Incorporation of Co into synthetic Fe oxyhydroxide systems - Implications for Natural Systems

该项目由拉夫堡大学和自然历史博物馆的工作人员共同监督。它将集中在合成和表征氢氧化铁相，如针铁矿和氢氧化铁，以及钴在这些体系中的掺入。研究计划将考察pH、时间、钴起始剂、碱浓度和温度对所产生的一个或多个相的影响。此外，还将进行实时动态研究，以研究合成相随温度的转变路径。将使用内部设备(X射线衍射、红外光谱、拉曼光谱、热重分析和透射电子显微镜)以及同步加速器光谱和在钻石光源的光束线上的衍射来进行多技术方法来表征这些相及其相变。为了完成时间分辨的研究，学生将开发一个反应池，用于国立卫生研究院的X射线衍射实验室。这个学生是自然环境研究理事会(NERC)资助的财团资助的一部分；“CoG3：钴资源的地质学、几何学和地质微生物学，导致新的产品流”。钴已被NERC定义为一种电子技术元素，对技术先进和低碳社会至关重要。CoG3联盟的主要目标是了解钴的自然行为和生物地球化学，以便开发和应用新的生物处理战略，用于钴的提取、回收和目标产品的合成，采用综合的多研究所和多学科方法。该联盟是一个由科学家组成的跨学科小组，由8个学术机构组成，并得到采矿和选矿部门的工业伙伴以及钴开发研究所的支持。

This project is jointly supervised by staff at Loughborough University and the Natural History Museum. It will focus on synthesising and characterising iron oxyhydroxide phases, such as goethite and ferrihydrite, and the incorporation of Co into these systems. The programme of research will investigate the effects of pH, time, Co starting reagent, concentration of base and temperature on the phase or phases produced. Additionally, real-time dynamic studies will be carried out to investigate the transformation pathways of the synthesised phases with respect to temperature. A mutli-technique approach to characterization of these phases and their transformations will be carried out using in-house equipment (X-ray diffraction, IR Spectroscopy, Raman Spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric Analysis and Transmission Electron Microscopy) as well as synchrotron spectroscopy and diffraction on beamlines at Diamond Light Source. To complete the time resolved studies, a reaction cell will be developed by the student for use at the X-ray diffraction laboratories housed at the NHM.This studentship is part of a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded consortium grant; "CoG3: The geology, geometallurgy and geomicrobiology of cobalt resources leading to new product streams". Cobalt has been defined by NERC as an E-tech element that is essential for a technologically advanced and low carbon society. The principal aim of the CoG3 consortium is to understand the natural behaviour and biogeochemistry of cobalt in order to develop and apply novel bioprocessing strategies for cobalt extraction, recovery and the synthesis of targeted products using an integrated multi-institute and multidisciplinary approach. The consortium is a cross-discipline group of scientists, consisting of 8 academic institutes and supported by industrial partners from the mining and mineral processing sectors, and by the Cobalt Development Institute.