4 Year GTA - Chemical Speciation of Aluminium in Novel Electrolytes; The Drive Towards Sustainable Abundant Energy Storage

About the Project

Open to UK applicants only

The School of Chemistry has fully-funded Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) studentships available for UK applicants, starting in September 2026.

The opportunities allow successful candidates to pursue their passion for research in the chemical sciences, alongside developing their skills as chemistry lecturers and educators of the future. This includes working toward gaining recognition as an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

The GTA involves laboratory demonstrating and other teaching responsibilities in term time, with approximately 80% of your time dedicated to research across the calendar year. These are 4-year positions that include an annual stipend and salary package, full UK tuition fees, and a research and training grant.

Project Highlights

• Novel use of spectro-electrochemical ESR/MRI to probe metal ion speciation in novel electrolytes
• Aluminium-based ionic liquid analogue electrolytes for novel energy storage
• Sustainable energy storage for portable devices based on abundant, cost-effective and accessible materials, including aqueous electrolytes.

Description

This project will seek to develop spectroscopic tools in combination with electrochemical methods to probe the metal ion chemistry (e.g. aluminium) of various species with potential in portable energy storage devices. Specifically, this will include the development of electrochemical ESR and NMR as well as Raman and FT-IR. The ESR will be based locally (Leicester) building on the expertise of the supervisors; the NMR imaging (MRI) will be undertaken jointly developing an established collaboration with the University of Birmingham (Prof. Melanie Britton, School of Chemistry); the FT-IR and Raman work will continue a productive collaboration with the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (Madrid) under Dr Gary Ellis and Dr Pilar Tiemblo.

Lithium-ion battery technologies continue to dominate the market for mobile charge storage required to sustain ubiquitous modern technologies including laptop computers, phones, portable electronics and electric vehicles (EV). However, Li metal is difficult to extract from its ore, using huge quantities of water and energy often to the detriment of indigenous regional cultures. The global supply chain for Li metal is also highly vulnerable to geopolitical factors. Hence the continued global reliance on Li-technology is not sustainable. Much research effort has focused on alternatives such as sodium-ion and aluminium-ion systems. Aluminium is an especially strong candidate since the theoretical energy density of its redox reaction is closer to lithium than any other metal in the periodic table. Despite this, Al metal is very reactive and reduction of Al3+ is both energetically difficult and air and moisture sensitive. Nevertheless, many prototype Al battery cells have been developed using chloroaluminate ionic liquids and analogues, the latter based on systems that originated in Leicester, but limited understanding of the detailed chemistry is holding these back. There are many efforts to understand aluminium ion speciation in non-aqueous electrolytes but there are many theoretical and practical challenges. Here we wish to exploit the selectivity and sensitivity of ESR spectroscopy to develop novel electrochemical ESR that will provide detailed information not only about the metal ion, but also about the microscopic environment (viscosity and conductivity) of the electrolyte.

This will be achieved by the use of functionalised spin-probe and spin-trap derivatives in ESR to elucidate features of both liquid micro rheology as well as the structure and reactivity of the Al3+ ion. Additionally, in-situ Raman microscopy in collaboration with a group in Madrid. NMR-based imaging (MRI) studies will also be targeted at understanding the behaviour of metal-ion concentration gradients of cells in operando. These structural insights will be translated into prototype coin cell design, fabrication and electrochemical testing to improve performance and life-cycle of current Al-based rechargeable cells. In a more speculative aim, we also plan to extend these studies to incorporate the speciation and properties of aluminium species in aqueous systems which very recently have become the targe of a Faraday Institution funding initiative.

Project enquiries please email Prof Karl Ryder k.s.ryder@le.ac.uk

Application enquiries to Dr Richard Doveston r.g.doveston@leicester.ac.uk(Postgraduate Admissions tutor for the School of Chemistry)

To apply please refer to the application advice and use the application link at https://le.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/funded-opportunities/chemistry-gta

Start 21 September 2026

Funding Notes

GTA Studentships provide funding for 4 years to include:

• Tuition fees at UK rates
• A combined teaching and stipend payment (for 2026/7 this will be £21,805 per year, paid in monthly instalments)
• Research training support grant (RTSG)