School of Chemistry Honours Projects
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1 2021 HONOURS PROJECTS School of Chemistry 5 CONTENTS Members of the School are active across all the traditional and emerging areas of modern chemical research. They are clustered around three multidisciplinary themes: functional energy materials; self-assembled nanomaterials; and molecular innovations in health. Functional energy materials 7 Dr Hamid Arandiyan 31 Dr William Jorgensen 8 Associate Professor 32 Professor Michael Kassiou Deanna D’Alessandro 33 Dr Yu Heng Lau Professor 9 Associate Professor 34 Peter Lay Meredith Jordan 35 Dr Xuyu Liu 10 Dr Ivan Kassal 36 11 Professor Brendan Kennedy Associate Professor Chris McErlean 12 Professor Cameron Kepert 37 Associate Professor Alice Motion 13 Professor Chris Ling 38 Associate Professor Liz New 14 Dr Lauren Macreadie 39 Professor Richard Payne 15 Professor Thomas Maschmeyer 40 Professor Lou Rendina 16 Associate Professor Tony Masters Professor Peter Rutledge 17 Associate Professor Siggi Schmid 41 Self-assembled nanomaterials 42 Dr Mark White 18 Professor Phil Gale 43 Dr Shelley Wickham 19 Dr Toby Hudson Computational and theoretical, 20 Dr Girish Lakhwani soft matter, materials chemistry 21 Dr Markus Muellner 45 Professor Peter Harrowell 22 Associate Professor Chiara Neto 46 Professor Stephen Hyde 23 Dr Derrick Roberts 47 Professor Peter Gill 24 Professor Greg Warr Chemical Education 25 Dr Asaph Widmer-Cooper 49 Dr Stephen George-Williams Molecular innovations in health 50 Dr Reyne Pullen 27 Dr Samuel Banister 51 Associate Professor Siggi Schmid 28 Associate Professor Ron Clarke 52 Dr Shane Wilkinson 29 Dr Jonathan Danon 53 Associate Professor Alice Motion 30 Professor Kate Jolliffe 54 Professor Peter Rutledge 6 FUNCTIONAL ENERGY MATERIALS Research areas • Molecular/ionic transport through solids • Large-scale energy storage and conversion • Batteries, fuel cells, selective molecular storage/separation/remediation • Metal-organic frameworks, ionic solids, polymers, ionic liquids Functional energy materials researchers: • Dr Hamid Arandiyan • Associate Professor Deanna D’Alessandro • Associate Professor Meredith Jordan • Dr Ivan Kassal • Professor Brendan Kennedy • Professor Cameron Kepert • Professor Chris Ling • Professor Thomas Maschmeyer • Associate Professor Tony Masters • Associate Professor Siggi Schmid 7 DR HAMID ARANDIYAN Room 201B T: +61 2 9114 2199 E: [email protected] W: https://sydney.edu.au/science/about/our- people/academic-staff/hamid-arandiyan.html My research focuses on the solutions performance. This project aims to Heterogeneous electrocatalysts that aid sustainability through investigate morphologic nanocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction: nano-materials design and catalytic which are low cost and show excellent Electrocatalytic water splitting, process development. One of the CO2 methanation efficiency. (See involving a cathodic hydrogen main objectives of our research Chem Comm 2018, 54, 6484; Adv. evolution reaction (HER) and an is to investigate rational synthetic Sustainable Syst. 2018, 2, 1700119; anodic oxygen evolution reaction strategies for nanocatalysts and to ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2018, (OER), is an established efficient explore the applications of these 10, 24963). Supervisor: Dr Hamid technology for hydrogen production. nanomaterials in the energy and Arandiyan. However, to make the electrolyser environmental sectors, such as practical both reactions require an pollutant degradation, effective Design of hierarchical nanoporous efficient catalyst to accelerate the energy usage, and emission control materials for energy-related reaction kinetics. It is particularly in the transportation and industry application: Ordered macro- and important to develop good anode applications. mesoporous materials, which arose in catalysts for OER since it generally the early 1990s, are rapidly developing requires high overpotentials that limit as an interdisciplinary research the energy-efficiency of the process. focus. This kind of material is not Turn “waste” into wealth: CO (See Nature Communications 2015, 2 only defined by a large and uniform methanation: The world is facing 6, 8253; Energy Environ. Sci. 2016, 9 porosity, high regularity of nanopores significant challenges, including (1), 176-183). Supervisor: Dr Hamid and large surface area but it also the combination of a carbon-based Arandiyan enables a great deal of applications energy system with the reality of global warming. The hydrogenation by the possibilities of functional and morphological control enabled of CO2 waste gas to methane (closing a loop in carbon recycling) by diverse chemical compositions. provides an energy storage A hierarchical porous material solution for intermittent renewable combines two or more types of pore sources, which can be used as fuel sizes (macro-, meso- and micro-) or even as a renewable feedstock as functional units that can meet for bulk chemicals, thereby aiding different application requirements. sustainability. Although many efforts For example, in a gas phase catalytic have been made in relation to reaction, hierarchical catalysts could guarantee a good mass and catalytic CO2 methanation, effectively activating the thermodynamically flow transfer as well as avoid the pressure drop, and at the same time stable CO2 molecule continues to be an obstacle as it requires high provide a large surface area for better Please feel free to contact us to learn temperatures and is an energy- activity. Therefore, the investigation more about these and other projects intensive process. The impasse of different types of hierarchical availablle. always present regarding catalysts for nanoporous materials for energy- energy conversion reactions is that related applications is highly promising. noble metals with promising activity (See Nature Comm 2017, 8, 15553; are limited by their high price and Nano Energy 2016, 27, 515; ACS Catal. scarcity, whereas base metals with 2016, 6, 6935). Supervisor: Dr Hamid a lower price show more moderate Arandiyan 8 A/PROF DEANNA D’ALESSANDRO Room 457 T: +61 2 9351 3777 E: [email protected] W:https://www.sydney.edu.au/science/about/our -people/academic-staff/deanna-dalessandro.html Our research spans the areas of inorganic Project 2 chemistry, physical chemistry and materials science Carbon Dioxide Capture and Conversion and focuses on the development of functional The development of more efficient processes for inorganic complexes and materials that exhibit carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and conversion is novel electronic, optical and magnetic phenomena. considered key to the reduction of greenhouse gas Applications of our work range from the capture of emissions implicated in global warming. This project greenhouse gases to address critical environmental is offered jointly with industry partners and will challenges, to sensors, optoelectronics devices and involve the synthesis of highly porous three- catalysis for carbon dioxide conversion to fuels.A dimensional solids known as MOFs for use in the key aspect is gaining an understanding of the direct capture of CO2 from air. A second aspect of fundamental relationships between the structural this project is to develop and understand features of the materials and their physical organometallic catalysts in order to prepare the properties. building blocks for fine- and commodity chemicals, pharmaceuticals and fuels (i.e. methanol) from CO2. Project 1 This project may be offered jointly with Dr Indrek Conducting Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) Pernik. Supervisors: Deanna D’Alessandro, Indrek The realisation of electronically conducting Pernik microporous materials is one of the most highly sought after (yet poorly developed) goals in the field. This project will involve the design and synthesis of MOFs which exhibit stable radical states that can be generated using chemical, electrical or light as a stimulus. Solid-state electrochemistry and novel in situ Project 3 spectroelectrochemical techniques developed in Photo- and Electroswitchable MOFs our laboratory, in addition to conductivity Recently, methodologies for the postsynthetic measurements will be employed to investigate the covalent functionalisation of MOFs have opened up electronic and conductivity properties. The fascinating prospects for building complexity into the opportunities for advances at a fundamental and pores. This project will involve the synthesis of applied level are immense, with potential materials as “photo- and electroswitchable applications ranging from new battery materials, to molecular sieves” in which light can be used to lightweight sensors, and materials for energy- modulate the size and electrostatic properties of the efficient gas separations using electrical swing Thisporesproject. will also make adsorption. Supervisors: Deanna D’Alessandro, initial steps towards the Cameron Kepert integration of switchable frameworks into membranes for industrial e- scale processes. Supervisor: Deanna D’Alessandro Please feel free to contact me to learn more about these and other projects available. 9 ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MEREDITH JORDAN Room 544 T: +61 2 9351 4420 E: [email protected] W: https://sydney.edu.au/science/about/our- people/academic-staff/meredith-jordan.html We use theoretical and computational 3. We have recently shown Projects are available in (i) further methods to examine the interactions photochemically-induced method development: working towards within and between molecules in order keto-enol isomerization of new, accurate quantum methods to understand