PhD position available: 

"Using Electrostatic Interactions to Control Supramolecular Self-Assembly" 
Physics Department, Kings College London, UK.

A PhD Position is available in Kings College London(KCL), Physics 
Department, to work on the development and application of atomistic 
modelling techniques to investigate the electronic structure and self 
assembly properties of organic molecules adsorbed on transition (noble) 
metal substrates.

Determining the state of charge of small, mobile organic molecules 
adsorbed on substrates of varying work function is a challenge for 
current electronic structure theory. Yet, next-generation molecular 
scale organic-electronics devices will crucially depend on metal 
organic (MO) contacts whose properties are entirely dependent on level 
alignment and charge transfer effects between metal surfaces and 
adsorbed molecules at MO contacts. At the same time supramolecular 
selfassembly is one of the most promising paradigm for nanofabrication, 
and current understanding and exploitation of long-range interactions 
-such as the ones between adsorbed charged molecules- for self-assembly 
is still in its infancy.

This PhD studentship is fully funded by a EPSRC Grant joining the Physics
Department at Kings College London (theory- A. De Vita's group) and the
Chemistry Department in Warwick University (experiment- groups of Timothy
Jones and Giovanni Costantini). The research plan will involve carrying 
out calculations using with first principles packages (Quantum Expresso) 
and developing and using appropriate (corse- grained) force fields to 
investigate the assembly properties and concentration/temperature phase 
diagrams of adsorbed aromatic molecules at sub-monolayer coverages, in 
the presence of long range(dipole-dipole) intermolecular interactions.

The KCL Physics group has a ten-years record of activity in the 
self-assembly field (see e.g., PRL 83, 324 (1999), PRL 87, 096101(2001), 
Angew. Chemie, 119, 4576 (2007),Adv. Mater. 21, 12 (2009) and refs. 
therein). Working in close contact with a world-leading experimental 
group (see e.g., Nature 437, 671 (2005)) with a proven track record of 
collaboration with the KCL theorists is expected to result in a very 
stimulating scientific environment. Full access and active involvement 
in the London Thomas Young Centre events programme is envisaged for the 
PhD position (http://www.thomasyoungcentre.org/index.html)

Applicants are expected to hold a MSc or equivalent EU degree- in Chemistry, 
Solid State or Materials Science/Engineering. The Solid State group at
KCL has an attractive working environment in the centre of London and 
excellent computational facilities that will be supplemented by additional
computational resources associated with the project.

  
The position is available from January 2009. 
Contact: Alessandro De Vita (alessandro.de_vita a kcl.ac.uk)
Please attach your CV