Functional Materials and Molecular Assemblies

Facilities 

Research is supported by world-class facilities for research at the interface of materials science and chemistry, including:

• Laboratories housing a wide range of tools for preparative and analytical electrochemistry, biochemistry, and chemical synthesis, including a suite of NMR and mass spectrometers including a MALDI-ToF mass spectrometer
• Flow-Xl: a national facility for investigation of crystallisation in flow systems with online X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy analysis as well as a single crystal and powder X-ray diffractometer
• High-resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM)
• Research laboratories for crystallisation studies equipped with a wide range of analytical equipment including Raman microscopy, BET Surface Area Analysis, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
• Particle and polymer analysis by Asymmetric Flow Field Flow Fractionation (AF4), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), zeta potential and Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) as well as spectroscopic instrumentation (UV-vis; fluorescence)
• Extensive facilities for characterisation of liquid crystals, including microscopy, polarised Raman spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, 2D SAXS/WAXS, and a cleanroom for device fabrication and prototyping
• Monitoring and scale up facilities within the Institute of Process Research and Development to investigate and optimise the performance of our nano-catalysts in flow and batch reactor platforms in single and multiphase chemical reactions.
• Through membership of institutional multidisciplinary research centres (e.g. Astbury, Bragg), we also have access to a wide range of additional facilities, including bio-imaging, flow cytometry, cryo-TEM and biomolecular interactions facilities, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and powder diffraction measurements, variable temperature X-ray powder diffraction, a SQUID magnetometer, THz spectroscopy and a Scanning Probe Microscope facility.