Dynamic Pressurisation for Time-resolved Characterisations

Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

About the Project

The PhD project aims to develop dynamic pressurisation techniques for real-time crystallography and spectroscopy studies of samples in a liquid environment. It will be used for in-house macroscopic measurements and integrated into multiple national central facilities, including the Central Laser Facility (CLF), the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (ISIS), and the Diamond Light Source (Diamond). All three facilities are based at the Harwell campus in Oxfordshire, providing you with a second home for co-supervision and exchange visits, as well as easier access to facilities, training resources, and relevant scientific communities. It is a rare opportunity for you to lead a project by working with multiple world-leading central facilities.

The developed technique will be used to investigate water transport within the confinement of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2025) as a case study, based on our pioneering work on shock absorption in hydrophobic cavities1. MOFs can offer tiny hydrophobic pores comparable in size to water molecules; squeezing liquid water into these nanopores can create large solid-liquid interfaces and dissipate substantial mechanical energy2. Enabling such experiments at central facilities is critical to gaining a fundamental understanding of molecular processes in real time.

You will benefit from comprehensive intellectual support across different disciplines for this highly interdisciplinary and collaborative project. In addition to the lead supervisor at Birmingham, Dr Yueting Sun, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow (FLF), with local support from colleague Dr Mingchao Liu, you will also receive strong co-supervision on fundamentals and instrumental science at Harwell, from Prof Paul Donaldson (FLF) at CLF-Ultra in time-resolved spectroscopy3, Dr Ivan da Silva at ISIS-GEM in diffraction and crystallography4, and Dr Dominik Daisenberger at Diamond-I15 in high-pressure techniques5.

With unique provision of training and resources, including on the state-of-the-art X-ray, neutron, and laser sources, it will be a fantastic journey for you to build a future career at the interface between engineering and fundamental science. You will develop an interdisciplinary skill profile and create capabilities that did not previously exist to help multiple research fields and world-leading national facilities and their user communities.

You will also benefit from fantastic local communities in both Birmingham and Harwell. We have built strong academic partnerships on research into pressurised water in MOFs between Engineering and Chemistry, and the local community in porous materials at Birmingham. The University of Birmingham is a top-100 world-leading university, and we are committed to promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and offering a supportive environment for people to thrive.

Applicants should have a 2:1 or 1st class in their first degree. Those wishing to apply should email Dr Yueting Sun with a CV as soon as possible. You are expected to start in September, but some flexibility is possible.

Funding Notes

Home student fees and stipend at UKRI minimum rate, plus £1000 per year travel and training budget. In addition, you will be supported by the group to develop your technical and professional skills in a variety of areas, as well as research identity and network, by attending schools, workshops, or formal courses in areas identified in development reviews.

References

Sun, Y.T. et al. High-rate nanofluidic energy absorption in porous zeolitic frameworks. Nat Mater 20, 1015-1023 (2021).
Sun, Y. and Jiang, H., 2023. Energy Absorption of Metal-Organic Frameworks. in Mechanical Behaviour of Metal-Organic Framework Materials, Royal Society of Chemistry, pp.267-338.
Hawkins, A.P. et al. Laser induced temperature-jump time resolved IR spectroscopy of zeolites. Chem. Sci. 15, 3453-3465 (2024).
Chai, Y. et al. Control of zeolite pore interior for chemoselective alkyne/olefin separations. Science 368, 1002-1006 (2020).
Myatt, E. et al. Ligand solid-solution tuning of magnetic and mechanical properties of the van der Waals metal–organic magnet NiCl2(btd)1−x(bod)x. Chem Commun 60, 14427-14430 (2024).

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