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RESEARCH THEMES

We have a number of synthesis processes and facilties as well as analytical facilities within the group which are avilable for our researchers and associated masters and other students. In order to maintain safety and good practice, we run a quality system for the training and use of all our facilties. Our facilties can be used to make a wide variety of Advanced functional ceramic materials. In recent years, a large portion of our funding and research has focussed on electrochemcial energy storage and electrolyser related catalyst development.

A FULL PUBLICATIONS LIST AND RELATED INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND HERE

REVIEWS

HIGHLIGHT: Darr, J. A.; Zhang, J. Y.; Makwana, N. M.; Weng, X. L., Continuous Hydrothermal Synthesis of Inorganic Nanoparticles: Applications and Future Directions. Chemical Reviews 2017, 117 (17), 11125-11238. Link
Darr, J. A.; Poliakoff, M., New directions in inorganic and metal-organic coordination chemistry in supercritical fluids. Chemical Reviews 1999, 99 (2), 495-541. Link

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COMBINATORIAL / HIGH THROUGHPUT MATERIALS DISCOVERY

HIGHLIGHT: Weng, X. L. et al. High-Throughput Continuous Hydrothermal Synthesis of an Entire Nanoceramic Phase Diagram. Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry 2009, 11 (5), 829-834. Link
HIGHLIGHT: Marchand, P. et al. High-Throughput Synthesis, Screening, and Scale-Up of Optimized Conducting Indium Tin Oxides. Acs Combinatorial Science 2016, 18 (2), 130-137. Link
HIGHLIGHT: Parker, J. E. et al. High-throughput powder diffraction on beamline I11 at Diamond. Journal of Applied Crystallography 2011, 44, 102-110.
HIGHLIGHT: Goodall, J. B. M. et al., Structure-Property-Composition Relationships in Doped Zinc Oxides: Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity with Rare Earth Dopants. Acs Combinatorial Science 2015, 17 (2), 100-112. Link
HIGHLIGHT: Commandeur, D, et al. Combinatorial Performance Mapping of Near-NMC111 Li-ion Cathodes, Journal of Materiomics, 2022, 8(2), 437-445. Link
HIGHLIGHT: Groves, A. R.et al. A., High Throughput Synthesis and Screening of Oxygen Reduction Catalysts in the MTiO3 (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) Perovskite Phase Diagram. Acs Combinatorial Science 2020, 22 (12), 750-756. Link

Quesada-Cabrera, R. et al. High-Throughput Continuous Hydrothermal Synthesis of Nanomaterials (Part II): Unveiling the As-Prepared CexZryYzO2-delta Phase Diagram. Acs Combinatorial Science 2013, 15 (9), 458-463. Link
Howard, D. P. et al. Conducting Al and Ga-doped zinc oxides; rapid optimisation and scale-up. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2016, 4 (33), 12774-12780. Link
Alexander, S. et al. A combinatorial nanoprecursor route for direct solid state chemistry: Discovery and electronic properties of new iron-doped lanthanum nickelates up to La4Ni2FeO10-delta. Solid State Ionics 2012, 225, 176-181. Link
Yang, Y.et al. Data flow modeling, data mining and QSAR in high-throughput discovery of functional nanomaterials. Computers & Chemical Engineering 2011, 35 (4), 671-678. Link
Wang, X. Z. et al. Robust QSAR model development in high-throughput catalyst discovery based on genetic parameter optimisation. Chemical Engineering Research & Design 2009, 87 (10A), 1420-1429. Link
Thompson, K. et al., Screening tests for the evaluation of nanoparticle titania photocatalysts. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology 2009, 84 (11), 1717-1725. Link

FLOW REACTOR INNOVATION AND SCALE UP

HIGHLIGHT: Gruar, R. I. et al., Scaling-up a Confined Jet Reactor for the Continuous Hydrothermal Manufacture of Nanomaterials. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 2013, 52 (15), 5270-5281. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Makwana, N. M et al., Pilot plant scale continuous hydrothermal synthesis of nano-titania; effect of size on photocatalytic activity. Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing 2016, 42, 131-137. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Tighe, C. J. et al., Investigation of counter-current mixing in a continuous hydrothermal flow reactor. Journal of Supercritical Fluids 2012, 62, 165-172. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Johnson, I. D. et al., Pilot-scale continuous synthesis of a vanadium-doped LiFePO4/C nanocomposite high-rate cathodes for lithium-ion batteries. Journal of Power Sources 2016, 302, 410-418. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Gruar, R. I. et al., A Direct and Continuous Supercritical Water Process for the Synthesis of Surface-Functionalized Nanoparticles. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 2015, 54 (30), 7436-7451. Link

Denis, C. J. et al., Nucleation and Growth of Cobalt Oxide Nanoparticles in a Continuous Hydrothermal Reactor under Laminar and Turbulent Flow. Crystal Growth & Design 2015, 15 (9), 4256-4265. Link
Tighe, C. J. et al., Scale Up Production of Nanoparticles: Continuous Supercritical Water Synthesis of Ce-Zn Oxides. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 2013, 52 (16), 5522-5528. Link
Chen, M. et al., Modelling and simulation of continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis process for nano-materials manufacture. Journal of Supercritical Fluids 2011, 59, 131-139. Link

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SOLID STATE ELECTROLYTES

HIGHLIGHT: Ashton, T.E. et al., Phase Evolution and Li Diffusion in LATP Solid-State Electrolyte Synthesized via a Direct Heat-Cycling Method, Advanced Energy and Sustainability Research, 2022, 3(8), 2200017. Link

LI ION PHOSPHATE CATHODES

HIGHLIGHT: Johnson, I. D. et al., Mechanistic insights of Li+ diffusion within doped LiFePO4 from Muon Spectroscopy. Scientific Reports 2018, 8, 6. Link

Loveridge, M. J. et al., Towards High Capacity Li-ion Batteries Based on Silicon-Graphene Composite Anodes and Sub-micron V-doped LiFePO4 Cathodes. Scientific Reports 2016, 6, 11. Link
Johnson, I. D. et al., Mapping Structure-Composition-Property Relationships in V- and Fe-Doped LiMnPO4 Cathodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries. Acs Combinatorial Science 2016, 18 (11), 665-672. Link
Johnson, I. D. et al., High power Nb-doped LiFePO4 Li-ion battery cathodes; pilot-scale synthesis and electrochemical properties. Journal of Power Sources 2016, 326, 476-481. Link

Li ION OXIDE CATHODES

HIGHLIGHT: Vamvakeros, A. et al., Cycling Rate-Induced Spatially-Resolved Heterogeneities in Commercial Cylindrical Li-Ion Batteries Source: SMALL METHODS Volume: 5 Issue: 9 Article Number: 2100512 DOI: 10.1002/smtd.202100512. Link

Paper was winner of RSC Horizon Award 2023

HIGHLIGHT: Ashton, T. E. et al., Stoichiometrically driven disorder and local diffusion in NMC cathodes. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2021, 9 (16), 10477-10486. Link

Ashton, T. E. et al., Multiple diffusion pathways in LixNi0.77Co0.14Al0.09O2(NCA) Li-ion battery cathodes. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2020, 8 (23), 11545-11552. Link
Armer, C. F. et al., Phase change effect on the structural and electrochemical behaviour of pure and doped vanadium pentoxide as positive electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. Journal of Power Sources 2017, 353, 40-50. Link
Taiwo, O. O. et al., Comparison of three-dimensional analysis and stereological techniques for quantifying lithium-ion battery electrode microstructures. Journal of Microscopy 2016, 263 (3), 280-292. Link
Armer, C. F. et al., Enhanced electrochemical performance of electrospun V2O5 fibres doped with redox-inactive metals. Journal of Solid-State Electrochemistry 2018, 22 (12), 3703-3716. Link

BIOMATERIALS

HIGHLIGHT: Chaudhry, A. A. et al. Phase stability and rapid consolidation of hydroxyapatite-zirconia nano-coprecipitates made using continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis. Journal of Biomaterials Applications 2012, 27 (1), 79-90. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Chaudhry, A. A et al. High-strength nanograined and translucent hydroxyapatite monoliths via continuous hydrothermal synthesis and optimized spark plasma sintering. Acta Biomaterialia 2011, 7 (2), 791-799. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Partap, S. et al. "Supercritical carbon dioxide in water" emulsion-templated synthesis of porous calcium alginate hydrogels. Advanced Materials 2006, 18 (4), 501. Link

CATALYSIS / PHOTOCATALYSIS

HIGHLIGHT: Weng, X. L. et al. Continuous hydrothermal syntheses of highly active composite nanocatalysts. Green Chemistry 2011, 13 (4), 850-853. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Weng, X. et al. Continuous syntheses of highly dispersed composite nanocatalysts via simultaneous co-precipitation in supercritical water. Applied Catalysis B-Environmental 2011, 103 (3-4), 453-461. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Zhang, Z. et al. Continuous hydrothermal synthesis of extensive 2D sodium titanate (Na2Ti3O7) nano-sheets. Dalton Transactions 2010, 39 (3), 711-714. Link

Gruar, R. et al. Tunable and rapid crystallisation of phase pure Bi2MoO6 (koechlinite) and Bi2Mo3O12 via continuous hydrothermal synthesis. Solid State Sciences 2010, 12 (9), 1683-1686. Link
Elouali, S.; Mills, A.; Parkin, I. P.; Bailey, E.; McMillan, P. F.; Darr, J. A., Photocatalytic evolution of hydrogen and oxygen from ceramic wafers of commercial titanias. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology a-Chemistry 2010, 216 (2-3), 110-114. Link

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FUEL CELL MATERIALS

HIGHLIGHT: Weng, X. L.; Brett, D.; Yufit, V.; Shearing, P.; Brandon, N.; Reece, M.; Yan, H. X.; Tighe, C.; Darr, J. A., Highly conductive low nickel content nano-composite dense cermets from nano-powders made via a continuous hydrothermal synthesis route. Solid State Ionics 2010, 181 (17-18), 827-834. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Weng, X. L. et al. In situ variable temperature X-ray diffraction studies on the transformations of nano-precursors to La-Ni-O phases. Journal of Solid State Chemistry 2011, 184 (7), 1688-1694. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Weng, X. L. et al. Direct syntheses of Lan+1NinO3n+1 phases (n = 1, 2, 3 and infinity) from nanosized co-crystallites. Journal of Solid State Chemistry 2008, 181 (5), 1123-1132. Link

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THIN FILMS

HIGHLIGHT: Warwick, M. E. A. et al. Hybrid chemical vapour and nanoceramic aerosol assisted deposition for multifunctional nanocomposite thin films. Thin Solid Films 2011, 519 (18), 5942-5948. Link

HIGHLIGHT: Kundu, S. et al. An investigation into the effect of thickness of titanium dioxide and gold-silver nanoparticle titanium dioxide composite thin-films on photocatalytic activity and photo-induced oxygen production in a sacrificial system. Journal of Materials Chemistry 2011, 21 (19), 6854-6863. Link

Hyett, G. et al. An Investigation into the Optimum Thickness of Titanium Dioxide Thin Films Synthesized by Using Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition for Use in Photocatalytic Water Oxidation. Chemistry-a European Journal 2010, 16 (34), 10546-10552. Link

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