PhD Research Project: Enabling manufacturing of Functional Nanomaterials using SynBio

Start date: October 2017

This PhD project will focus on developing and understanding the chemistry of the “green” synthetic biology (SynBio) methods of making both magnetite and silica in order to develop industry-ready nanomaterials. You will be working across chemistry and chemical engineering disciplines (in Sheffield) and with our modelling collaborators in Edinburgh to improve the synthetic process, leading to an eco-friendly scalable SynBio approach to making nanomaterials.

Nanomaterial industry is worth a multi-billion pounds but current nanomaterials production methods are at least 1000 times more wasteful when compared to the production of bulk and fine chemicals. Consequently there is an urgent need to develop green production methods for nanomaterials which can allow greater control over materials properties, yet require less energy, produce less waste (i.e. eco-friendly) and are cost-effective.

We have developed a SynBio syntheses of complex nanomaterials using biological and bioinspired approaches such that they offer substantial reductions in time and energy usage, superior control over nanomaterials properties and reduced manufacturing carbon footprint, thus providing a significant cost benefit and competitive advantage. However, to date, only lab-scale production of these “green” nanomaterials has been possible due to a lack of understanding of the particle formation pathways including self-assembly process, aggregation and growth, and how they are affected by fluid dynamics and production scales.

The larger EPSRC project is a consortium of 3 universities and several companies that will combine this chemical synthesis with computational modelling and chemical engineering approaches to develop scaling up this process to enable future manufacture via a SynBio route.

This project is inherently multidisciplinary at the interface between inorganic chemistry, protein-chemistry, chemical engineering with insights into manufacture and computational modelling. You will receive training in many interdisciplinary techniques and transferable skills. You will contribute to lab meetings, outreach activities and the vibrant PhD communities across the University.

Please see this video for more details on the research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB-k8IUuDc0