PhD in Chemistry: Photogating frameworks: Spatially-controlled molecular diffusion in microporous materials

Outline

Applications are invited for a Royal Society-funded 3.5 year PhD studentship in materials and inorganic chemistry.

The project will investigate the use of photoactive crystalline porous materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as a platform for nanofluidic devices.

Such materials offer the potential to act as hosts for controlled guest diffusion, in which laser-induced structural changes can direct the flow of guest species.

Being able to study and control the movement of molecules on this scale offers exciting possibilities in the miniaturising of microfluidic devices used for medical diagnostics, sensing, and molecular sorting applications.

This is a new approach that builds on and diverges from the global MOF community into the realm of nanofluidics, offering rich opportunities for strongly motivated graduate students.

You will receive a thorough training in synthetic inorganic photochemistry and porous materials while taking a leading role in establishing this exciting new research program.

What is funded

Full UK/EU tuition fees and Doctoral stipend matching UK Research Council National Minimum

Duration

3.5 years

Eligibility

Open to all UK/EU students without further restrictions.

Eligible candidates should have, or expect to obtain, a minimum of an upper second-class first degree (2:1) or European equivalent and a Masters in Chemistry.

First-hand experience in a relevant area of chemistry such as synthetic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, porous materials, photochemistry or photocrystallography is highly desirable including familiarity with vibrational spectroscopies (IR and Raman) and X-ray crystallography.