Artificial leaves for solar fuel generation

Overview

The development of artificial leaves is crucial in exploiting solar energy to meet the increasing energy demands of a rising population.

This funded studentship is an exciting opportunity to develop efficient artificial leaves for the production of chemical fuels, which will help develop strategies to decrease high atmospheric CO₂ levels and combat global warming.

As part of this project, you will carry out research to achieve important advances in artificial photosynthesis, providing clean solar fuels to be readily used as feed stocks for industry including fertilisers, plastics, pharmaceuticals, or synthetic fuels for transport.

You will be based in the Department of Chemical Engineering, recently ranked top three in the UK (The Times Good University Guide 2015). Working alongside a multidisciplinary team that embraces a wide range of expertise in chemistry, materials science, and chemical engineering, you will collaborate with leading colleagues at the University and its Centre for Catalysis and Reaction Engineering. You will also work with academics based at Imperial College London and be part of the EPSRC-funded UK Solar Fuels Network, which will provide further opportunities for attending international conferences and disseminating research.

This project will cover splitting photocatalytic solar H₂O into hydrogen (and oxygen), and CO2 photoreduction with H₂O to carbon-based fuels such as methanol, methane and carbon monoxide. You will develop novel wet-chemistry methods for the preparation of photocatalytic materials to maximise their surface area and performance, whilst minimising their electron-hole recombination.

You will exploit the use of nanomaterials such as graphene oxide, a two-dimensional material with extreme surface area, to tune the formation of photocatalysts or the use of mesoporous crystalline silicas as templates and hosts for photocatalysts. Extended physico-chemical characterisation with FTIR, XRD, UV-Vis, EXAFS and others, and photocatalytic tests will be carried out to relate the performance of photocatalysts to their properties.


Entry requirements

You should already have, or expect to obtain, a first class Honours undergraduate degree or MSc distinction in Chemical Engineering or relevant subject. You will also need proof of English language ability if you are a non-native English speaker. We accept:

• IELTS 6.5 (at least 6.0 in each of the four components) or
• PTE Academic (62 minimum and no less than 59 in any component).

You should have a strong background in chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering or other suitable fields. Experience of catalysis, inorganic synthesis, reaction engineering, and computer simulation is desirable. The position involves laboratory work.

If you are interested in carrying out research in another area of expertise, you can still apply for one of our funded studentships by finding a supervisor from one of our internationally recognised research centres and contacting them with your research proposal. Find out more about our research centres at www.bath.ac.uk/engineering/research/