PhD position in Combining carbon capture and utilisation processes with dual functional porous materials at University of Bath

Rising CO₂ levels are one of the main contributors to climate breakdown. Capturing CO₂with solid materials (adsorption) is a powerful sustainable technology that has the potential to reduce global CO₂ levels. Currently, many consider it too costly, due to the energy intensive desorption step, and the need to store the captured CO₂. However, there are many opportunities to use captured CO₂ as a reagent, converting it into more useful products (utilisation). Specifically, combining captured CO₂, and sustainably sourced hydrogen opens a wide range of sustainable product pathways to form methanol, carbon monoxide, and formic acid. This is presently a challenging process, due to the very inert nature of CO₂, which requires a significant amount of energy to convert it.

In this work you will investigate and create new bifunctional materials that contain both complementary carbon capture and utilisation sites. This removes the need for costly desorption steps, whilst providing low-energy CO₂ activation, drastically lowering the costs of carbon abatement technology. This multidisciplinary project will include:

Creating new materials – practical synthesis of new systems with both carbon capture and utilisation capabilities.

Understanding behaviour – performing cutting edge spectroscopy measurements under actual carbon capture and utilisation methods, involving experimental opportunities to work at world-leading x-ray and neutron synchrotron sources.

Real world applications – relating changes in material behaviour and synthesis to the materials ability to capture and transform CO₂.

This 3.5-year PhD project, funded by the University of Bath, will be directly supervised by Dr Matthew Potter, and is primarily based at the University of Bath. Dr Potter is an expert in porous material synthesis, CO₂ capture, and solid-state catalysis. Prof Andrew Burrows will be the second supervisor, who has significant experience in designing porous materials for acid gas adsorption.

For more information and to apply visit https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/combining-carbon-capture-and-utilisation-processes-with-dual-functional-porous-materials/?p175720