PhD Studentship in Solid-State Chemistry: High Entropy Oxides as Thermally Insulating Materials

Supervisors: Prof. Anthony Powell and Dr Paz Vaqueiro

Project Overview: A four-year PhD studentship, fully funded by AWE, is available for a research project to develop novel low-thermal conductivity materials, through the preparation of high-entropy oxides, with applications in solid-state thermal batteries. These are batteries in which the electrolyte, a solid under stored conditions, melts on application of a thermal pulse, leading to charge flow and normal battery operation.

High-entropy materials contain five or more atoms/cations distributed over a single crystallographic site. The resulting configurational entropy contributes a stabilising term to the free energy, enabling the formation of otherwise energetically unfavourable materials. This entropic stabilisation can force cations into non-preferred coordination geometries, leading to significant local lattice distortion and disorder in interatomic force constants. These effects impede the propagation of heat-carrying phonons, resulting in exceptionally low thermal conductivity.

The initial focus of the project will be on materials of general formula A₂B₂O₆ and A₂B₂O₇ that adopt the defect pyrochlore and pyrochlore structures respectively. The project will seek to introduce multiple cations at the A site, primarily comprising closed-shell and lone-pair-containing species, to enhance disorder and lattice strain. The project will then extend to oxides with alternative cage-like structures.

The project will involve a range of solid-state synthesis techniques, powder X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy together with measurement of thermal, spectroscopic and transport properties. Detailed structural studies will utilise powder neutron diffraction, augmented by pair distribution function (PDF) analysis to probe changes in the local structure.

This project provides a comprehensive training in advanced materials synthesis and characterisation techniques and offers the opportunity to work on a scientifically challenging problem at the interface of materials chemistry and condensed matter physics, with relevance to thermal management technologies.

Eligibility: 

• Applicants should hold or expect to gain a minimum of an upper second class honours degree in chemistry, physics, or materials science.
• Due to restrictions on the funding, this studentship is only open to candidates from the UK.

Funding Details:   

• Starts: October 2026 - (or sooner should a suitable candidate present themselves)
• 4 year award
• This studentship is fully funded for 4 years and covers PhD tuition fees, a tax-free stipend (currently £20,780 per year) plus an enhancement to the stipend of £3,000 per year. 

How to apply:  

To apply click Apply for a Programme via the above 'Apply' button and create your account, and use the link sent by email to start the application process. During the application process please select the PhD in Chemistry.

*Important notes*

1. Please quote the reference ‘DRC26-011’ in the ‘Scholarships applied for’ box which appears within the Funding Section of your on-line application.
2. If the application system prompts you to submit a research proposal, please paste in the project title and move on to the next step in the application.

Application Deadline: 26^th March 2026

Further Enquiries:  

Please note that, where a candidate is successful in being awarded funding, this will be confirmed via a formal studentship award letter; this will be provided separately from any Offer of Admission and will be subject to standard checks for eligibility and other criteria. 

For further details about this studentship please contact Prof. A.V. Powell (a.v.powell@reading.ac.uk).

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