PhD position in Aerosol Science
The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Aerosol Science is offering a number of fully-funded PhD studentships. Students will spend their first 7 months at the University of Bristol taking courses in aerosol science before moving on to their final university placement. Within this CDT, a placement on the topic "Modelling the plasma synthesis of graphene" is available at the Computational Modelling Group.
Plasma synthesis offers a potential route for the bulk synthesis of graphene. Advantages include avoiding the need for a catalyst (thus avoiding the use of rare-earth metals) and the ability to operate at atmospheric pressures (which reduces the cost and complexity of the process), both of which potentially make the process easier to scale up than other manufacturing routes. However, there remains a lack of understanding of how the process variables, such as temperature, affect the quality of the product. The choice of process conditions and reactants is critical to avoid undesirable defects in the carbon structure.
The purpose of this project is to develop a model to explain the processes controlling graphene plasma synthesis. During the project the student will:
- Extend existing Kinetic Monte Carlo models for the growth of carbonaceous nanomaterials to test different hypotheses to explain the observations made in graphene experiments.
- Estimate thermodynamic data and rate constants using Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations.
- Expand current understanding of the chemistry of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their role in the graphene, carbon nanotube and carbonaceous particles chemistry.