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Schemes for Engineers in Research and Development
RAEng/EPSRC Research Fellowships: Profiles
Dr Ian Kinloch - Manchester University
Carbon Nanotubes in Advanced Engineering Materials
 Dr Ian Kinloch holds a Royal
Academy of Engineering/EPSRC Research Fellowship in
Carbon Nanotubes in Advanced Engineering Materials
at the University of Manchester. This highly prized
Fellowship has provided him with the freedom to
start building his own research group in the
direction of his choice. Ian’s research focuses
on three themes: the production, processing and
application of nanomaterials. He takes this approach
due to his belief that the full potential of these
materials will only ever be achieved if all three
of these steps are optimised. While the majority
of his research has focused on carbon nanotubes,
he has also worked on inorganic nanostructures
including ferrosite, titania and WS2.
For his PhD he studied the electrochemical route for
nanotube production. One significant advantage of
this route is that it can be used to fill the inner
cores of nanotubes with metal in-situ. Since then
his production research has concentrated mainly on
the catalytic deposition route (CVD) due to its
potential control and scalability. In this route a
hydrocarbon feedstock is cracked over a metal
catalyst. The diameter of the catalyst is similar to
that of the nanotube grown. Therefore, a major part
of the research is on making and controlling these
catalysts at the high growth temperatures used (>500
C).
Ian has a strong interest in the processing of
nanomaterials, including their functionalisation and
dispersion into useful architectures. Whilst
previously he has looked at using covalent
functionalisation of nanomaterials, he is now
increasingly becoming interested in their
interaction with biomolecules. He also has an
interest in the rheology of nanomaterials
dispersions, in particular nanotubes which combine a
high surface area, and hence solvent-nanotube
interaction with a high aspect ratio (>100 ).
Depending on the morphology of the nanotubes either
highly thixotropic dispersions or nematic phases are
made.
Impact
Nanomaterials have the benefits of high specific
surface area, quantum confinement and being
nanoscaled. They have significant potential as
engineering materials due to this unique combination
of structural, electrical and mechanical properties.
Therefore, specific applications should take
advantage of these properties. One of Ian’s
interests is to use nanomaterials as a building
block to form structures that have a hierarchy of
size scales with a different functionality on each
scale. Another focus of Ian’s work is the interface
of nanoscale structures with biology. Ian is
currently investigating these concepts in
biomaterials, where the nano-topology can encourage
cell growth, and in structural composites, using
nanotubes in matrix modifiers and structural
elements in a range of polymer and ceramic matrices.
Collaboration
Ian is a member of the Nanostructure Material Group
and the Biomaterials Group within the Materials
School at Manchester and he collaborates with a
number of academics there. He also has ongoing
collaborations with colleagues at the Universities
of Cambridge, Aberdeen and Napier and is a member of
the British Carbon Group.
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Fig. 1 Carbon nanotube bundle |
Fig.2 Nanotubes |
Current Research Projects
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Controlled growth of
nanomaterials
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Rheology of high aspect ratio systems
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Characterisation of nanomaterials by electron
microscopy and Raman spectroscopy
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The interaction of biological molecules with
nanomaterials (for surfactants, drug delivery,
biosensors etc)
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Cell growth scaffolds with topology on the nano-scale
Nanocomposites
Recent Publications
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W. Song, I.A. Kinloch and
A.H. Windle, Nematic Liquid Crystallinity of
Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes, Science, 302,
5649, 2003
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Y. Li, I.A. Kinloch, and
A.H. Windle, Direct Spinning of Carbon Nanotube
Fibers from Chemical Vapor Deposition Synthesis,
Science, 304, 276-278, 2004
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Z. Zhang, I.A. Kinloch and
A.H. Windle, Mesogenicity Drives Fractionation
in Lyotropic Aqueous Suspensions of Multiwall
Carbon Nanotubes, Nano Letters, 6(3), 568-572,
2006
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D. Eder, I.A. Kinloch and
A.H. Windle, Pure Rutile Nanotubes, Chem Comm,
13, 1448-1450 2006
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