Context and work environment
Context:
Solid cellular materials derive many of their functional properties from their architectures, such as for adaptive stiffness, mass transport, and energy dissipation. Existing fabrication approaches, including additive manufacturing and templating, provide a good control over cellular structures. However, these strategies generally require pre-designing or imposing structures in advance, meaning that any change in the desired properties needs redesigning the underlying architecture.
This project explores a different strategy: Can cellular structures self-emerge and be controlled during material processing, without being pre-designed or imposed? Inspired by the self-organization in emulsions and liquid foams, we will apply hydrogel foams as the model system and investigate how cellular architectures evolve during drying. Here, drying is more than simply removing water: it is a dynamic transformation in which water transport, capillary forces, and the network mechanics interact to shape the final structures. The project will address how do these coupled dynamics govern the structure selection and whether they can be translated into predictive design rules.
Team description:
The PhD Fellow will primarily work within two Tec21 associated laboratories in Grenoble, and will also benefit from the research secondment in Amsterdam.
- Laboratoire Rhéologie et Procédés (LRP) has strong expertise in rheology, complex fluids, soft materials, and process engineering. The lab provides access to rheometers and a spinning-disk fast confocal microscope.
- Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique (LIPhy) conducts multidisciplinary research in physics, with particular expertise in foam rheology, bubble dynamics, and soft matter physics, hosting a microfluidic fabrication platform.
- Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam (UvA) provides the secondment training for the Fellow, and offers access to the advanced high-speed imaging.
The PhD Fellow will be jointly supervised by Kaili Xie (LRP, CNRS) and Benjamin Dollet (LIPhy, CNRS), with additional guidance from Hugues Bodiguel (LRP) and Daniel Bonn (UvA). The team brings complementary expertise in capillarity-driven dynamics, complex interfacial phenomena, and rheology. The team provides a strong scientific and technical environment for the development of the project and broad training opportunities in experimental soft matter.
This recruitment takes place within the PhD@Tec21 Programme, which is co-funded as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND actions under the grant agreement #101217261. The recruitment process follows a specific selection and evaluation procedure with particular eligibility criteria, all of which are detailed in the applicant guide available on PhD@Tec21 Website.
Mission and main activities
From Soft Cells to Solid Cellular Matter: Programing Structure via Drying Dynamics
Description of the project:
The hypothesis of the project is that the final cellular architecture is selected by the competition between capillary stresses, fluid transport, and network deformation in hydrogel foams, which can be tuned through drying pathways. To test it, the project will take a bottom-up approach, from well-controlled hydrogel films to 2D hydrogel foams, following the route: mechanism ® prediction ® design rules. Several research axes will be explored:
- Development of a hydrogel film model system. A free-standing hydrogel film platform will be constructed, based on microfluidics, to represent the local geometry in foams. Different gelation mechanisms, including ionic, covalent, and physical crosslinking, will be investigated. Interfacial rheometry will be used to characterize the mechanical properties of hydrogel films during drying.
- Identification of film evolution and rupture regimes. Based on free-standing films, we will apply fast confocal microscopy and high-speed imaging to probe when and where holes nucleate, grow, or arrest under controlled drying. These dynamics will be linked to evolving film rheology for identifying the mechanisms and rupture regimes.
- Establishment of predictive design rules. We will move from individual films to 2D foam structural evolution during drying. Neutron scattering and X-ray tomography (in collaboration with ILL) will be used to quantify water transport pathways and explore how they affect the structures. We will then establish predictive design rules for controlling the transformation of hydrogel foams into solid cellular materials.
Supervisors: Kaili Xie, Benjamin Dollet
Research fields: soft matter physics, fluid transport, drying dynamics, hydrogels, foams, cellular materials
Secondment (academic partner): Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Doctoral school: I-MEP2 Engineering – Materials, mechanics, environment, energy, processes, production
Desired profile and expected skills
Education, diplomas
The candidate should hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in Physics, Applied Physics, Mechanics, or a related field, with a strong interest in experimental research. A background in one or more of the following areas is particularly desirable: Sof matter physics, Fluid mechanics, Rheology, Foams, and Hydrogel and polymer physics, etc.
Disciplinary skills, experience
Candidates with experimental experiences are strongly encouraged to apply. Experimental skills with one or more of the following are preferred: rheometry and mechanical characterization, microfluidics and/or fluid-flow experiments, optical microscopy, imaging and data analysis, and physicochemical characterization of foams, etc. Programming skills in MATLAB and/or Python, as well as experience with numerical simulations, would be an additional advantage.
Personal skills
The candidate should be self-motivated, curious, and able to work independently when addressing scientific challenges. They should enjoy working collaboratively and be able to communicate effectively with colleagues and research partners. Good written and oral communication skills in English are required. We particularly welcome enthusiastic candidates with a strong interest in science and engineering.
Employment benefits and conditions
Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA) is offering a 36-month full-time work contract.
In line with the European Commission rules for Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant holders, the remuneration will consist of a gross monthly salary of 2,650 EUR. The estimated net salary to be perceived by the PhD fellow will be between 2,050 and 2,150 EUR.
Benefits include:
- Access to a high-quality work environment, including a personal computer, scientific equipment and access to library and shared lab facilities
- Access to high-level scientific and inter-sectoral training through 120 hours of doctoral courses and workshops
- Opportunity for 2-month secondments at an academic institution or industrial partner during the 2nd year of the PhD
- A vast choice of networking events and activities within the PhD@Tec21 Programme and through the international network of MSCA fellows
- Access to the UGA International Student Office, to assist the PhD fellows in searching for accommodation in Grenoble and support with administrative issues including visas, health, bank accounts, etc.
- Visa fees and registration to the UGA Doctoral School are covered by PhD@Tec21
- 45 days of paid holidays, Sick leave, Parental leave
General information
Contact for the questions related to the position:
PhD@Tec21 Management Board:
guillaume.chambon@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr / amelie.bataille@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr
