Environmentally Sustainable Optoelectronics for 21st Century Applications

该奖学金旨在挑战贵金属在光激活分子和材料中的使用现状。我们将开发一系列新的光活性化合物，这些化合物包含地球上丰富的第一行过渡金属，并探索它们在广泛应用中的用途，如生物发光，能量上转换和生物成像。我们的总体目标是开发一个化学工具箱，用可持续的地球丰富的类似物取代昂贵和稀有的贵金属基化合物。我们最近对发光铬基体系的研究显示，在环境条件下具有非常有利的发光性能（DOI：10.1039/D2CC01434C），为生物成像和能量上转换等一系列应用开辟道路。学生将加入由物理化学专家领导的充满活力和多样化的研究团队（理查兹）、合成无机（光）化学（波普）和生物科学（威廉姆斯）。他们将接受配体和络合物的化学合成程序（包括处理空气敏感材料）的全面培训，并获得先进表征和最先进光谱技术（包括EPR和光谱物理学）以及相关应用的专业知识。

This studentship seeks to challenge the status quo regarding the use of precious metals in light-activated molecules and materials. We will develop a series of new photoactive compounds that incorporate earth-abundant 1st-row transition metals and explore their utility in a broad range of applications, such as photocatalysis, energy upconversion and bioimaging. Our overall aim is to develop a chemical toolbox to replace expensive and rare precious-metal based compounds with sustainable earth-abundant analogues.Our recent work on luminescent chromium-based systems, shows highly advantageous luminescence properties under ambient conditions (DOI: 10.1039/D2CC01434C), opening pathways to a range of applications including bioimaging and energy upconversion.The student will join a vibrant and diverse research team led by experts in physical chemistry (Richards), synthetic inorganic (photo)chemistry (Pope) and the biosciences (Williams). They will be fully trained in chemical synthesis procedures (including handling of air-sensitive materials) for ligands and complexes, and gain specialist knowledge in advanced characterisation and state of the art spectroscopic techniques including EPR and photophysics, as well as relevant applications.