We are always looking for excellent students and postdocs, and Australia/UNSW provides excellent opportunities for scholarship and awards.  If you are interested in joining the team, please contact me at your convenience. Also be sure to check out the links below regarding scholarship opportunities.

Graduate Research Scholarships

Domestic Research Scholarships

International Research Scholarships

Home Country Joint Scholarships

We are always looking for excellent students and postdocs, and Australia/UNSW provides excellent opportunities for scholarship and awards.  If you are interested in joining the team, please contact me at your convenience. Also be sure to check out the links below regarding scholarship opportunities.

Graduate Research Scholarships

Domestic Research Scholarships

International Research Scholarships

Home Country Joint Scholarships

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.