PhD in Chemistry

Award Summary 100% fees covered, and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £20,780 (2025/26 UKRI rate). Additional project costs will also be provided. Overview Engineered biochar – a durable solid form of carbon originating from the partial combustion of organic matter that can be added to soils – is rapidly gaining attention as a scalable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and sequestration solution. But what makes biochar and other pyrogenic carbon (PyC) (like charcoal), last for decades, millennia, and even hundreds of millions of years? To answer this, we will look to nature’s experiment with fire! Wildfire-derived charcoal, a recalcitrant form of PyC, has long shaped landscapes and stabilised carbon in soils, and is the form in which the first evidence for the dawn of terrestrial plants over 420 million years ago was found. The chemical and structural drivers of PyC’s long-term stability are not yet fully understood. Unravelling those features is key to designing engineered carbon materials capable of removing and storing carbon on the geological timescales required to address climate change. To bridge this gap, this project will characterise wildfire charcoal from historic fires with known ages (years to decades to 174 MA old) to examine compositional evolution and preservation over geological time. By comparing these with freshly engineered biochars, we can determine whether persistence arises from the biomass type, formation process and/or the final composition and structure itself. We will quantify these features and engineer biochar with enhanced long-term carbon stability using techniques including Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), solid-state ¹³C NMR, leaching and accelerated ageing tests. You may come from a background in chemistry, chemical engineering, or a closely related field, and we would love you to join our highly motivated, interdisciplinary team as a curious, self-driven, and collaborative colleague. In return, we offer a supportive, inclusive research environment; opportunities to co-create your project; hands-on fieldwork and wildfire simulation experience; collaboration with leading researchers; and training in advanced characterisation, data analysis, and data interpretation.