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School of Physical and Chemical Sciences
  1. School of Physical and Chemical Sciences
  2. Chemistry
  3. PhD/Research
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  5. Helicenes and Chiral Spin Filtering

Helicenes and Chiral Spin Filtering

Research Group: Chemistry
Number of Students: 1
Length of Study in Years: 4 Years
Full-time Project: yes

Funding

Funding is provided via the China Scholarship Council.  

    • Available to Chinese applicants only.
    • Applicant required to start in September 2026.
    • The studentship arrangement will cover overseas tuition fees for the duration of the studentship.

Project Description

The introduction of chirality into conjugated organic semiconductors can result in more sustainable electronic devices, such as more efficient OLED screens for smartphones or TVs, and bring new functionality to emerging technologies. An extraordinary recent discovery in chiral materials research has been the observation of the Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS) effect: spin-selective charge transport through chiral molecules. The spin control exhibited by chiral molecules could lead to the enhanced hydrogen production in water splitting and faster, more efficient devices, by enabling the combination of spin and charge (spintronics) in computer processors. However, the full technological potential of the CISS effect has yet to be realised, partly due to our limited understanding of the effect. I propose to untangle the different contributions to CISS for the first time by measuring how systematic variations of an electron’s chiral and spin environment impact a material’s spin filtering properties.

There are two possible projects, and the successful candidate may decide to pursue either one of these or a combination of both. The projects are: 1) a synthetic organic project to develop helically chiral π-conjugated polymers that combine technologically relevant processability and conductivities with chiral spin filtering. This project will provide training in transition metal catalysis, continuous flow polymer synthesis, and simple device characterisation. Project 2) is a highly interdisciplinary project to synthesise helicenes and use them to investigate the CISS effect. The helicenes will be prepared using photochemical flow synthesis currently being developed by the Brandt group (DOI 10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-cgnhq-v3). While traditional, batch-based photochemical reactions can be difficult to scale, our preliminary results have shown robust helicene yields up to 9.8 mmol (79% yield).

For both projects, the synthesised materials will be characterised in solution and the solid-state using advanced characterisation techniques that probe the photophysical and electronic properties (e.g. spin filtering, UV/vis, (magnetic) circular dichroism, cyclic voltammetry). The ideal candidate should have some experience in synthetic chemistry and be interested in exploring a highly interdisciplinary, collaborative, and dynamic field of scientific research.

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Requirements

Application Method:

To apply for this studentship and for entry on to the Chemistry programme (Full Time) please follow the instructions detailed on the following webpage:

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/spcs/phdresearch/application-process/#apply

Deadline for application - 28th of January 2026

Application Method:

To apply for this studentship and for entry on to the Chemistry programme (Full Time) please follow the instructions detailed on the following webpage:

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/spcs/phdresearch/application-process/#apply

Supervisor Contact Details:

For informal enquiries about this position, please contact Dr Jochen Brandt

Email: j.brandt@qmul.ac.uk

 

SPCS Academics: Dr Jochen Brandt

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