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Society is facing an urgent need for new sustainable technologies that can provide energy on a large-scale. Hybrid materials called perovskites have recently emerged as an important class of semiconductors especially well-suited for photovoltaic applications. These materials can be deposited directly from inks or solutions, making them highly compatible with existing printing infrastructure for rapid industrial scale production. However, demonstrations of high-efficiency perovskite solar cells have been predominantly on the lab-scale and several challenges in scaling up this promising technology remain open.
People
- Meet our research team
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Sayan Pal
Activities:- Continuous synthesis of nanomaterials for biomedical applications
- Development of flow reactors for high temperature synthesis of magnetic nanomaterials
- Antifouling microfluidic systems for nanoparticle synthesis
Expertise:
- Reactive and antisolvent precipitation
- Continuous synthesis of Metal, Inorganic and Organic micro/nanoparticles
- Flow Chemistry
- Hydrodynamics of Segmented flow
- Solid handling in continuous flow reactors
- Impinging Jet reactors
- Computational Fluid Dynamics
Dr. Reza Abbasi
Activities:- Process modelling and simulation
- Parameter estimation via nonlinear optimization
- Process design and unit operation
- Analysis of process economics
- Kinetic model discrimination
- Process flowsheeting and optimization
Expertise:
- Process modelling
- Advanced process control
- Optimization and mathematical programming
- Process design
- Fluidization and fluidized bed reactors
- Application of AI in chemical engineering
PhD Students
Solomon Gajere Bawa
Activities:- Gas phase catalytic automated system
- Microreactor technology
- Kinetic studies using MBDoE
Expertise:
- Zeolite catalyst synthesis and compounding
- Development of fluid catalytic cracking catalyst
Eleni Grammenou
Activities:- Reaction engineering of autonomous flow microreactors
- Online analysis methods for rapid kinetics identification and operando catalyst characterisation
- Kinetic studies using MBDoE
Expertise:
- Process modelling
- Process design
- Flow chemistry
- Transport phenomena
Jacopo Piovesan
Activities:- Continuous synthesis of nanoparticles for pharmacological applications
- Determination of the effect of nanoparticles on fungi
Expertise:
- Synthesis of organic and inorganic materials on a nanoscale level
- In-vitro analysis on cells and fungi
- Drug development/discovery
Zoe Whiteley
Activities:- Synthesis of polymeric nanogels using microchips and tube-in-tube reactors for the production of non-viral vectors for gene delivery
- Loading nanogels with biopharmaceuticals and small molecule drugs
Expertise:
- Drug-delivery/gene delivery
- Synthesis and characterisation of nanoparticles and nanogels for drug delivery
- Biopharmaceutical formulations
- Electrospraying
- Production and analysis of oral solid dosage forms
Shorooq M. I. Abukhamees
Activities:- Continuous synthesis of drug nanocrystals using flow reactors.
- Formulation of solid nanocrystals drug products
Expertise:
- Pharmaceutical development of new drug products.
- Formulation of variable dosage forms.
- Drug delivery.
- Drug manufacturing process
- Thermal analysis.
- QA, Regulatory affairs and IP
- Pharmacovigilance.
Georgios Gkogkos
Activities:- Reactor design continuous for nanoparticle production
- Automation of nanoparticle production systems
Expertise:
- Flow chemistry with emphasis on nanoparticle production
- Rapid prototyping (micro-milling, 3d Printing)
- Computational Fluid Dynamics
- CAD
- LabView programming for computer-device interface and control
Mabel Cornwell
Activities:
- Continuous synthesis of nanoparticle seeds and seed growth
- Design of antifouling materials for flow reactors
- Liquid-liquid separation techniques in flow
Expertise:
- Nanoscale synthesis in flow
- Nanoparticle characterization
- Nanoparticle functionalisation for SERS applications
- Quality Assurance of OSD pharmaceutical products in industry
Gleb Valitov
Activities:
- Continuous Sonocrystallization in milliscale devices
- Model-driven design of crystallizers
- Improvement of axial dispersion via non-intrusive techniques
Expertise:
- Reaction Engineering and Design
- Crystallisation
- Residence Time Distribution
- Acoustics
- Finite Element Analysis
Past Members
Dr. Max Besenhard
Activities:
- Continuous synthesis of nanomaterials using flow reactors, with a focus on magnetic nanoparticles
- Reactor engineering for nanoparticle synthesis and analysis
- In charge of hyperthermia and DLS analyser.
- Lab manager of Crystallization Lab.
Expertise:
- Pharma engineering
- Crystallisation
- (Nano)Particle engineering and characterisation
- Flow chemistry
- Computational methods for process design, analysis, and control
Dr. Spyridon Damilos
Activities:
- Continuous manufacturing of gold nanoparticles synthesis
- Reactor engineering for nanoparticle synthesis and analysis
- Process intensification via microwave heating
Expertise:
- Colloidal synthesis
- Reaction engineering
- Flow chemistry
- Microwave technology
- Statistical analysis
- Quality control
- Computational methods for process design
Dr. Luca Panariello
Activities:
- Continuous synthesis of nanomaterials using flow reactors, with focus on materials for biomedical applications.
- Reactor engineering for nanoparticle synthesis.
- Kinetics of nanomaterials syntheses.
- Lab manager.
Expertise:
- Colloidal synthesis.
- Reaction engineering.
- Flow chemistry.
- Noble metal nanomaterials.
- Metal oxide nanomaterials.
- Polymer nanomaterials.
- Sub-nm Au clusters.
- Spectroscopy techniques and modelling for plasmonic nanomaterials.
Baldassarre Venezia
Activities:
- Reactor design for continuous catalytic gas-liquid-solid oxidations and hydrogenations
- Scale-up of slurry loop membrane and rotatory reactor designs
- Nanoparticle-catalysed reactions in tubular reactors
- Operando spectroscopy study in micro packed-bed reactors
- Lab manager of Wolfson Lab
Expertise:
- Reaction engineering
- Mass transfer and mixing study techniques for gas-liquid-solid systems
- Slurry and packed-bed reactor design
- Catalyst characterisation, coating and immobilisation
- Microscopy and in situ spectroscopic techniques
- Simulation tools for reactor design and process control
