Author Archives: Faul Research Group - Functional Polymers

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About Faul Research Group - Functional Polymers

This is the official website for the Faul Research Group, based in the School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charl-fj-faul-付强/

UK-China PhD Placement programme opportunities

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Are you interested in spending time in Bristol? Currently there is a call open, which provides an opportunity to Chinese nationals who are currently enrolled as PhD students at higher education institutions or research institutions in China, to spend up to 12 months in the UK.

img_2615The focus is on research areas that reflect the common interests and demands of both countries, including research related to energy. The UK-China Joint Research and Innovation Partnership Fund (known in the UK as the Newton Fund) PhD placement programme is delivered by the British Council China and the China Scholarship Council

Please contact Prof. Faul if you are interested in applying.  Please note – placements must start between January and December 2017.

Wei going back to China

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Wei_GroupphotoIt was with a heavy heart that we all said goodbye to Wei, as she headed back to Xi’an after a year in the FRG. It was great to have her around as a visitor from the Xi’an Jiaotong University. We said goodbye in the traditional fashion – with pizza, and lovely cakes (made by Maha)!

IMG_5602We look forward to catch up with Wei – in Xi’an as we continue to collaborate, or hopefully back here in Bristol!

 

Paper in Macromolecules!

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Yaozu, who is now back in China at Donghua University, and Ben and Zack (with our collaborator Jens Weber, in Germany) just had a paper accepted for publication in Macromolecules.

CMP1This study focused on the use of conjugated microporous polymer networks (prepared using Buchwald-Hartwig cross-coupling reactions with hexaphenylbenzene-based matierlas) for gas uptake. Very impressively, these systems can take more than 300 weight % of iodine up!  Porosities and uptake capacities can also be tuned by changing the redox state of these materials!  Well done to all!

Tom’s paper in PCCP!

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A paper by Tom, another former FRG member and joint PhD student with long-standing collaborator Dr Wuge Briscoe, on the influence of solvent polarity on the structure of TANI-surfactant thin films has been accepted for publication by Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics!

TomPCCPTom, who just finished a post-doc at the ESRF in Grenoble, investigated the influence of processing solvents on supramolecular structure formation using grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXS).  Well done to all those who contributed, including Alex and Ben from the FRG!

Balloons in Bristol!

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It was time again for the annual Bristol Balloon Fiesta, Europe’s largest balloon festival! It was a spectacular weekend of beautiful balloons and a festive atmosphere in Bristol!  Several of the FRG group members joined in the fun – here some photos from them!IMG_6272IMG_6256Please also see “The Guardian” newspaper’s photos here!

Geri’s paper accepted in Langmuir!

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Geri, a former PhD student in the FRG, and now doing a post-doc at MANA, part of the National Institute of Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan, published the last paper from her PhD work in Langmuir. This output was a collaborative effort with Ian Hamley from Reading, and her second supervisor Guy Lloyd-Jones, now at Edinburgh.

ChiralPDIsIonic self-assembled complexes of chiral perylene tectons were prepared and characterised in detail. See the just-accepted paper here!  Well done Geri!

Short- and long-term visitors in the group

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We have had a number of visitors to the group. Firstly we have May, who won a Nuffield Foundation Research Placement Scholarship, and will be spending 4 weeks in the group, exploring novel dye-surfactant supramolecular complexes.

thumb_IMG_9984_1024Rui Yao, a 6-month visitor from Nanjing, where he is doing his PhD, arrived last week.

And finally, we have Jack Underhill, who has visited the group twice before, working alongside May on dye-surfactant supramolecular complexes.

Welcome!

Maha and Charl at ICSM 2016 in Guangzhou

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Maha and Charl are attending the well-known International Conference on Synthetic Metals, the longest-running conference series in the field of conducting and semiconducting organic materials.  This year the conference is held in Guangzhou, China, which is very humid and hot this time of the year!

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Maha is presenting a poster, and Charl gave a talk on Monday (and chaired the afternoon session).  More updates to follow soon!