Autonomous flow production of molecular materials

Description

Porous molecular materials—organic solids made from discrete molecules rather than extended frameworks—promise to deliver flexible solutions to pressing challenges: separation of challenging feedstocks, such as hydrogen isotopes; trapping of greenhouse gases; sensing of harmful pollutants; catalysis without precious metals. However, it is extremely rare for a molecular material to be translated out of the lab to real-world use. Their production suffers from poor reproducibility, reaction condition sensitivity, very limited optimisation studies, poor scalability, and unsustainable manufacture and discovery requiring large amounts of solvent, time, and energy. Our recent work has addressed this significant challenge via development of flow processes for enhanced control over the synthesis of relevant molecular species. For example, we have shown that a transfer to flow improves the yield selectivity, efficiency, and/or scalability of, e.g., organic cage synthesis,¹ macrocyclic molecular hinges,² porphyrins,³ crystalline porous salts,⁴ polystyrene decomposition,⁵ and molecular knots.⁶

One of our priorities has been to develop tools to reproducibly synthesise unique structures at scale. This studentship focuses on leveraging these techniques in two new areas: post-synthetic modification and crystallisation, demonstrating and delivering the functionality of the resultant functional materials in applications.

For example, we have recently shown that transferring crystallisation to flow can improve scalability and crystallinity for porous organic salts,⁴ and in recent results, have used flow to co-crystallise organic cages. In flow, reaction conditions (mixing temperature, flow rate, residence time) can be tuned to impact particle sizes and crystallinity. Thus, flow offers opportunities to systematically modify the properties of these materials, and to produce sufficient material for testing the impact of process & structure on gas sorption and separation behaviour. This studentship will build on these results, incorporating automated and digital techniques to develop workflows for discovery, optimisation, and scale of functional porous materials.

This project will be based in the group led by Prof Anna Slater (http://agslatergroup.com) in collaboration with Dr Samantha Chong (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/samantha-chong) and Dr Lauren McHugh ( drawing on skills and equipment in the wider teams, and benefiting from a network of academic and industrial collaborations. The project will also have access to unique facilities in the state-of-the-art Materials Innovation Factory (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/materials-innovation-factory).

We are looking for candidates with an enthusiasm for research, multidisciplinary collaboration and tackling challenging problems through teamwork. You do not need to have experience with flow chemistry; the successful candidate will be provided with comprehensive training. Experience in crystallisation of organic materials, integration of equipment, solution-phase and solid-state analysis, and use of digital techniques such as coding, data handling and visualisation, etc, would be an advantage.

Please ensure you include the project title and reference number CCPR152 when applying. 

Please review our guide on How to apply for a PhD | Postgraduate research | University of Liverpool carefully and complete the online postgraduate research application form to apply for this PhD project in Chemistry.