The Career Work | Scholarships and Grants

Fully Funded PhD studentship in Applied Materials Chemistry for UK/EU citizens at Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, UK 2012

Study Subject(s):MOF-polymer Composites
Course Level:PhD
Scholarship Provider: University of Liverpool
Scholarship can be taken at: UK

Eligibility:
The applicant is expected to have a 2:1 or above Master degree in chemistry, materials or related project. The studentship is only open to UK citizens or EU citizens (if resident in the UK for 3 years prior to the start of the grant)

Scholarship Open for International Students: Yes

Scholarship Open for Students of Following Countries: UK citizens or EU citizens

Scholarship Description: Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD studentship in applied materials chemistry, supervised jointly by Dr Haifei Zhang and Dr Darren Bradshaw. Crystalline microporous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) prepared using well-established principles of coordination chemistry are a versatile platform for a range of applications including gas storage, separation, drug delivery and catalysis. In order to further enhance their properties and processability for these applications there is a growing need for the preparation of MOF composite materials, and in particular MOF-polymer composites. This interdisciplinary project centres on the novel processing of MOF composites and will build upon the internationally leading research conducted on microporous materials at Liverpool. We have previously prepared MOF-polymer composite beads in two steps by adding pre-formed macroporous polyacrylamide to the MOF synthesis. (L. D. O’Neill, H. Zhang, D. Bradshaw ‘Macro-microporous MOF composite beads’ J. Mater. Chem. 2010, 20, 5720-5726) The MOF crystallites are homogeneously distributed throughout the polymer macropores and the resulting composites displayed enhanced stability to mechanical erosion than bulk MOF phases. In this project we will employ techniques normally associated with polymer processing directly to colloidal MOFs dispersed in solutions of organic macromolecules (both natural and synthetic) to allow the ‘one pot’ processing of our MOF-polymer systems. We will prepare composites of diverse configuration, including microstructured systems of hierarchical porosity, porous nanofibres, and membranes for advanced applications. Given the wide variety and functionality of MOFs, and the large number of ways by which this processing might occur, there is significant scope to develop novel MOF-based composite systems. The balance of the project is expected to be 50:50 with respect to synthesis/processing and applications testing.

How to Apply: Online

Scholarship Application Deadline: 31 May 2012

Further Scholarship Information and Application

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