About the Project
This PhD is part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in "Materials for Demanding Environments" [CDT in M4DE], is sponsored by Waters Corporation and will commence October 2017.
Background
In a Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS) enzil lenses, stacked ring devices and quadrupole mass filters are combined in a designed sequence to control and manipulate the ion beam. This means that the extracting and confining electrodes are irradiated by the ion beam and thus the interactions between the electrode surfaces and the ions have a strong influence on the sensitivity of the instrument. Engineering the electrode surfaces to control their topography, chemistry and crystallographic arrangement enables to influence these interactions, although current surface engineering methods are empirical and thus difficult to replicate at industrial scales. Laser processing could provide a reliable method for industrial-scale surface engineering and control of the ion-surface interactions. However, there is a lack of understanding on how tailored laser-materials interactions influence the surface properties and to what extent they could allow to control the materials response to high-energy ion exposure.
Project Outline
The objective of this project is to evaluate the potential of short and ultrashort-pulse laser irradiation methods to produce surface micro/nano-structures that span multiple length scales and allow controlling the ion-surface interactions. This will provide the development platform for new functional electrodes in LC-MS instrumentation.
The project will initially consist in developing tailored short/ultrashort-pulse laser-based processes for multiscale surface modification, using novel optical techniques such as vector field modulation which enable laser-material interactions to be controlled with very high spatial resolutions on or near the surface, leading to extremely accurate control of the local surface properties. This will be followed by detailed microstructural characterization and evaluation of the produced surfaces in terms of surface topography, surface chemistry, surface crystallographic arrangement, electronic condition, and surface energy. Finally, the multiscale modified surfaces will be tested in Waters Corp HDMS mass spectrometers.
About Waters Corp
Waters Corp. employs approximately 6500 employees worldwide and operates in more than 100 countries. It holds worldwide leading positions in complementary analytical technologies - liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, rheometry and microcalorimetry. These markets account for approximately $5.0 billion of the estimated $20 - $25 billion worldwide analytical instrumentation market.
Specifically, the company designs, manufactures, sells and services ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), chromatography columns and chemistry products, mass spectrometry (MS) systems, thermal analysis and rheometry instruments.
Funding Notes
Funding covers tuition fees and annual maintenance payments of £17,000. Students with a first class/2.1 degree (or equivalent) in Mechanical/ Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry, Physics or another aligned science/ engineering subject are encouraged to apply.
Funding is available for UK or EU candidates only.
Applications will be reviewed as they are received until a candidate is selected; therefore candidates are encouraged to apply early.
www.m4de.manchester.ac.uk