About the Project
This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP) for entry in October 2021.
The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Exeter and Cardiff University plus five prestigious Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad multi-disciplinary training, designed to produce tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science.
SUPERVISORY TEAM:
Lead supervisor: Prof Frank Marken, University of Bath, Department of Chemistry https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/frank-marken
Co-supervisors: Prof Akbar Javadi (Exeter) and Dr Nick Van Dijk (PV3Technologies)
CASE Partner: PV3Technologies, Launceston
Collaborative Partner: Spin-Up Science, Bristol
OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH:
Project Vision
A membrane (as part of a green house or simply spread over the ground) that in the presence of sunlight can capture water from the atmosphere to allow plant growth, artificial irrigation, or drinking water provision. This project is interdisciplinary and will have considerable impact on the management of the natural environment.
Project Background
As the available solar energy on earth (200000 TW p.a.) is essentially inexhaustible, it is vital for new science and new technologies to be targeted towards solar-driven mechanisms. Our biggest fresh-water reserves (1013 m3) are in the atmosphere. A radical approach to provide drinking and irrigation water is proposed based on electroosmotic membranes to employ sunlight directly to drive the capture of water from the atmosphere and to provide a low-cost means for drinking, cooling, and for irrigation in agriculture to produce food. This highly interdisciplinary PhD project focuses on exploiting new electro-osmotic membrane mechanisms and porous materials for water transport. The energy of the sunlight will be converted to electricity. The electricity will provide the driving force for electroosmotic flow, and this in combination with good catalysts will pump water across the membrane. The project will allow the student to explore the science, engineering aspects, implementation, commercial potential, and compare to related technologies such as thermal/pressure cycle systems, bio-mimetic fog capture systems, or solar stills.
Project Aims and Methods
The PhD researcher will gain experience from molecular design of materials all the way up to electroosmotic membrane pumps for irrigation in precision agriculture and management of the natural environment. The main project aims are (i) to develop multi-layered porous membranes with attached electrodes for electroosmosis, (ii) to establish catalytic processes based on oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution ideally with a single bifunctional catalyst, (iii) to design small scale prototypes as proof-of-concept based on relative humidity changes, (iv) to bring this technology into the engineering sector and then to potential end users, and (v) to assess the impact of this technology on the natural environment. The methods are based on electrochemical measurements, materials testing, developing new tools to monitor humidity changes, and exploring scale up of materials. The project is based on a new concept of rectified electroosmosis. Different types of membranes/techniques for water transport could be developed or compared. New ideas developed during the project will be essential.
CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS:
Applicants for a studentship must have obtained, or be about to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class UK Honours degree (or equivalent) in an area appropriate to the skills requirements of the project.
The candidate should bring into the project a good understanding of chemistry and electrochemistry, and enthusiasm for porous materials and membranes, as well as engineering, catalysis, entrepreneurship, and passion for the natural environment and global challenges.
APPLICATIONS:
Project enquiries: Prof Frank Marken, [Email Address Removed].
Application enquiries: [Email Address Removed].
Candidates should apply formally using the relevant University of Bath online application form:
https://samis.bath.ac.uk/urd/sits.urd/run/siw_ipp_lgn.login?process=siw_ipp_app&code1=RDUCH-FP01&code2=0015
When completing the form, please state in the ‘Finance’ section that you wish to be considered for NERC GW4+ DTP funding and quote the project title and lead supervisor’s name in the ‘Your research interests’ section. If you wish, you may apply for more than one project within the same application but you should submit a separate personal statement for each one.
If you have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, please upload documentary evidence with your application.
More information on how to apply may be found here:
https://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/how-to-apply-for-doctoral-study/
Funding Notes
Studentships cover tuition fees at the ‘Home’ level, research/training costs and a stipend (£15,285 p.a., 2020/21 rate) for 3.5 years.
Candidates normally eligible for 'Home' fees are:
UK nationals*
Irish nationals living in the UK/Ireland
Applicants with settled or pre-settled* status in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme
Applicants with indefinite leave to enter/remain in the UK
* must have lived in the UK/EEA/Switzerland continuously since September 2018.
International applicants, not eligible for ‘Home’ fees, may apply and will be considered for a limited number of fee discounts equivalent to the difference between the ‘Home' and ‘Overseas’ tuition fees.
References
Future challenges in electrochemistry: linking membrane-based solar energy conversion mechanisms to water harvesting, Frank Marken, J. Solid State Electrochemistry 24 (2020) 2137-2140.
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