Development of experimental methodologies to study the non-exhaust particles emitted by vehicles

Each day, a human being breathes between 10,000 and 20,000 liters of air, which makes air quality a major concern for citizens and governments. While exhaust emissions have been drastically reduced over the past few decades due to more stringent regulations and technical progress, non-exhaust emissions from electrified vehicles were widely neglected. The proposed thesis aims to develop and validate methods of generation and characterization of aerosols as emitted during disc/pads contact to improve knowledge regarding the behavior of such particles and the ways to reduce these emissions. In this context, the PhD student will have to identify the key physico-chemical parameters of such aerosols, to define and implement the most suitable equipment and protocols to generate "analog" aerosols, representative of those resulting from brake abrasion processes, as well as the relevant solutions to characterize it. To do this, the first phase of the research work will have to identify the key characteristics, important specificities, and the most relevant metrics of the real aerosol, to be able to reproduce them. Afterwards, the PhD student will have to identify the way to generate such "analog" aerosols considering the metrics of interest and the necessary representativeness compared to the real aerosol, to evaluate the performance of the device (in terms of stability, reproducibility, sources of related uncertainties or biases), then to identify and implement the solutions to characterize the previously prioritized metrics of interest. At the end of this thesis work, the proposed equipment as well as the protocols developed, should allow the generation of representative, stable and reproducible aerosols to study or develop, for example, suitable treatment strategies and solutions.

Keywords : Air Quality, Non-Exhaust Particles, Aerosols, Sampling, Characterization

• Academic supervisor    Dr HDR, OUF François-Xavier, Laboratoire national de métrologie et d'essais (LNE), ORCID : 0000-0002-7969-8506
• Doctoral School    ED575 EOBE/Electrical, Optical, Bio-physics and Engineering, https://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/en/doctoral-schools/electrical-optical-bio-physics-and-engineering-eobe
• IFPEN supervisor    Dr, SCHIFFMANN Philipp, R&I engineer, department of “Systems simulation and experimental analysis”,  philipp.schiffmann@ifpen.fr, ORCID : 0000-0002-3644-0441
• PhD location    IFP Energies nouvelles, Rueil-Malmaison, France   
• Duration and start date    3 years, starting in fourth quarter 2023
• Employer    IFP Energies nouvelles, Rueil-Malmaison, France
• Academic requirements    University Master’s degree in Physical-Chemical sciences, Aerosol Science, or Analytical Sciences
• Language requirements    Fluency in French or English, willingness to learn French

To apply, please send your cover letter and CV to the IFPEN supervisor indicated here above.