UKIERI/SPARC India&UK Online Workshop

Posted on July 1, 2020 by Faul Research Group

Various members of the FRG joined an online workshop today. The focus was on “2D and Nanostructured phenomenon, materials and devices”, with speakers from both India and the UK (including Charl!).

It was a great opportunity to connect to colleagues from the IIT Delhi, including Professor V. Ram Gopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi, Professor Neil Robertson, School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, amongst other.

Thank you to UKIERI and SPARC programmes for funding our collaborative research with Professors Patra, Mishra and Manners, and for hosting this online event!

Paper with collaborators from UCL now published in AFM!

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Faul Research Group

A paper, with contributions from Pan and Charl, with collaborators at UCL (Schroeder group), has now appeared in Advanced Functional Materials!

The work, led by Bob Schroeder, and first author Zilu Liu, describes how the thermoelectric properties of coordination polymers can be controlled by ligand design. The synthesis of three different organic ligands and their incorporation into organometallic coordination polymers with distinct thermoelectric properties is presented. Notably, it was demonstrated, for the first time, that the n- or p-type thermoelectric character of the OMCP materials can be tuned via organic ligand modifications.

Well done to all involved!

Back in the labs!

Posted on June 9, 2020 by Faul Research Group

It is with great excitement that the first team (of three) started to do lab work again today! It was a long break, but we are all very excited to go back – and grateful for the fantastic job done by the University of Bristol’s Estate Services, and Prof Paul Pringle and his safety team in the School of Chemistry, to ensure a safe return for all!

The lab was cleaned and decluttered on Friday and yesterday – it has not been this neat, tidy and clean since we moved in! A big thank you to everyone who contributed to make this new way of working (with socially distanced working, seating arrangements and one-way system, amongst many new procedures!) possible.

Charl speaking in Shanghai!

Posted on May 31, 2020 by Faul Research Group

Charl was invited to speak at the “Frontiers in Advanced Materials” meeting organised by the Shanghai Universities League Forum (SULF) 2020. This meeting was hosted by long-standing collaborators Prof Meifang Zhu and Prof Yaozu Liao at Donghua.

Exciting morning (in the UK!) of talks by colleagues from across the globe, including good friend Arne Thomas (TU Berlin) and Jiayin Yuan (Stockholm).

A phased return to the labs!

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Faul Research Group

We are now engaging in the process of planning a slow and safe phased return to our laboratories! A number of discussions about detailed practical considerations have already taken place – Zoom is being used very heavily!

More from us soon … hopefully from the lab!

Kamran’s paper accepted!

Posted on May 27, 2020 by Faul Research Group

A paper by our collaborators at the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology in Beijing (Prof Zhixiang Wei and his group, with contributions from Charl) was just accepted. The lead author is Kamran, who visited last year and October (and still attends some group meetings and social events, virtually!)!

The paper, in the RSC’s Sustainable Energy & Fuels, discusses the use of a coaxial nanocomposite of an active anthraquinone-based Covalent Organic Framework (AQ-COF) and carbon nanotubes for Lithium Ion Battery applications. AQ-COF was grown on the surface of carbon nanotubes (AQ-COF@CNTs) through an in-situ polymerization to improve the conductivity and to facilitate the electrochemical properties. Please read here for further details! Congratulations to Kamran and the other authors!

Luke’s paper appeared online!

Posted on February 10, 2020 by Faul Research Group

A paper on switchable azobenzene-based liquid crystals by Luke, who visited in July 2019, and supervised by collaborator Rico Tabor (and co-supervised by Charl!), just appeared online in the RSC’s PCCP.

The study, entitled “Structural relationships for the design of responsive azobenzene-based lyotropic liquid crystals” explored light-responsive binary (azobenzene + solvent) lyotropic liquid crystals (LCs), and investigated their phase behaviour by structural modification of simple azobenzene molecules. A range of scattering and microscopy techniques were employed to explore the influence of structure and light-switchable nature on phase behaviour in these very interesting systems. Well done to Luke and all collaborators!