Representative Electron Microscopy through Limiting Damage

Summary

Electron microscopy is used in the examination of a broad range of materials, allowing important determination of structure-property relationships. Depending upon instrumentation, imaging can be possible from the micro to atomic scale, and various spectroscopic methods can be used to probe nanoscale chemistry. However, in all cases the electron beam interacts with the sample, and consequently may change the sample. This is particularly critical in the analysis of complex chemical products, which may be either sensitive to the electron beam or have a liquid component.

This PhD project will focus on the development of new approaches to electron microscopy in materials science and engineering aiming to limit damage to samples and consequently lead to more representative data gathered and information determined. The world leading equipment in the Leeds Electron Microscopy and Spectroscopy centre within the Bragg Centre for Materials will be used, including scanning electron microscopes (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB) SEMs, and transmission electron microscopes (TEM). The successful student will be trained to operate these state-of-the-art electron microscopes.

To representatively examine complex chemical products, several routes will be explored. Through examining electron beam sensitive materials, such as pharmaceutical formulations, the damage in both SEM and TEM will be monitored with approaches to mitigate this developed. Routes to high resolution analysis of soft matter (such as Pickering emulsions) will be developed through a workflow from cryo-FIB-SEM to cryo-analytical (S)TEM. There will be careful examination of the impact of sample preparation and development of automated routes for data analysis, which, when combined with the experimental approaches will lead to representative electron microscopy where damage is limited.

This PhD project will utilise the world leading equipment of the Leeds Electron Microscopy and Spectroscopy facility.

The successful student will join our electron microscopy group, which has expertise in the analysis of complex, beam-sensitive materials by TEM and associated techniques. We have interests in characterising materials with applications in areas such as polymeric nanoparticles for drug delivery, chemical consumer products, Pickering emulsions and amorphous solid dispersions.

Applicants to research degree programmes should normally have at least a first class or an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline. The criteria for entry for some research degrees may be higher, for example, several faculties, also require a Masters degree. Applicants are advised to check with the relevant School prior to making an application. Applicants who are uncertain about the requirements for a particular research degree are advised to contact the School or Graduate School prior to making an application.

The minimum English language entry requirement for research postgraduate research study is an IELTS of 6.0 overall with at least 5.5 in each component (reading, writing, listening and speaking) or equivalent. The test must be dated within two years of the start date of the course in order to be valid. Some schools and faculties have a higher requirement.