About the project
MXenes are a promising new family of nanomaterials. They have unique properties and show great promise in many applications fundamental to the net-zero transition (e.g. gas storage, energy storage). This project aims to develop environmentally-friendly, safe, and scalable methods to enable large-scale manufacture of MXenes to meet future industrial needs.
MXenes are a promising new family of nanomaterials composed of one or more transition metals (M), plus carbon or nitrogen (X), arranged in 2D sheets microns to tens of microns wide but only several atoms thick. They have unique properties including high metal-like conductivities and large specific surface areas, and show incredible promise in many applications fundamental to the transition to net-zero, in particular gas storage and electronic applications such as energy storage.
One of the number one research challenge for MXenes is to develop environmentally-friendly, safe, and scalable synthesis methods so they can be manufactured in quantity to meet future industrial needs. This project will look at exploring new ways of producing MXene – in particular the use of flow chemistry.
In flow chemistry, reagents are continuously flowed through a reactor where they are mixed, heated (or cooled) to give a continuous outflowing stream of product. Compared to batch reaction, flow methods are safer (with lower reactor volumes and reduced manual handling) and typically more efficient (with better heat transfer, increased productivity and easy automation). Flow processes are inherently scalable as quantities can be increased by simply running for longer periods, and/or increasing throughput by scaling out (“numbering-up”) without changing process chemistry.
The advantages of continuous flow over batch processing mean that it has recently seen widespread development and adoption for manufacture of high value organic materials and chemicals such as pharmaceuticals. Here we will exploit these advantages for MXene production.
In this project you will learn how to synthesise MXenes and characterise them (X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy etc). You will learn about flow chemistry, and how to design and fabricate new reactors (e.g. using 3D printing). There will be opportunities to work with an industrial partner (Vapourtec Ltd) specialising in flow chemistry equipment.
