Plastics have transformed modern life but created a global environmental crisis, over 450 million tonnes are produced each year, with the majority persisting for centuries in landfills and oceans. The urgent challenge is to design new polymers that not only deliver high performance but also degrade safely and predictably after use. At the same time, these materials must be derived from renewable, bio-based feedstocks to ensure true sustainability. This PhD project tackles this challenge by combining polymer chemistry, automation, and artificial intelligence to discover degradable polymers from renewable sources. Working within the Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME) and in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the project will contribute to the creation of an autonomous discovery platform capable of linking polymer structure directly to environmental degradability—pioneering the next generation of sustainable materials.
Aims & Methods - The aim of this project is to develop new environmentally degradable polymers from renewable feedstocks and to explore how their chemical structure influences how and when they break down. To achieve this, the project will combine synthetic polymer chemistry with automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate materials discovery. You will design and synthesise a library of renewable polymers and evaluate their degradation behaviour under realistic environmental conditions (e.g. water, light, or enzymatic exposure). Using robotic tools and programmable workflows, these experiments will be automated to generate data efficiently and reproducibly. The results will then be analysed using AI and data-driven modelling to uncover key relationships between polymer structure and degradation rate. This project offers hands-on experience in modern polymer synthesis, materials characterisation, and AI-assisted experimentation, providing excellent interdisciplinary training at the interface of chemistry, engineering, and data science. Working within the Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME) and in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the student will be part of a vibrant research community developing next-generation sustainable materials and autonomous laboratory technologies.