CNIE seminar with Max Besenhard

“Flow-synthesis of nanomaterials: An Engineering and Nature Inspired Approach”

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Summary: The presentation will demonstrate the unique opportunities flow chemistry provides for nanomaterial synthesis. Demonstrations include the unravelling of rapid nanoparticle formation mechanisms via with in-situ X-ray diffraction and small angle X-ray scattering and how, the kinetic information gained allows nanoparticle property tuning using an engineering approach.  Although flow chemistry provides a unique toolbox for nanomaterial engineering, challenges such as reactor fouling and plugging are inherent to flow reactors. Novel ways to overcome these obstacles will be showcased for the nature inspired synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles demonstrating how engineering and nature inspired approaches could lead to novel materials and manufacturing routes.  

Bio: Maximilian O. Besenhard completed his PhD in chemical engineering with a focus on continuous pharma production at Graz University of Technology. After several years in industry working for Siemens and the Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering, he returned to academia by joining UCL in 2016 as a postdoctoral research associate. For almost 4 years he worked on continuous syntheses of nanomaterials in the group of Professor Gavriilidis and has recently (just in time with the start of the pandemic) started to work on computational approaches for HPLC in the group of Professor Sorensen. In 2019 he became a CNIE inspiration grant holder which allowed him to combine flow chemistry with nanomaterial synthesis inspired by Mother Nature, who has synthesised nanoparticles long before humans started throwing things in a beaker.