Water Purification

Water contamination is a pressing issue for society, with Emerging Contaminants posing growing risks to human health and the environment. These substances include Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), often referred to as 'forever chemicals' due to their tendency to accumulate in water, soil, and living organisms. Even if emissions ceased today, existing environmental contamination would still require immediate and continuing remediation to ensure access to clean water for future generations. Addressing this urgent challenge demands innovative solutions from the scientific community. This project focuses on developing a new generation of catalytic nanomaterials designed to degrade POPs in water, with an emphasis on improving their stability and long-term performance.

The research will take place in the Plasma & Coating Group (Laboratory of Advanced Fibers) at Empa in St. Gallen, Switzerland, within an international and multidisciplinary environment. The student's project will involve tasks such as (1) fabricating nanoscale materials using low-pressure plasma technology, (2) evaluating the performance of these materials with different analytics, and (3) assessing their stability and potential for long-term use. The specific project tasks will be tailored to the student’s interests, as we believe enthusiasm and curiosity are key drivers of success.

Duration: minimum 5 months

Starting date: flexible, to be discussed.

Contact: Dr. Paula Navascués. Please, send a CV and a short motivation letter to the following e-mail address: . Feel free to contact for further information.

• Melt-spun biopolyester fibers for biomedical and sustainable applications     

This master project or internship will focus on biocompatible liquid-filled biopolyester fibers for drug-delivery applications. Liquid filled fibers with different processing parameters and thus different diameters and core/sheath ratios will be produced using a continuous melt-spinning technique. Liquids of varying viscosities and eventually also a variety of drug or drug-simulating molecules are to be tested. Drug-release trials will be performed on the produced fibers. Furthermore, liquid filled fibers, that do not contain drug molecules, will be immersed in reservoirs containing, e.g. fluorescein, in order to study the diffusion behavior of such molecules into the liquid core. The latter will be tested in order to study if impregnation with drug molecules would also work. Finally, methods have to be developed to render the fibers responsive to different external triggers (e.g. mechanical, thermal, pH). A second part of the internship may focus on studying the structure of sustainable biopolyester monofilaments for other types of applications. The filaments will be studied using x-ray diffraction, Raman and infrared spectroscopy to identify how processing parameters affect the fiber structures. Special attention will be paid to mesophases and their correlation to mechanical properties of the fibers. Polarized Raman mapping is to be used in order to study the microstructure (mesophases, crystallinity, molecular alignment) of these filaments.

This work will be conducted at the EMPA institute (St. Gallen) in Switzerland under the supervision of E. Perret in the group of R. Hufenus.

Duration: Minimum 4 months.

Starting date: To be discussed.

Contact: Dr. Edith Perret 

• The Role of Ions in Plasma Polymer Deposition

Plasma deposition involves ionic and neutral radicals as film-forming species. This Master project or Internship (4-6 months) investigates their role in order to obtain functional plasma polymer films for adhesion promotion and biomaterials. You will work in one of the worldwide leading teams in this field using plasma reactors, plasma diagnostics and surface characterization methods. As your background materials science, engineering, chemistry, physics or similar is beneficial.

For details, please contact: