Schröder

[Competition-funded UoM-Peking dual award scheme; applicants are instructed to enter 'Dual award funding' in the application. Not all advertised projects will offer a place on the programme.] This PhD studentship sits within a dual-award collaboration between The University of Manchester and Peking University and focuses on the chemistry of porous metal-organic framework (MOF) materials for the capture and separation of reactive air pollutants. The project addresses a major environmental challenge: the selective removal of SO2 and NOx from polluted air and flue emissions using stable sorbents that can withstand corrosive gases. The research builds on recent breakthroughs from the project team, which has identified Cu-, Al- and Zn-based MOFs with exceptional performance for SO2 and NO2 capture. The student will investigate how these materials adsorb, bind, release and separate gases, with particular interest in low partial pressure conditions and narrow-pore, microporous frameworks. The project also includes study of phase behaviour and electronic structure, aiming to understand why certain MOF structures show such strong and selective gas uptake. The advertised topic offers an opportunity to work in an internationally connected research environment with access to national facilities worldwide. The project is strongly oriented toward fundamental understanding as well as the design of improved MOFs with enhanced stability and gas-binding performance, supporting the development of emerging sorbents for air-pollution mitigation. This is a research-intensive PhD focused on stable MOF architectures, gas adsorption chemistry, and the structure-property relationships that control selective capture of corrosive gases.