BEDFORD RESEARCH GROUP

Welcome to the website for the Bedford Research Laboratory. Here you will find information on all the group’s research activities, publications and various musings. The group is always looking for talented, enthusiastic, and passionate students eager to develop scientific principles and apply these principles for making new materials with interesting properties. Our group is highly collaborative as well, so feel free to contact us if you would be interested in working together 😊

BEDFORD RESEARCH GROUP

Welcome to the website for the Bedford Research Laboratory. Here you will find information on all the group’s research activities, publications and various musings. The group is always looking for talented, enthusiastic, and passionate students eager to develop scientific principles and apply these principles for making new materials with interesting properties. Our group is highly collaborative as well, so feel free to contact us if you would be interested in working together 😊

Interested in joining our team?

CONTACT

New opportunity

Project Title: Single Atom Catalysts and Nanoclusters Supported on Nanoscale Silicon Carbide/Nitrides for the Partial Oxidation of Methane using Tunable Preceramic Polymer Templates.

Project Summary:
The partial oxidation of methane is an intriguing route toward the
production of syngas at stoichiometries directly amendable
to methanol synthesis and/or Fischer-Tropsch reactions. This
reaction is notoriously tricky to maintain, as it is often plagued with selectivity issues (i.e. total oxidation to CO2), or catalyst deactivation through coke formation. Additionally, the understanding of catalyst processing and structure is poorly understood, limiting logical decisions on catalyst design. This project aims to develop new materials with improved reactivity using single atom catalysts supported on silicon carbide/nitride supports made via block copolymer templating approaches. Preceramic polymers act as a precursor to form silicon carbide/nitride nanomaterials, while blending with appropriate catalyst metal precursors yields the final catalyst. To best understand how the materials are formed during processing and during partial oxidation of methane reactions, in-situ synchrotron characterization methods will be used to form structure/function relationships for these novel materials. The PhD project is funded through the American Chemical Society’s Petroleum Research Fund, and will necessitate an array of skills including particle synthesis, materials characterization and catalytic performance assessment. The student will be expected to participate in the Annual ACS Spring Meeting in Years 2 and 3 of their PhD.

Download full project description.

New opportunity

Project Title:Tailorable Ceramic Nanocomposites through Polymer Chemistry

Project Summary:
Preceramic polymers provide unique ways to process otherwise cumbersome ceramic materials into interesting shapes and morphology at the nano, micro, and macro scale. The use of
polymeric precursors further enables new chemistries and synthetic pathway not achievable using traditional ceramic
processing. Yet the field is still in it infancy, and understanding how polymer chemistry and processing conditions influence the materials final structure and properties remains unknown. This project, in collaboration with the US Air Force Research Laboratory, aims to fill this void in fundamental knowledge by using a suite of advanced in-situ synchrotron structural characterization tools to understand how structure and polymer chemistry influences properties. The PhD project is funded through the Asian Office of Aerospace Development, where the student will be expected to participate in synchrotron experiments at the Advanced Photon Source and Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source in the US throughout the project. Key techniques: Structural characterization of polymeric materials, the final ceramic nanocomposite, and the transitional structure in between is critical for the success of this project. As such, a prospective student should be eager to learn about various advanced characterization techniques, including X-ray absorption spectroscopy, small angle X-ray scattering, high-energy X-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. Environment: The project will be undertaken with the Bedford Research Group in the School of Chemical Engineering which is part of the Particle and Catalysis Research Group.

Download full project description.

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Our team

Click here to learn more about our crew and information to join the team

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Research

We make really interesting materials. Then we shoot X-rays at them to figure out how they work and how to make better materials. Click here to learn more.

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Publications

Dissemination of new research is vital to the progress of technology. Click here to see what the team has published.

WHAT WE DO

Our group is interested in two things: 1) Uncovering the fundamental structural science behind what gives materials the properties that they exhibit and 2) using this information to make new materials with emergent properties. We strive to accomplish both of these interests through creative thinking coupled with rigorous study of fundamental science. Many of our students work in very collaborative projects, both within the Particle and Catalysis Research Group, across campus, Australia and beyond. We focus quite a bit on catalysis, but we don’t mind playing in other areas as well.