Rechargeable batteries with higher energy densities are essential for electrifying the aviation industry. Fluoride ion batteries (FIBs) offer some of the highest theoretical volumetric energy densities among emerging beyond-lithium-ion technologies. However, the development of FIBs is currently hindered by the challenge of synthesizing chemically and electrochemically stable liquid F-ion conductors. In this project, the student will focus on synthesizing and characterizing the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of novel liquid F-ion conductors.

Medicine requires improved methods to penetrate cell membranes and deliver active compounds: this project will combine advances in polymer chemistry, with supramolecular and membrane chemistry to better understand the design criteria for synthetic cell delivery agents. The project will exploit switchable polymerization catalysis to synthesise degradable block polymers with controllable hydrophilicity, functionalization, and architectures. Through systematic structure-activity investigations of the polymers and transport experiments in artificial cells the properties and performances of these polymers as delivery agents will be studied.

Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells offer power conversion efficiencies of >40%, enabling widespread adoption of solar power at the multi-terawatt scale. However, perovskite stability under illumination, temperature, and electrical stresses remains a challenge. By exploring new synthetic routes and cation additives, this project aims to enhance perovskite stability and integrate them into textured silicon cells, leading to reliable and efficient tandem solar cells.

The coordination chemistry of boryl ligands (BR₂^-) with iron remains underexplored, despite the implication of iron-boryl intermediates (including open shell species) in hydroboration and C-H functionalisation reactions. This project aims to overcome this historical limitation by leveraging the low-temperature synthetic/crystallography infrastructure and open-shell iron characterization capabilities (e.g. ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer, EPR) of the Neidig lab, combined with the synthetic expertise in main group and boryl ligand chemistry of the Aldridge lab. Project goals range from the synthesis of unprecedented, homoleptic iron-boryl complexes to detailed insight into iron-boryl bonding and reactivity of iron-boryl complexes in C-H and C-C bond activation.

This project combines synthetic inorganic chemistry, lanthanide luminescence and main-group molecular photoswitches. The systems we will generate will act as sensors, and information storage devices, and will be studied both in solution phase experiments and when confined on surfaces or in the solid phase. The future manufacturing of responsive “smart” materials is expected to be a future growth area, particularly with regard to optically responsive materials.

Organometallic iron clusters have been identified as active catalytic species in iron- catalysed cross-couplings, representing a new paradigm in organoiron catalysis. Furthermore, iron clusters have been implicated as a broader class of sustainable catalysts for transformations across the breadth of modern chemical synthesis (including olefin functionalisations). This project seeks to revolutionise organoiron catalysis by expanding the utility of this exciting new class of cluster catalysts across a variety of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bond forming reactions, combining inorganic synthesis, spectroscopy, computational chemistry and reactivity studies to define the unique electronic structure and bonding properties underlying their reactivities.

This project offers a special opportunity to join groups in two different Oxford departments (Chemistry and Physics) with common interests in functional materials and with complementary skills. New magnetic materials will be discovered, measured and controlled chemically with the aim of realising new crystal structures and controlling the magnetic interactions to introduce phenomena such as magnetic frustration and ferromagnetism.

This project will focus on the design, synthesis and characterisation of inorganic molecular compasses, i.e. molecules that are sensitive to magnetic fields. The optical properties of such “compasses”, during light- induced electron transfer reactions, can be surprisingly sensitive to magnetic fields. Starting with a BODIPY-Al³⁺-porphyrin-C₆₀ triad, we will optimise the molecular structure for maximum magnetic sensitivity using techniques such as EPR and picosecond transient absorption spectroscopy.

Two-dimensional metal-organic frameworks (2D MOFs) derived from transition metals and redox-active organic ligands behave as semiconductors, resulting in potential applications as chemiresistive sensors and electrocatalysts for fuel cells. This project will investigate the synthesis, structure and properties of new types of 2D MOFs using a combination of computer-aided molecular design, ligand synthesis, coordination chemistry and atomic-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

The re-purposing of fluorine from existing polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including from polymeric materials such as PTFE, represents highly topical goal in the context of the establishment of a ‘circular’ fluorine economy. This project will explore the fundamental chemistry implicit in such processes, utilizing in the first instance low-valent aluminium and silicon compounds, by drawing on the thermodynamic drivers implicit in Al-F/Si-F bond formation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has familiarised us all with the significance of point-of-care diagnostic tools for rapid, reliable, and accessible testing. Nanozymes (Molly Stevens’ group), with their exceptional catalytic properties and stability, hold the promise of unmatched sensitivity for point-of-care diagnostic biosensors. Atom Probe Tomography (Paul Bagot’s group) enables the structural and chemical characterisation of nanozymes with an unprecedented level of detail. The gained new insights into structure-function relationship will be leveraged to optimise the new generation of nanozymes for enhanced CRISPR-based diagnostics.

This project sits in the important area of advanced energy materials for sustainable sodium- ion batteries and ‘beyond-lithium’ applications. The research programme aims to develop new improved cathode materials for rechargeable sodium-ion batteries using a powerful experimental-modelling approach, which will enable crucial advances in faster-charging and higher energy density materials.

Integrating photoswitches into surfactant molecules allows for the high temporal and spatial precision that comes with light-addressability. This project will expand the potential of such materials, and the resultant soft matter applications, by studying the potential to switch photosurfactants using metal-based sensitisers. It will also develop complementary instrumentation to characterise the dynamic self-assembly behaviour.