Key Information
- Duration: Full-time, 36 months
- Start dates & application deadlines:
- Starting January 2027 — Apply before Oct 2026
Overview
Research in Materials and Energy at Cardiff University has a vital role to play in providing solutions to important societal challenges, including the search for new and sustainable energy sources, tackling the climate crisis, and developing new materials for advanced medical and pharmaceutical applications. The School of Chemistry at Cardiff University has well-established research strengths in Materials Chemistry, encompassing both fundamental and applied aspects of research in this field, and with a vibrant cohort of post graduate research students conducting research projects within this group.
Key facts
- Current research in Materials Chemistry is based within three broad themes:
- developing and advancing new aspects of experimental techniques for investigating properties of materials
- applying a range of state-of-the-art experimental and computational methods to understand fundamental properties of materials
- designing new materials and processes for advanced materials applications
- Students studying post graduate research degrees in Materials Chemistry gain a wide range of skills, which typically include experience in a range of experimental methodologies for materials preparation and characterization, expertise in techniques (experimental and/or computational) for gaining detailed insights into fundamental properties of materials, and training in strategies to design new materials for specific targeted applications.
Programme Structure
Current research projects include:
- The development of a fundamental understanding of structural and dynamic properties of molecular solids (including solid inclusion compounds, incommensurate solids, hydrogen-bonded systems and disordered materials) and of crystallization processes of these materials.
- Quantifying the interactions between the components of ‘soft matter’ systems, to understand and control their structure and dynamics, with particular emphasis on self-assembling gels and foams, the protection of actives via conjugation.
- The development and application of new aspects of experimental techniques for elucidating properties of materials – topics of particular interest include advances in EPR and ENDOR spectroscopy in a range of novel areas, the development and application of new techniques for structure determination using powder X-ray diffraction data, and fundamental and applied aspects of the phenomenon of X-ray birefringence.
Admission Requirements
Academic requirements
GPA: Lower Second Class
English requirements
TOEFL iBT: 90
PTE Academic: 69
IELTS: 6.5
Other requirements
Applicants are required to have a BSc 2.2 or above, or equivalent, in Chemistry or in a related subject.