Fully-paid tuition fees for 3.5 years up to the International Rate. 

A tax-free bursary for living costs for 3.5 years. From January 2022 this is expected to be £15,609 per year. 

This award is open to the UK and International students. 

1st Supervisor: Dr Fan Zhang, School of Engineering and Informatics.

2nd Supervisor: Dr Qiao Chen, Senior Lecturer in Physical Chemistry (Chemistry), School of Life Sciences.

This project devotes to the development of a two-pronged approach based on the liquid-solid type of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) to monitor corrosion and convert ocean wave energy into electricity. The technique can be applied to the existing large-scale marine infrastructures without installing special devices or occupying extra space. The goal can be achieved by studying the fundamental science of liquid-solid contact electrification (CE) to further our understanding of the triboelectrification phenomena and establish the scientific basis for improving the TENG performance. 

The project has three objectives: 

1. Demonstrate the CE mechanisms of the selected representative liquid-solid contact pairs. By measuring CE voltage to evaluate the strength of the electric field, and comparing with the charge density generated on the solid phase, and then identifying the charge species and its contribution on the charge releasing. A theoretical model will be established to describe the liquid-solid CE to advance the understanding further. 

2. Determine the controlling parameters of the CE process and influential factors of TENG output. By designing and analysing a range of typical representative liquid-solid pairs to clarify the influence of each phase's specific properties on the CE and charge transfer processes.  

3. Discriminate the TENG output of the corrosion activities, to bring a novel corrosion sensing technology and new research area for TENG. By analysing and categorising the CE voltage and current flow of the well-designed and -controlled corroding interfaces, and establishing a dynamic model to assist the experimental data interpretation. 

This project presents great novelty and significance in four aspects.  

1. Important fundamentals of the physical mechanism of liquid-solid CE are still elusive, including the real identity of the surface charging species and charge transfer mechanisms, which highly limited the development of TENGs. This project will fill in the gaps by addressing these fundamentals.
2. So far, only a few inert model materials have been used for TENGs. We will develop TENG with active corrosion materials, opening up a new area.
3. Most of the TENGs are operated under tribology stimulus. This project will introduce a novel TENG operation mode that responds to dynamic reactions (corrosion).
4. TENG performance optimisation has been mainly focused on modifying the surface morphology without an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms. We will start from the atomic level to understand the liquid-solid CE and charge transfer mechanisms and then clarify the influential roles of the properties of both solid and liquid phases.

This interdisciplinary project will impact research fields of physic, tribology and electrochemistry, by generating new fundamental knowledge about CE and revealing the correlation between CE and corrosion processes for the first time. Its success will fill the innovation gap by creating advancement in fundamental science that can be readily translated into a competitive technology with a multidisciplinary academic and industrial impact. The success of this project will change corrosion monitoring and maintenance into an intelligent way. It will also accelerate the transition from fossil-based energy to blue energy. Moreover, as the technology can be used in wireless data transfer systems, being a part of the Internet of Things (IoT), it meets the requirements of Industry 4.0 and is a part of the smart industry enhancement. 

The PhD student will codevelop knowledge in surface chemistry, corrosion science, tribology and methodologies with our research team in close collaboration with our international research partners.