Stimuli-responsive supramolecular materials

Adaptive materials have the potential to revolutionise approaches used for energy harvesting, water purification, CO₂ capture and hydrogen storage. Technological innovations in these areas are of paramount importance in order to address climate change, develop renewable energy solutions and drive the expansion of the nascent hydrogen economy.

Our research focuses on incorporating stimuli-responsive assemblies into materials in order to produce ‘smart’ constructs that can respond to changes in their environment. Such behaviour would enable these materials to capture or release sequestered molecules, ions, or energy on demand or under specified conditions. Stimuli-responsive changes in the spatial arrangement of the molecular components in these materials may also allow for enhanced control over intermolecular interactions between surfaces, which may aid the development of innovative organic electronics and energy-harvesting devices.

This interdisciplinary project will invoke aspects of organic and inorganic chemistry, in addition to materials science and will be suitable for anyone with a background or interests in these areas.

You will receive extensive training in general supramolecular concepts, multi-step organic synthesis, and materials synthesis and characterisation. Your training will be facilitated by the state-of-the-art equipment available at the University of Reading’s Chemical Analysis Facility (CAF – https://www.reading.ac.uk/caf/), which provides access to: NMR spectroscopy (up to 700 MHz), mass spectrometry, molecular spectroscopy (fluorescence, UV/Vis, IR and Raman), single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and electron microscopy (SEM, TEM). ://www.reading.ac.uk/chemistry/phd/how-to-apply-for-a-phd