Start your career with an exciting Master's thesis in the field of ceramic production for sustainable hydrogen production. At the DLR Institute of Future Fuels, we focus on the sustainable production of chemicals and fuels for industry and vehicles. Moving away from fossil fuels, we are developing ways to produce hydrogen and other synthetic fuels using renewable energy sources.

One process we are currently developing is thermochemical water splitting, which produces hydrogen using only the thermal energy of the sun and water. Unlike hydrogen production by electrolysis, this process does not require an electrochemical step and has high potential in terms of overall process efficiency. The process uses solid redox materials as an intermediate product, which are recycled at high temperatures of up to 1500°C in the process. This innovative concept is currently being developed at our institute in several projects dealing with process simulation, experimental proof of concept and economic aspects. Among a variety of metal oxides, non-stoichiometric ceria (CeO2-δ, cerium oxide) has emerged as an attractive redox-active material for this application due to its ability to conduct O2- rapidly, which contributes to fast redox kinetics at high temperatures, and because it is morphologically stable over a wide range of oxidation states.

Therefore, as part of your Master's thesis, you will fabricate high-quality ceramic components from Ce-based redox material and characterize its properties. This includes the production of powders, suspensions and complex 3D structures. The manufactured components will also be characterized for thermochemical applications. The results of the work will directly feed into our ongoing research and support us in future research activities on solar fuel production systems.