About the Project
Application deadline: Open until filled
Supervisor: Professor Andrei Khlobystov (www.nottingham.ac.uk/nanocarbon ; www.masi.ac.uk )
Institution: University of Nottingham
Start date: Oct 2023
Project description
We are offering a fully funded PhD scholarship in Chemistry for 3.5 years, covering tuition fees and stipend and open to UK home students.
Are you excited about nanotechnology and nanomaterials? Do you want to stretch your horizon beyond traditional areas of Chemistry? Are you ready to be trained on cutting-edge imaging and analysis instrumentation?
If this sounds like you, then we want to hear from you.
Atoms and molecules are the building blocks of everything we see or touch, but it is still a challenge to see or touch the building blocks themselves in any meaningful way. In chemistry, the sheer astronomical size of Avogadro’s number reminds us that when we study molecules and their reactions, we deal with zillions of them at a time. Therefore, how do we know that molecules are here rather than there, or that react in one way rather than another? Indeed, even in an ideal case, a laboratory observation by ensemble-averaging analytical techniques, such as spectroscopy or diffraction, can only support rather than confirm a proposed atomistic structure or reaction mechanism. Therefore, many molecular structures and fundamental reactions may remain undiscovered.
In this PhD project, you will develop electron microscopy as a new analytical tool for chemistry that may revolutionise the way we study molecules and their reactions. Some of the greatest challenges of materials chemistry, such as structures of nanocrystalline covalent organic framework (COF) or metal organic framework (MOF) materials, as well as atomic dynamics and reactivity of metal nanoclusters supported on 2D materials (e.g. graphene, hexagonal boron nitride) will be addressed by the new methods. You will become part of the multidisciplinary project team and will build on over 20 years of expertise in atomic scale imaging and analysis of nanomaterials available in Prof. Andrei Khlobystov’s group (including their recent works on 3D analysis of COFs, single-molecule dynamics, and nanocluster catalysis imaged in real time).
The School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham is one of the largest chemistry research units in the UK offering excellent analytical equipment facilities to all researchers, including a suite of NMRs, MS and chromatography instrumentation, and XRD facilities. The School’s research laboratories are located in a purpose-designed chemistry building, nearby interdisciplinary Nanoscale & Microscale Research Centre (nmRC). Access to electron microscopy instrumentation (including TEM recently upgraded with a single-electron detector camera, cryo-FIB-SEM, environmental SEM), surface analysis and sample preparation facilities will be available at the Nanoscale & Microscale Research Centre (www.nottingham.ac.uk/nmrc ). High-level training on relevant instrumentation will be provided by the nmRC team.
Entry requirements
The position is available only for UK Home Students. Applicants should have, or expected to achieve, a 1st class or 2:1 Honours degree in Chemistry, Natural Sciences, Chemical Engineering or a related subject.
Funding Notes
Fully funded studentship to commence in Oct 2023. UK students – tuition fees paid and full stipend, tax-free, for 3.5 years at the UKRI rate (currently £17,668 per annum).
How to apply
Please send a cover letter and CV to [email protected] detailing your previous research experience and current research interests. Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit our research laboratories.