PhD Studentship - Development of Novel Nanomaterials for Electrochemical Hydrogen Production

Cutting edge research to reduce emissions

The production of hydrogen by electrolysis offers an extremely promising route to help eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. These electrolysers use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. However, commercial electrolysers utilise expensive and rare precious metal catalysts such as iridium. During this 3-year PhD we will synthesise and characterise nanostructured cost-effective catalysts for electrolysers. Specifically, we will develop unique catalyst materials with novel compositions, structures and stoichiometries. Throughout the project, you will have the opportunity to develop new synthetic methods, conduct electrochemical tests, and explore several different material characterisation techniques (e.g., X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, etc). 

The project will be jointly supervised by Dr Laurie King and Dr Yagya Regmi. This new project will be highly collaborative and interactive, and so you will have the opportunity to learn these techniques from our highly supportive and skilled research group at the Manchester Fuel Cell Innovation Centre. Our research group is housed within the state-of-the-art £117M Dalton building facilities at Manchester Met. The project will also provide you with many opportunities to work alongside our industrial and academic project partners (University of Manchester and University College London).

Project aims and objectives

The primarily objective of the project is to design and characterise highly active catalysts for water electrolyser technologies. Specifically, we will investigate strategies to develop catalysts with reduced iridium content compared to state-of-the-art industrial water electrolyser catalysts. This will require development of synthetic methods, including wet chemical methods, as well as employing a wide range of electrochemical and materials characterisation techniques to develop fundamental understanding of electrocatalyst performance. We will characterise the catalysts in both lab-scale (3-electrode, rotating disk electrode) as well as commercially relevant (2-electrode, membrane electrode assembly) configuration.

Further information

Interested applicants should contact Laurie King (l.king@mmu.ac.uk) for an informal discussion.

To apply you will need to complete the online application form for a full-time PhD in Physical Sciences (or download the PGR application form).

You should also complete the Narrative CV from addressing the project’s aims and objectives, demonstrating how the skills you have maps to the area of research and why you see this area as being of importance and interest. 

If applying online, you will need to upload your statement in the supporting documents section, or email the application form and statement to PGRAdmissions@mmu.ac.uk.

Expected start date: October 2025

Please quote the reference: SciEng-LK-2024-25-hydrogen

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