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Dr E García-Tuñón
Prof Andy Cooper
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
It is currently very difficult to control interfaces between semiconductors in photocatalysis. In this project, we will introduce a new technology in this area — 3D printing — in combination with directed assembly to create structures with controlled architecture at multiple scale lengths (from nm to cm) and to optimise interfacial properties. The scope is to address the limited availability of flexible bottom-up assembly approaches for inorganic and organic materials in water based systems. We will advance the field by designing versatile assemblers that can facilitate the water processability of new organic materials for step-change photocatalysis. This will be a lab-based PhD that will start with the modification of known pH-responsive surfactants. The second stage will deal with the design of new molecules capable of functionalizing other soluble organic polymers and inorganic colloids to make them responsive, facilitating a change in their aggregation and rheology. The use of automated platforms in the Materials Innovation Factory will provide a library of component molecules, which will be tested using stand-alone and high-throughput rheology. The establishment of a workflow between the two (automated synthesis and rheology measurements), combined with design of experiments tools, will enable identifying final candidates.
The studentship will be based in the Materials Innovation Factory (MIF), supervised by Dr Esther García-Tuñón (80%, MIF lecturer affiliated to the School of Engineering) and co-supervised by Prof. A. I. Cooper (20%, Chemistry/MIF). The studentship will be jointly funded between the School of Engineering and the Leverhulme Research Centre for Functional Materials Design, a new £10 M, 10-year activity funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Qualifications: A 2:1 or higher degree or equivalent in Chemistry with a strong interest in directed assembly, or alternatively a strong interest in organic materials with Chemical Engineering background. The candidate will be expected to have strong chemistry background.
The applicant will be part of two research groups in the University of Liverpool. Further information can be found here:
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/engineering/staff/esther-garcia-tunon-blanca/
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/cooper-group/research/
Please apply by completing the online postgraduate research application form here: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/applying/online/
Please ensure you quote the following reference on your application: Designing assemblers for bottom-up formulations with tunable rheology (reference Tunon LRC 126)
The studentship will be based in the Materials Innovation Factory (MIF), supervised by Dr Esther García-Tuñón (80%, MIF lecturer affiliated to the School of Engineering) and co-supervised by Prof. A. I. Cooper (20%, Chemistry/MIF). The studentship will be jointly funded between the School of Engineering and the Leverhulme Research Centre for Functional Materials Design, a new £10 M, 10-year activity funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Qualifications: A 2:1 or higher degree or equivalent in Chemistry with a strong interest in directed assembly, or alternatively a strong interest in organic materials with Chemical Engineering background. The candidate will be expected to have strong chemistry background.
The applicant will be part of two research groups in the University of Liverpool. Further information can be found here:
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/engineering/staff/esther-garcia-tunon-blanca/
https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/cooper-group/research/
Please apply by completing the online postgraduate research application form here: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/applying/online/
Please ensure you quote the following reference on your application: Designing assemblers for bottom-up formulations with tunable rheology (reference Tunon LRC 126)
Funding Notes
The award is primarily available to students resident in the UK/EU and will pay full tuition fees and a maintenance grant for 3.5 years (£14,553 pa in 2017/18). Non-EU nationals are not eligible for this position and applications from non-EU candidates will not be considered unless you have your own funding.
References
García-Tuñon, E., Feilden, E., Zheng, H., DElia, E., Leong, A., & Saiz, E. Graphene Oxide: An All-in-One Processing Additive for 3D Printing. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 9 (38), pp 32977–32989 (2017)
Garcı́a-Tuñón, E., Barg, S., Franco, J., Bell, R., DElia, E., Maher, R. C., et al. Printing in three dimensions with graphene. Advanced Materials, 27(10), 1688–1693 (2015)
García-Tuñón, E., Barg, S., Bell, R., Weaver, J. V. M., Walter, C., Goyos-Ball, L., & Saiz, E. Designing smart particles for the assembly of complex macroscopic structures. Angewandte Chemie, 52, 7805–7808 (2013)
Sprick, R. S., Bonillo, B., Clowes, R., Guiglion, P. Nick J. Brownbill, Benjamin J. Slater, B. J., Blanc, F., Zwijnenburg, M. A., Adams, D. J., and Cooper A. I., Visible-Light-Driven Hydrogen Evolution Using Planarized Conjugated Polymer Photocatalysts. Angew. Chem. 128, 1824 –1828 (2016)
Garcı́a-Tuñón, E., Barg, S., Franco, J., Bell, R., DElia, E., Maher, R. C., et al. Printing in three dimensions with graphene. Advanced Materials, 27(10), 1688–1693 (2015)
García-Tuñón, E., Barg, S., Bell, R., Weaver, J. V. M., Walter, C., Goyos-Ball, L., & Saiz, E. Designing smart particles for the assembly of complex macroscopic structures. Angewandte Chemie, 52, 7805–7808 (2013)
Sprick, R. S., Bonillo, B., Clowes, R., Guiglion, P. Nick J. Brownbill, Benjamin J. Slater, B. J., Blanc, F., Zwijnenburg, M. A., Adams, D. J., and Cooper A. I., Visible-Light-Driven Hydrogen Evolution Using Planarized Conjugated Polymer Photocatalysts. Angew. Chem. 128, 1824 –1828 (2016)
Project supervisors
Career overview
Dr Esther Garcia-Tunon Blanca is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Liverpool, having joined the Materials Innovation Factory and the School of Engineering in February 2017. She previously served as a research associate in the Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics at Imperial College London, starting in October 2011 with a Barrie de la Maza fellowship. Dr Garcia-Tunon Blanca holds a degree in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Materials Science from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Her research focuses on the intersection of Engineering, Chemistry, and Materials Science, with particular emphasis on ceramics, colloidal processing of ceramics and graphene, rheology of complex fluids, and additive manufacturing. She aims to develop flexible, water-based, and robust processing approaches for ceramics and carbon materials to create objects with controlled architecture across multiple scale lengths, from centimetres to nanometres. Her publication record encompasses a variety of topics, including the synthesis of biomaterials, crystallographic studies, colloidal processing, structural ceramics, and 3D printing of graphene. Dr Garcia-Tunon Blanca''s career includes positions such as Research Associate at Imperial College London (03/2012-01/2017), Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Barrie Foundation (10/2011-03/2012), Postdoctoral Researcher at the Galician Institute of Ceramics (06/2011-09/2011), and a Predoctoral Contract with the Galician Government and the European Fund (12/2007-06/2010). She earned her PhD in Chemical Engineering on 14 February 2011 and her degree in Chemical Engineering on 26 September 2005, both from the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Dr Garcia-Tunon Blanca has received several awards, including the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Round 5 in 2021, an Undergraduate Fellowship awarded by the Ministry of Science for her BSc in Chemical Engineering (2005-2006), a Research Fellowship from the Government of Galicia for her PhD in Materials Science (2006-2010), and the Fundacion Pedro Barrie de la Maza Fellowship for her postdoctoral research (2011-2012). She was also recognised for the best oral presentation at the 7th Postdoctoral Symposium at the Department of Materials, Imperial College London.
Research interests
Dr Esther Garcia-Tunon Blanca''s research focuses on the processing and manufacturing of materials, particularly at the interface of Engineering, Chemistry, and Materials Science. Her main research fields include ceramics, colloidal processing of ceramics and graphene, rheology of complex fluids, and additive manufacturing. She aims to develop flexible, water-based, and robust processing approaches for ceramics and carbon materials, enabling the creation of objects with controlled architecture across multiple scale lengths (from centimetres to nanometres). Her publication record spans various topics, including the synthesis of biomaterials, detailed crystallographic studies, colloidal processing, structural ceramics, and 3D printing of graphene.
Career overview
Professor Andy Cooper graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1991 and obtained his Ph.D. there in 1994. Following his Ph.D., he held a 1851 Fellowship and a Royal Society NATO Fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, and subsequently a Ramsay Memorial Research Fellowship at the University of Cambridge. In 1999, he was appointed as a Royal Society University Research Fellow in Liverpool. In 2007, he became the founding Director of the Centre for Materials Discovery, which established a long-term strategic collaboration between Unilever and the University of Liverpool. He served as Head of Chemistry and then as the first Head of the School of Physical Sciences from 2007 to 2012, during which he was a member of the University Council. In 2017, he co-founded Porous Liquid Technologies, a spin-out company based on a new class of material, porous liquids, developed in the UK as part of an EPSRC-funded project. Professor Cooper led the initiative to establish the Materials Innovation Factory (MIF) through the UK Research Partnerships Infrastructure Fund and is its first Academic Director. He also directs the £10 million Leverhulme Centre for Functional Materials Design. His research interests encompass organic materials, supramolecular chemistry, and materials for energy production and molecular separation, supported by a strong technical interest in high-throughput methods and robotics. A central theme in his research is the integration of computational prediction and experimental work to discover new materials with significant properties.
Research interests
Professor Cooper''s research focuses on organic materials, supramolecular chemistry, and materials for energy production and molecular separation. His work is underpinned by a strong technical interest in high-throughput methods and robotics. A unifying theme in his research is the close fusion of computational prediction and experiment to discover new materials with step-change properties. This has involved close collaboration with Graeme Day, Professor of Chemical Modelling at the University of Southampton. Professor Cooper has been involved in significant projects, including the establishment of the Materials Innovation Factory and the Leverhulme Centre for Functional Materials Design, and has contributed to the invention of porous liquids as part of an EPSRC-funded project.
Organic Materials
Supramolecular Chemistry
Materials for Energy Production
Molecular Separation
High-Throughput Methods
Robotics
Computational Prediction
Experimentation
New Materials
Porous Liquids
Materials Discovery
Functional Materials Design
Autonomous Robotics
Chemical Modelling
Interdisciplinary Research.
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