Natural biopolymers such as polysaccharides (e.g. chitin/chitosan, cellulose, starch, and alginate) and proteins are widely available, biodegradable, biocompatible, chemically versatile, and inherently functional and thus have huge potential in developing advanced functional materials.
This exciting PhD project aims to develop innovative biopolymer-based materials (hydrogels, membranes, fibres or other forms) and composites with tailored structures, properties and functionality, and advanced engineering processes (e.g. 3D printing and electrospinning) for producing such materials. Aspects of the research work include but are not limited to: the chemical modification and plasticisation/dissolution of biopolymers, the chemical modification/synthesis of polymers and nanoparticles and plasticisers/solvents, the rheological and printability evaluation of biopolymer formulations, the establishment of processes for materials production, the characterisation of starting materials, and intermediate products and final composites.
It is expected that cost-effective processes can be established to create biopolymer-based materials and that the materials would demonstrate application potential in fields of e.g. food, biomedical, energy, environmental, electronic, sensing or field with properties/functionality exceeding the state-of-the-art. It is also anticipated that this project will generate significant amounts of new knowledge in the area of biopolymer science and engineering.
This PhD position is for self-funded students or those who have secured funding to fully support their PhD studies (e.g. China Scholarship Council – Newcastle University PhD Scholarships (https://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/fees-funding/search-funding/?code=cscnu23)). The PhD student will be principally advised by Dr David Fengwei Xie.
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