Japan in the summer…

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Faul Research Group - Functional Polymers

Charl is currently in Japan, visiting Prof Kazuo Akagi (in Kyoto, and former PhD supervisor of Kazu in the FRG) to discuss future Bristol-Kyoto interactions. The visit so far has been very productive, including meeting Dr Reiko Oda (from Bordeaux), who gave a fascinating talk on chirality in amphiphilic systems.

The day of interactions was celebrated … with Japanese green-tea-containing beer, whilst learning about the famous Kyoto Gion Festival.

Charl will still be visiting Prof Fumio Sanda (Kansai University) and Prof Tsuyoshi Kawai (Nara Institute of Science and Technology) before returning the Bristol at the end of the week.

Heliotropic Sun-Tracking Cornish Mallow…

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Faul Research Group - Functional Polymers

The inspiration of Dicker’s research project, sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust, is the sun-tracking movements of the Cornish Mallow.

Dicker, a joint PhD student with Prof Paul Weaver and colleagues from ACCIS, recently posted this Youtube time-lapse video of his prized Cornish Mallow’s laboratory activity!

Professor Charl F. J. Faul

Posted on July 4, 2015 by Liam MacFarlane

Congratulations Prof. Charl on your recent promotion to full professor at the Department of Chemistry, University of Bristol!

Charl started at the University of Bristol in 2005 as a lecturer and reader in materials chemistry. Thanks to all of his hard work and the work of group members, past and present, his recent application for full professorship has been successful!

ICMAT2015 in Singapore

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Faul Research Group - Functional Polymers

Charl is currently in Singapore at the ICMAT2015 meeting. Great meeting, with the chance to see presentations from Nicola Pinna (now in Berlin, former colleague from the MPI in Golm), Uwe Bunz (Heidelberg), Stefan Kaskel (Dresden), Dorota Koziej (ETH Zurich, working with former MPI colleague Markus Niederberger), and former FRG member, Tierui Zhang (Beijing).

Paper accepted – Small!

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Faul Research Group - Functional Polymers

A paper by (Dr) Ben Brown, entitled “Reversible Conductive-AFM Patterning of Organic Semiconductors” was accepted by Small! The study outlines a conductive-AFM redox-writing (cAROW) technique, and show that it is possible to locally, and reversibly, pattern conducting and non-conducting features on the surface of oligo(aniline)s.

This project was done in close collaboration with Dr Loren Picco and Prof Mervyn Miles FRS, from the Nanophysics and Soft Matter group in School of Physics. It is obvious from the image that Ben (now working for GE in Bristol) was sponsored by the BCFN!

“Working” in Grenoble!

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Faul Research Group - Functional Polymers

Esther and Ben are at the ESRF in Grenoble, doing some scattering experiments with former FRG member Dr Tom Dane (from beam line ID13), and long-standing collaborator and friend Dr Patrice Rannou.

Here an (almost) action shot at the beam line taken by Ben, with Tom, Esther, Patrice and Meera (postdoc in Patrice’s group).

A Visit From Rico Tabor

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Faul Research Group - Functional Polymers

Rico, a graduate from Bristol, returned to the chemistry lecture theatres to give a lecture rather than receive one! His talk on functional, fluorinated and unconventional surfactants highlighted his group‘s current research at the School of Chemistry, Monash University, Australia.

It was fantastic to have a great academic visit the department and interact with the group!

Graphene Oxide Template Paper Published!

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Faul Research Group - Functional Polymers

Congratulations to Alex and Becky from the Faul and Hall groups respectively for getting their joint work on graphene oxide templates published in CrystEngComm!

The paper (here) describes the first use of sacrificial graphene oxide templates for structural direction of yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) superconductors.