PhD Studentship in New Approaches for Studying the Structure of High-Temperature Molten Materials

Transition (Oct 2025 start)
Host institution: University of Nottingham
Supervisor 1: Emma Barney
Supervisor 2: Oliver Alderman (ISIS Neutron and Muon Spallation Source)

Project description:

Understanding the structure and properties of high-temperature molten materials is of key importance in a diverse range of applications including optical glass manufacture, nuclear waste storage, green platforms for growth of functional materials, fuel cell hermetic seals, electrolytes, carbon capture solvents and thermal energy storage media. It is also vital for understanding natural magmatic processes on earth & other planetary bodies.
Neutron diffraction is a powerful technique for studying the structure of these materials, but the current technology to allow measurements to be made on liquids at the high temperatures (> 500 ℃) required is inadequate. Current experimental setups are limited to lower temperatures and to containers that present significant problems for data reduction and analysis. This PhD project, which will be primarily based at the ISIS Neutron Spallation Source in Oxfordshire, will address this by designing and developing experimental equipment suitable for containing the liquids at the temperatures needed and developing the analysis techniques needed to interpret the data.

In addition to technique development, the studentship will study a range of technologically relevant high temperature liquids to provide new insights into the structure changes they undergo with temperature. Initial studies will focus on simple network glass formers to understand the changes in bonding that occurs on cooling from a liquid to a solid. Improved understanding of melt structure will have a major impact on understanding viscous flow in materials such as germanates and geologically relevant silicate melts. Borosilicate melts, used in an array of applications from solid-oxide fuel cell seals to display glasses, and high-T molten salts, used in the nuclear industry as coolants & for pyro-processing of spent fuels, will also be studied.

The PhD is co-funded by STFC and the student will work in close collaboration with Nottingham and ISIS researchers. 50% their time will be spent at ISIS, Rutherford Appleton Laboratories, Oxfordshire, working at a world leading neutron spallation source to perform relevant neutron experiments and develop code for use by a global community of materials researchers. For the remaining 50% of their time, they will be based at the University of Nottingham working in the Engineering Faculty with researchers to make and characterise glasses, carryout structural measurements, and apply the new code to develop insights into the structure of mid-infrared and bio-engineering glasses. As such this is an exciting opportunity to develop a mix of programming and practical lab skills and be involved from end-to-end in the development and application of new, much-needed, additions to a popular structural modelling technique.

The PhD position is available from 1st October 2025 and is funded for 3.5 years. The funding is for UK/eligible for home fees students only. This project will include the payment of tuition fees as well as a stipend equivalent to RCUK rates (currently at £19,628 p.a. tax free for 2025/26). Applications with a CV, a brief statement of your research interests, and the names and email addresses of two referees should be sent to Dr Emma Barney, email: emma.barney@nottingham.ac.uk (via the ‘Apply’ button above).

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