Professor Caroline Kirk

Chair of Sustainable Materials Chemistry

Undergraduate teaching

Undergraduate year 3: lectures on Phases and Interfaces

Undergraduate year 4: lectures on Cement Materials

Undergraduate year 4: supervision of Chemistry 4P research exercise

Undergraduate year 4: supervisions of BSc research projects

Undergraduate year 5: supervision of MChem research project

 

Postgraduate teaching

PGT: lectures on Crystal Chemistry and Phase Diagrams

PGT: lectures on Cement Materials

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Current PhD students supervised

October 2023 Isolde MarslandUsing Mn-Co containing compounds formed through biological processes as precursors for development of electrode materials for energy storage applications

October 2023 Melanie Podbielski Developing electroactive materials formed through biological processes for energy storage applications

September 2023 Patricija Mendelyte Development of High-Temperature Phase-Change Materials for Heat-Storage Applications

September 2022 Chenhao Wu Developing strategies for remediation of uranium, arsenic and vanadium contaminated sites

September 2022 Tianxin Liang Development of novel antimony-based materials for next generation supercapacitors

September 2021 Matilda Rhodes Where’s the Lithium? Elemental analysis and structural characterisation of Li-containing ore materials using advanced muon and neutron techniques

January 2021 Xuerui Yi Synthesis, characterisation and application of new materials for energy storage via supercapacitors

Past PhD students supervised

2020-2024 Janus Zhang Preparation and characterization of black TiO2 as photocatalytic materials for water treatment

2019–2023 Huapeng Sun Synthesis and characterisation of new materials for solar energy conversion and application

2018–2022 Fiona MacIver-Jones Degradation and ion exchange mechanisms in metatorbernite-type (Cu(UO2)2(XO4)2.8H2O, X=As, P) minerals; implications for remediation of radiochemical waste 

2017–2021 Rebecca Rae Use of cement minerals as remediation materials

2015–2018 William Vieira Fernandes (FUP, Brazil) Effect of minor constituents in alite polymorphs of industrial clinker using bond valence theory

2016–2021 Kurt Lawson (LU), Development of thin film nickel hydroxide electrochromic materials using in situ microfocus XANES, EXAFS and XRD techniques

2016–2020 Sandra Dressler (LU), Incorporation of cobalt into synthetic iron oxyhydroxide systems – Implications for natural systems

2014–2018 Joanna Kulaszewksa (LU), Stability and structure of the Cu(UO2)2(PO4)2-x(AsO4)x.8H2O solid solution and its environmental significance 

2012–2016 Vicky Lay (LU), Fireside corrosion in co-fired supercritical boilers

2010–2014 Rachel Norman (LU), Incorporation of nickel into synthetic goethites and the stabilisation of mineral precursor phases - implications for natural systems

2008-2013 Andrew Butterworth (LU), The utilisation of layered hydroxysalts in the separation, immobilisation and long term storage of long-lived radio-anions of nuclear power legacy waste origin 

2004-2008 Daniel Carpenter (UoR), Earthworms and mineral weathering 

Research summary

We are interested in studying materials with applications in the areas of environment and energy. We target natural systems and carry out careful and controlled laboratory studies to investigate formation processes. Many of the materials we investigate the stabilities at either elevated temperatures or under different conditions of pH. Most of the dynamic work we carry out at central facilities, such as the Diamond Light Source or ISIS Spallation Source, both located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire, UK.

Current Projects Include

  • Development of thin film Ni(OH)2 electrochromic materials
  • Incorporation of Co into synthetic Fe oxyhydroxide systems - implications for natural systems.
  • Investigating the environmental stability and ion exchange capability of synthetic analogues of metatorbernite-type (Cu(UO2)2(PO4)2.8H2O) minerals

Current research interests

Remediation materials for potentially toxic elements, such as uranium, arsenic, chromium. Energy Storage materials. Phase Change Materials. Muon Spectroscopy for analysis of Lithium ore materials.

Knowledge exchange

Expert witness in an international class action - materials characterisaion of cladding materials.

Consultancy work with the aviation company Curtiss–Wright has resulted in a patent application in the area of heat protection for flight recorders.

Sunamp Ltd have funded a PhD studentship to develop new high temperature phase-change materials for heat storage applications.

  1. Synthesis and Assembly of Gold and Iron Oxide Particles Within an Emulsion Droplet; Facile Production of Core@ Shell Particles, S. Sachdev, R. Maugi, C. Kirk, Z. Zhou, S.D.R. Christie, M. Platt, Colloid and Interface Science Communications, 2017, 16, 14-18
  2. J rgkellerite, Na3Mn3+3(PO4)2(CO3)O2.5H2O, a new layered phosphate-carbonate mineral from the Oldoinyo Lengai volcano, Gregory rift, northern Tanzania, A.N. Zaitsev, S.N. Britvin, A. Kearsley, T. Wenzel, C. Kirk, Mineralogy and Petrology, 2016
  3. Synthesis and structural characterisation of new ettringite and thaumasite type phases: Ca6[Ga(OH)6.12H2O]2(SO4)3.2H2O and Ca6[M(OH)6.12H2O]2(SO4)2(CO3)2, M=Mn, Sn, R. L. Norman, S.E. Dann , S. C. Hogg  and C. A. Kirk, Solid State Sciences, 2013 25, 110-117
  4. Electrochromic and Colorimetric Properties of Nickel(II) Oxide Thin Films Prepared by Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition, Applied Materials & Interfaces,  M. Sialvi, R. Mortimer, G. D. Wilcox, A. Teridi, T. Varley, K. G. Wijayantha, C. Kirk, Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2013, 5, 5675-5682
This article was published on