PhD Scholarship Project: Membrane reactors

About the project

About the Project Catalysis is central to modern chemical manufacturing, yet many industrial processes remain energy-intensive, wasteful, and carbon-intensive. This PhD project will develop sustainable oxidation technologies that use oxygen from air to produce value-added chemicals more safely and efficiently. The research will focus on reactive oxygen species (ROS), highly reactive intermediates with the potential to enable selective oxidation reactions, but whose short lifetimes and reactivity make them difficult to control. Building on evidence that gold–palladium nanoparticles can generate ROS effectively from hydrogen and oxygen, the project will design novel catalysts to enhance ROS formation and selectivity. An innovative ceramic micro-monolith reactor, containing thousands of sub-millimetre channels, will provide high surface area and precise control of gas flow and reaction conditions while enabling scale-up. Combining catalysis, materials science, chemical engineering, and advanced spectroscopy, the project will demonstrate selective oxidation routes relevant to pharmaceuticals, fragrances, fuels, and polymer manufacture, supporting lower-energy, lower-waste chemical production. This scholarship is open to all applicants regardless of their fee status. It covers both tuition fees and a tax-free contribution to maintenance costs of £25,000 per annum for 42 months. The Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London offers an advanced 3-4-year research degree that provides in-depth specialist training and knowledge in a topical area pertaining to Chemical Engineering and related Engineering and Science disciplines. The Department has state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities and is the home of the Automated high-throughput platform suite , the Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering and the Sustainable Futures Lab . The Department holds a Silver Athena Swan award for good practice in supporting academic women and gender equality renewed in 2024. This award recognises the good practices already in place for supporting women at all stages as well as our commitment to removing barriers to equal progress and achievement. Deadline: 01 November 2027 for the first selection round 11 January 2027 for the second selection round 01 March 2027 for the third selection round (subject to availability of scholarships) In order to be considered for the Chemical Engineering PhD Scholarships, you will need to submit your PhD application for admission through the online admissions system . Full details on the application and selection process can be found on our webpages . We encourage all interested applicants to contact Prof Kang Li ( kang.li@imperial.ac.uk ) before making an application.

Research areas