Dr M Loveridge
Applications accepted all year round
Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
WMG, University of Warwick and Synthomer are seeking a top class candidate to undertake research leading to the award of an International Engineering Doctorate (EngD) awarded jointly by the Universities of Warwick, Exeter and Cranfield.
As a ‘research engineer’ on our International Doctorate programme you will have unrivalled access to some of the best teaching and industrial expertise in the world, across three universities. While you will be based at the University of Warwick, you may also have the opportunity to spend time at Synthomer’s UK Technical Centre in Harlow, and will also spend time at Cranfield and Exeter Universities, to give you the broadest possible experience of academic and industrial cutting-edge research. You will emerge from the four-year programme more confident and better equipped to make a difference to your future company and the global marketplace.
This opportunity also provides a substantial tax free stipend equivalent to many graduate jobs.
PROJECT
WMG’s Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) interfaces with leading UK academics and industry in the field of advancing energy storage technology. This project develops smart polymer systems for battery electrodes and integrates with research at Synthomer – a world class polymer development company who are growing their focus on energy storage.
The main objective is to enable phasing out of fluorinated polymers as they require toxic organic solvents for processing. Synthomer’s functional polymers have enormous potential and there is scope for intense development of these within sustainable battery manufacturing.
The project focuses on replacing current hazardous polymer systems with aqueous chemistries based upon Synthomer’s core technology competencies in acrylic, butadiene and vinyl acetate systems. The collaborative project extends to smart systems with battery testing and characterisation work using homopolymers, copolymers and terpolymers in addition to chemical modification approaches.
BUSINESS NEED AND OPPORTUNITY
The global market for Li-ion batteries for vehicles is expected to total $221 billion from 2015-2024. Currently the total Liion battery market is dominated by 3 key players: Panasonic Corp, Samsung SDI and LG Chem. Competitive manufacturing costs through sustainable and innovative application-specific materials, is a strategy to offer stiff competition to gain some of this market share.
Funding Notes
You should have an upper second (2.1) honours degree in a Chemistry-related discipline or Material Science / Engineering qualification. Ideally they will have some organic chemistry & electrochemistry with an emphasis on polymer systems and characterisation.
Due to funding regulations this project is open to Home/EU students only.
FUNDING
Qualifying students will receive an attractive enhanced stipend which could be tax and NI free depending on your personal circumstances For 2017 this totals approximately £19,000 tax free per annum.
Funding is for four years and will also cover tuition fees and course fees plus travel allowance to attend courses.
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