A Diamond–University of St Andrews PhD Studentship
The Scientific Premise
Establishing relationships between structure and performance can enable a ‘smart design’ approach in the development of next generation materials used, for example, as catalysts or in energy storage and conversion. Such functional materials are often dynamic in nature with structural evolution occurring under operating conditions. This places further demands on structure determination; to be meaningful, this must be achieved under relevant pressures, temperatures and feed compositions. There is an additional challenge of scale.
While catalysis is a surface phenomenon, demanding the determination of surface structure at an atomic or molecular level, the underlying short- to long-range bulk structure can also impact catalyst performance. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is ideally suited to bridging these knowledge gaps. Soft XAS has the benefit of permitting studies of light elements, in particular carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, with high surface sensitivity, while hard X-ray studies provide important complementary information on both local and long-range electronic and morphological structure. The operating conditions of industrial chemical processes are far removed from the experimental boundaries of standard soft and hard X-ray absorption facilities. This project therefore aims to develop new sample environments (microreactors) for the in operando study of heterogeneously catalysed processes. Emphasis will be placed on the study of chemical reactions that utilise only the components of air (principally nitrogen and carbon dioxide) and water (as a source of green hydrogen) for the sustainable manufacture of fuels and chemicals.
Aims and Opportunities
The main objective of the project is to develop, test and commission novel sample environments that enable high-pressure, high-temperature measurements of catalysts and other materials using soft XAS at Diamond Light Source's VerSoX B07 beamline and multimodal hard XAS and CT at its I18 beamline. This will build on a number of years' work by the Webb group and the B07 team developing microreactors for soft X-rays at the former (link: http://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577524001346). Once developed, the microreactors will be made available to the wider Diamond user community, enabling world-leading research.
As well as the synchrotron sample environment development, a substantial part of the project will involve working away from the beamline, performing complementary lab-based ex situ measurements of the catalyst systems, interpreting and analysing the resulting data and writing the scientific papers. There will be excellent opportunities to collaborate with other students, beamline scientists and external users at Diamond.
Time Division
The student will spend approximately 50% of their time at the University of St Andrews and 50% at Diamond Light Source Ltd, the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
Attributes of Suitable Applicants
(1) You should have, or expect to achieve, at least 2:1 Honours degree (or equivalent) in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science or a related subject.
(2) Excellent hands-on laboratory skills
(3) Interest in and capability of data analysis
This project is jointly funded for three and a half years by the University of St Andrews and Diamond Light Source Ltd. Successful students will receive a stipend of no less than the standard UKRI stipend rate, currently set at £18,622 for the academic year 2023 to 2024 (the rates for subsequent academic years have not been published), plus a £2,000 per annum stipend top-up.
Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
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