Emily McNulty
- Email: ed11emm@leeds.ac.uk
- Thesis title: Characterisation of silicon oxide coatings using varying hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) and oxygen (O2) ratios.
- Supervisor: Dr Liuquan Yang
Profile
I graduated from the University of Leeds in 2016, having studied Chemistry with a year in industry. I joined the Institute of Functional Surfaces in 2016 as part of the Centre for Doctoral training in integrated Tribology (iT-CDT).
Research interests
My reasearch interests focus on the characterisaion of silcon oxide (SiOx) coatings. SiOx coatings are deposited using microwave driven plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) in an industrial sized chamber. The coating is deposited from hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) with a working gas mixture of Ar and O2. The flow rate of O2 is varied to produce coatings with differing stoichiometries and thicknesses. I am primarily using SEM/EDX, XPS and XRD techniques to understand how differing the O2 flow rate and thicknesses of the coatings affects the surface chemistry.
SiOx coatings are widely used due to their optical, insulating and corrosion properties. I am currently using electochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to study the corrosion properties of the coatings. The aim is to understand how the corrosion resistance varies with time, differing stoichiometries and varying thicknesses.
Qualifications
- MChem, BSc (Hons) Chemistry with a Year in Industry
Research groups and institutes
- Institute of Functional Surfaces