Research Supervisor Connect
Our group combines chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering to solve important problems, ranging from exploring lightning and the chemical origin of life, to developing electrified chemical processes and mitigating climate change.
We work on plasma (air gap)-electrochemical synthesis, magneto-electrochemistry, and zero-carbon polymers as three innovations for a lower carbon future.
Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer produced by the Haber-Bosch process provides food security for half of the global population (4 billion people) today. However, this industrial process accounts for 1.4% of global CO₂ emissions, 1-2% of the world’s total energy consumption, and nearly 40% of world’s hydrogen fuels every year. Using renewably generated plasmas to drive radical reactions at reactive interfaces, our group designs green and scalable methods to electrify chemical synthesis and simplify synthetic routes that are otherwise energy intensive or pollutive. Inorganic chemistry projects include making nitrogen fertilizers, fuels, and sanitation products from air and water. Organic chemistry projects include plasma driven cross-coupling reactions, aromatic functionalization, and olefin oxidation reactions.
This multidisciplinary project spanning plasma chemistry, electrolyte design, and device engineering aims to pioneer green chemical solutions to climate challenges on land and in the atmosphere. It targets demonstrations of electrified chemical production with a minimal carbon footprint using breakthrough plasma methods. This project expects to discover a new class of electrochemistry using plasma (high voltages) for green and efficient synthesis. Expected outcomes include using plasma catalysis for nitrogen fixation, conversion of greenhouse gases into useful organics, and strategies for stratospheric ozone recovery. The project will benefit Australia and the world by enabling sustainable production, particularly for the high emitting chemical industry.
For both PhD and MPhil. Associates with scholarship opportunities.
Requirements:
- a major in Chemistry / Physics / Materials Science / Chemical Engineering or a related field
- a 4-year undergraduate degree (awarded First Class Honours or equivalent), or a Masters Degree (research-focused)
- prior research experience (with at least 1 high-quality publication, preferably first-author)
- excellent communication skills in English (e.g., IELTS >6.5 across all sections; or TOFEL >90 overall, with >22 across all section)
- an overall GPA of above 3.3/4.0 (or >83%, top 15% in your class)
- from one of the top 200 (preferably top 100) universities worldwide
Interested applicants can forward their CVs to joy.jiang@sydney.edu.au
Project Keywords:
Electrochemistry, electrocatalysis, organic synthesis, physical chemistry, environmental science, analytical chemistry, atmospheric radical reactions, climate change, CO2 reduction, nitrogen fixation, plasma chemistry, plasma physics, green chemistry, electrification, electrical discharge, sustainability, applied chemistry, renewable energy, electrolyze, ionic liquids, nanotechnology, nanomaterials, materials science, chemical engineering.
The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is 3575