Nottingham Nanocarbon Group

Professor of Nanomaterials and Director of Nanoscale & Microscale Research Centre

Andrei N. Khlobystov received M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from Moscow State University, Russia in 1997 and the University of Nottingham, UK in 2002 respectively. He then joined the Department of Materials, Oxford University as a postdoctoral research assistant. He was awarded the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship in 2004 and the Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2005. For his contribution to chemistry at nanoscale Andrei has received the European Young Investigator Award (2006) and Corday-Morgan Medal and Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2015), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2013). Currently he is Director of the Nanoscale & Microscale Research Centre (www.nottingham.ac.uk/nmrc), chair of the University of Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Analytical Science (UNICAS), and leader the Advanced Molecular Materials Research Priority Area at the University of Nottingham.

His research is aimed at understanding and control of reactions at the single-molecule level. He developed a methodology of entrapment, confinement and manipulation of molecules at nanoscale, using nanotubes as nano test tubes and nanoreactors. His approach sheds light on atomistic mechanisms of chemical reactions imaged directly by transmission electron microscopy in real time at the single-molecule level, and provides new knowledge enabling significant improvements in preparative synthesis, catalysis and electrocatalysis at nanoscale.

Dr. Graham Rance

Graham comes from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire. He completed an MSci in Chemistry here at the University of Nottingham and his final year research project was spent within the Nanocarbon Group studying the solution behaviour of functionalised carbon nanotubes. His postgraduate research focussed on developing an understanding of the fundamental interactions that govern the self-assembly of metallic nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes into hybrid superstructures. Subsequent doctoral research explored the application of such materials as catalytic nanoreactors for a broad range of preparative chemical reactions.

He currently works as a Senior Research Fellow at the Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre (nmRC) specialising in the synthesis, transformation and analysis of one-dimensional carbon nanostructures and their composites by confocal Raman microscopy.

Dr. Craig Stoppiello

Craig comes from Derbyshire and completed an MSci in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham, with his third year spent as an exchange student at the University of Queensland, Australia.

For his fourth year MSci research project he investigated the reactivity of lanthanide organometallic complexes and moved to the Nanocarbon Group in 2013 for his PhD. His postgraduate research focused on inorganic synthesis inside carbon nanotubes, and for his postdoctoral research he is currently investigating the structural properties of covalent organic frameworks (COFs).

Dr. Rhys Lodge

Rhys comes from Long Bennington, near Grantham and completed his MSci chemistry degree including a year in industry here in Nottingham. His undergraduate research project with the nanocarbon group involved organic reactions in narrow carbon nanotubes, and this leads nicely into his continued postgraduate studies with us into metal-catalysed reactions confined within various carbon nanoreactors.

Dr. Stephen Skowron

Steve comes from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, and completed his MSci in chemistry at the University of Nottingham in 2012. During his 4th year research project he developed inexpensive methods for computing NEXAFS spectra using time-dependent density functional theory.

Steve completed a PhD in the group of Prof. Elena Besley in 2016, computationally modelling the effects of electron irradiation on carbon nanomaterials. Following a 2 year postdoctoral position in Prof. Besley's group, Steve joined the nanocarbon group in 2018, where his current research involves the application of principles of chemistry to electron microscopy imaging techniques in order to use them as tools for chemical kinetics and synthesis.

Dr. Max Astle

Max, former president of the University's ChemSoc, is originally from Belper in Derbyshire and joined the group during the final year of his MSci degree here in Nottingham. His PhD studies were focused towards the synthesis of carbon nanotube-nanoparticle composite materials and their application to sensing and decontamination of environmental pollutants. Max has been awarded a postdoctoral prize to continue his research.

Kayleigh Fung

Kayleigh is a final year PhD student and her research explores the use of transmission electron microscopy as a tool to study chemical transformations at the single-molecule level. She has an MSci in Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry from Nottingham University.

Jack Jordan

Jack is from Derbyshire and completed his MSci degree in chemistry at Nottingham in 2016, where his final year project was on the study of nanotube composite materials for the selective release of drug molecules. Jack is a first year PhD student in the centre for doctoral training in sustainable chemistry. In collaboration with Dr. Graham Newton's group, his current research focuses on the integration of polyoxometalates and carbon nanotubes for catalysis and energy storage.

Luke Norman

Luke is a first year PhD student, originally from Sutton-in-Ashfield, who is part of the first cohort Doctoral Training Programme in Low-Dimensional Materials and Interfaces. He is currently exploring the entrapment and manipulation of inorganic molecular species inside the confinements of carbon nanotubes. Previously he completed his final year MSci project with the group in which he aimed to produce one-dimensional superconducting materials by reacting group 5 chlorides with chalcogenides within single-walled carbon nanotube templates.

Will Townsend

Will is a first year PhD student and part of the second cohort of the Low-Dimensional Materials and Interfaces Doctoral Training Programme. He hails from Suffolk and his research focuses on encapsulation of metal oxides in single walled carbon nanotubes for advanced battery materials.

Ben Weare

Ben is a first-year PhD student from Norwich. He previously completed his MSci in chemistry at the University of Nottingham in 2019, where his fourth-year project was on synthesis and encapsulation of organic molecules in carbon nanotubes. His current research is focused on synthesis of covalent organic frameworks associated with nanocarbon frameworks.

Will Cull

Will completed his MSci project at the University of Nottingham on the topic of ionic liquids inside carbon nanotubes. As part of the LDMI DTP his work will focus on the properties and characterisation of metal oxides and semiconductors following their insertion into various nanotubes.