I graduated from the University of York with a MPhys which has brought me to warwick where I am now persuing a PhD in solid state NMR.

Project Title

Multinuclear MAS and Zero-Field (Internal Field) 59Co Solid State NMR Studies of Fischer-Tropsch Catalyst Systems.

Project Description

Of the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) catalysts Co is critically important to industrial applications; these include the production of clean fuels, hydrogenation, hydroformylation and synthesis of carbon nanotubes. Co offers the best compromise between: cost, high CO conversion per single pass and stability. But the formation and precipitation of Co nanoparticles from well-established inorganic precursors is not thoroughly understood. Zero-field (internal field) 59Co NMR has been shown to be an excellent characterisation method, capable of detecting the smallest Co particles regardless of intrinsic crystallinity. It would allow the nanoparticle size, the ratio of the two crystal phases and the disordered intermediate regions to be controlled. But due to the ferromagnetic nature of 59Co nanoparticles the development of ultra-broadbanded probes will be needed to measure the internal field spectra which can span 1-3MHz. The current project will characterise Co containing precursors using 1H, 13C, 15N and 59Co solid state NMR techniques to observe the changing Co(III) and N environments in these evolving organometallic systems. It will then look at specific structure-function relationships; which will include catalysts activation and deactivation following specific time courses of sample usage. This includes observing structural variation and composition change. Finally, time permitting the feasibility of similar zero-field measurements on Fe or Ni containing systems will be investigated.

Conferences

Johnson Matthey Academic Conference (Loughborough University, UK) April 2015......................Poster Presented
CASTEP Workshop (University of Oxford, UK) Aug 2014..............................................................Poster Presented
BRSG (University of Nottingham, UK) July 2014
NMRDG (University of Nottingham, UK) June 2014
iMR CDT (University of Dundee, UK) Apr 2014
Johnson Matthey Academic Conference (Loughborough University, UK) April 2014......................Poster Presented
850 MHz Solid-state NMR Facility Annual Symposium (University of Warwick, UK) Apr 2014
BRSG Xmas Meeting (IOP London, UK) Dec 2013
iMR CDT (University of Warwick, UK) Dec 2013
Bruker NMR Users' Meeting (Bruker Coventry, UK) Nov 2013