Imperial Materials

Dr Robert Hoye explains the potential for halide perovskites and their derivatives in renewable energy. Dr Hoye recently led one of the key roadmaps for the Henry Royce Institute, identifying halide perovskites as one of the key technologies for the UK to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. 

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Photovoltaics produce clean electricity from sunlight and are one of the leading renewable technologies. As such, it is vital to accelerate the deployment of this technology. However, realising a high electrification future will require the number of photovoltaic devices installed every year to increase by over an order of magnitude. A rapid expansion in the manufacturing of photovoltaics is needed, and this may be fulfilled by a newcomer to the photovoltaics scene: halide perovskites.

What are halide perovskites?

The term ‘perovskite’ refers to a family of materials with the crystal structure shown in Figure 1. The prototypical perovskite (calcium titanate) was found nearly 200 years ago in the Ural mountains by Gustav Rose, who named the material after Lev Perovskiy. Other perovskites include barium titanate, strontium titanate, lead titanate, and others, and these materials have been used in ferroelectrics, piezoelectrics and pyroelectrics. It was only recently that halide perovskites have come to prominence for photovoltaics.

In 2009, Tsutomu Miyasaka and colleagues reported methylammonium lead iodide as a sensitizer in liquid-junction solar cells, demonstrating a power conversion efficiency of 3.8%. In subsequent years, a series of developments transformed this material from yet another novel solar absorber to the dominant next-generation photovoltaic technology. In 2020, the certified record efficiency of perovskite solar cells reached 25.5%, which is already on the cusp of matching the record performance of solar cells based on single-crystalline silicon (26.7%), the dominant commercial technology. Remarkably, whilst crystalline silicon required 6 decades of development, halide perovskites have only been developed for one decade. Furthermore, halide perovskites hold several critical advantages over crystalline silicon:

1. Halide perovskites can be grown at significantly lower temperatures, with the absorber typically processed at only ~100 °C. This reduces the carbon footprint of perovskite solar cells, as well as the energy and cost required for its production;

2. Halide perovskites have significant chemical versatility, with the bandgap tunable over the entire visible wavelength range by controlling the composition or dimensionality.

An important implication of these factors is that perovskite solar cells can be used to produce ‘tandem’ photovoltaics with silicon solar cells (Figure 2). Much like tandem bicycles, tandem photovoltaics electrically couple together two solar cells (in this case perovskites and silicon) to work together to generate more power. Such devices can exceed the efficiency limit of each device working individually. Critically, by adding a perovskite solar cell over a silicon solar cell, increases inefficiencies can be achieved without significantly adding to the total cost, thus reducing the ratio of the cost of the solar cell compared to the total power produced, such that photovoltaics become more cost-competitive against fossil fuels.

Pushing perovskites photovoltaics from lab to market

Halide perovskite solar cells have risen in efficiency faster than any other photovoltaic technology and are already at the level at which they can be commercialised. However, their fast rise has also meant that most research on this technology has been performed at the lab scale, in which the most efficient solar cells have device areas smaller than a fingernail. By contrast, manufacturing perovskite photovoltaics at the level needed to make an impact on climate change will require at least several million square metres of devices per year. Achieving this will require fabricating with speed and at scale. Perovskites can be grown over a large area by printing, spraying or evaporating, but it is critical that these techniques can grow devices rapidly in order to maximise the number of devices produced per manufacturing hour and therefore reduce the overall costs.

Another critical concern is the operating lifetime of the devices. The original perovskite composition, methylammonium lead iodide, is thermodynamically unstable and degrades in ambient air within days. There has been substantial work on developing alternative compositions, as well as passivating materials at surfaces, with improved stability in air containing moisture. Through these efforts, and coupled with encapsulation, devices stable for longer than a year have been demonstrated, and modules that pass industry-standard stability tests have been achieved. However, the stability tests were developed for silicon solar cells, and the degradation modes in perovskites can be substantially different. It will therefore be critical to developing accelerated degradation tests specifically for perovskites, and the field data that is starting to be collected will be valuable in this effort.

How can we systematically find lead-free alternatives to the perovskites?

Beyond the scale-up and stability challenges, halide perovskites are also limited by the presence of lead, which is toxic and regulated in many jurisdictions worldwide. Currently, outdoor photovoltaics are exempt from European lead regulations, and there is debate over the extent to which the lead content of halide perovskites could limit its adoption worldwide. Nevertheless, the astonishing rise of halide perovskites has posed the critical question of how such performance could be replicated in alternative materials.

The search for these lead-free alternatives has mostly proceeded in the same way solar absorbers were identified before lead-halide perovskites were found, that is by trial-and-error. Not only does this have a low success rate, there are also too many materials to systematically explore without encountering false negatives or positives.

A more systematic approach that has been adopted is to identify materials that could replicate the defect tolerance of halide perovskites. Developing defect-tolerant semiconductors is the opposite approach to traditional semiconductor engineering. Historically, the approach taken has been to grow semiconductors to minimise the density of defects, which usually involves high temperature, slow and expensive growth methods. What the lead-halide perovskites have shown is how materials can be efficient without being defect-free if most defects have energy levels close to the band-edges and have limited ability to capture electrons or holes. Thus, although halide perovskites have millions of times more defects than silicon, they have comparable performance in photovoltaic devices.

A proposition is that the defect tolerance of halide perovskites comes about from its electronic structure. This has prompted efforts to find materials that are electronically analogous. Many of the materials identified are bismuth-based compounds, such as bismuth oxyiodide. This is because bismuth is next to lead on the periodic table (Figure 3), but has no evidence for toxicity, and is used in over-the-counter stomach medicine. Such materials are termed ‘perovskite-inspired materials’. Thus far, there have been a handful of materials found to demonstrate similar defect tolerance to the halide perovskites. But the understanding of what gives rise to defect tolerance is only now emerging and is an active area of research.

What else can we use the new perovskites and derivatives for?

Demonstrating a new material in efficient photovoltaics opens up many possibilities for applying the material in a broad range of alternative applications. One such application is for indoor light harvesting. These energy-havesting devices are needed to power low-cost, low-power electronic devices that can communicate with each other via the Internet – such as a mobile phone. This ecosystem of devices is termed the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), which is giving rise to infrastructure (e.g., houses, cities, hospitals) that are responsive to the users. Currently, most IoT devices are powered by batteries, which only have a limited lifetime. Given that there are over tens of billions of IoT devices worldwide, millions of batteries need to be recycled daily, creating substantial waste. This sustainability challenge will only increase in the future as the IoT ecosystem exponentially grows in size.

To solve this challenge, photovoltaics can be embedded into each IoT device to harvest energy from light to recharge the energy storage device (which could be a capacitor or a rechargeable battery) that then powers the IoT device in the dark. Currently, the standard indoor photovoltaic material is hydrogenated amorphous silicon, but the photovoltaic efficiencies are below 10% under indoor lighting. Halide perovskites have already demonstrated 37% efficiency indoors, which increases the power harvested from the microwatt range to the milliwatt range.

However, lead may be less tolerated in consumer or healthcare products than for outdoor photovoltaics. Recent work into lead-free perovskite-inspired materials for indoor photovoltaics, and optical analyses has shown that devices made from these materials could match or exceed the performance of halide perovskites indoors, and deliver high efficiencies with non-toxic materials that can be manufactured through low-toxicity processes. Beyond indoor light-harvesting, halide perovskites and perovskite-inspired materials can be used to harvest sunlight to split water and CO2 to produce clean fuels, or to more effectively detect X-rays, and therefore be used to make safer medical detectors.

Further reading

C. A. R. Perini, T. A. S. Doherty, S. D. Stranks,* J.-P. C.-B.,* R. L. Z. Hoye.* Pressing Challenges in Halide Perovskite Photovoltaics – From the Atomic to Module Level. Joule, 2021, 5, In Press. DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2021.03.011

R. L. Z. Hoye,* J. Hidalgo, R. A. Jagt, J.-P. Correa-Baena, T. Fix,* J. L. MacManus-Driscoll.* The Role of Dimensionality on the Optoelectronic Properties of Oxide and Halide Perovskites, and their Halide Derivatives. Advanced Energy Materials, 2021, 2100499, Early View. DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202100499.

Read Decarbonising power generation with photovoltaics based on halide perovskites and their derivatives in full

During Autumn Term 2020, our first-year students in the Department of Materials started using lab-in-a-box projects to support their learning from home. These projects are used as a bridge between in-person teaching, while our students are learning remotely due to the pandemic. Two of our students have shared their experiences using the lab-in-a-box projects and what they’ve learned.

Anjali Devadasan

The lab in the box was an incredibly exciting aspect of the first few weeks of term. The doorbell rang, I collected the parcel and immediately opened the box to explore the contents inside. The most discussed object on the year group chat (after the vernier callipers of course) was the mini microscope. We shared images of objects under the microscope and guessed what the objects examined were, which ranged from oranges, leaves, paper, and even phone screens.

Remote learning has resulted in spending most of our time in front of laptop/computer screens, but the lab in a box has provided us with a change of scenario on many Friday afternoons. The first time I used something from the box was in the Design Study drawing lesson where our task was to sketch a couple of 3D printed parts. Little did we know that the same parts would help us measure density with Arduino in the near future! Arduino sessions began with a short lecture describing the task for the day and for the next three or four hours, I would work through PDF instructions alongside my design study company and the much-appreciated help from our GTA, Harry. We guided each other, laughed at our mistakes, and were confused together and I think the challenges really brought our company together as a team.

Once we gained enough experience with Arduino, we did some lab work in company sub-groups of four. Labs consisted of the various subgroups measuring electrical and thermal conductivity and density using the Arduino setups we had learned. We also did hardness testing for different samples – where we used our mini microscopes! I enjoyed learning the Arduino together as it was fulfilling when we solved the problems with the setup and managed to get it working to receive some real values.

My favourite set up was the very first time we managed to display temperature readings on the little LCD screen. It was exciting when realistic temperatures for room temperature would appear or when they would change if we put different objects near the sensor, such as ice. It will be interesting to use this set up for the upcoming polymer labs.

https://vimeo.com/509725064

Amélie Mattheus

I thought that the lab in a box project was a very creative idea. Picking up my lab box allowed me to see my peers for the first time. Even though it was socially distanced and completely COVID safe, it was nice to put a face to the names I had been seeing on Teams. When arriving back in my accommodation, I was very excited to open the box, it was like receiving a surprise delivery.

The box contained several recognisable objects which made me feel relieved at first, however, there were objects that I had never seen before. The Arduino lab was something completely new to me. Hence it was very exciting to see my LED light turn on after completing the lab. There were some struggles with the following Arduino labs due to technical constraints like the wires not being soldered hence not being able to get a connection. The meeting allowed me to see examples of other people’s work that did work. It was nice to be in smaller groups as you can talk more freely.

The GTA was very helpful and helped us through some long labs. He was always prepared to answer our questions when we got stuck. We also had a hardness lab, where they provided us with a spring, materials to test, and a tube. The hardness lab was the lab I enjoyed the most because it was directly related to materials and one of the properties that we had previously learned about. The goal was to indent the material and measure the radius of the indent. We were provided with a microscope that allowed us to measure even the smallest indents on rubber, which tends to go back to its original shape. In addition, due to doing the labs at home, you are able to use the equipment outside of class as well, for example, one of my group mates pointed out that with the microscope you were able to see the pixels on your laptop screen.

In the end, we were given some extra data due to the constraints of doing it at home. However, the given data allowed us to still analyse the data and use the software available for that. I enjoyed the labs at home, especially because I was still able to discuss and compare my results with those of others. I thought it was a creative alternative that allowed us to still do labs and achieve the skills learned by doing these.  

Read Materials Science from home: First year students share more about their lab-in-a-box projects in full

Many of our students undertake a Undergraduate Research Opportunity Programme in the Department and sometimes the research conducted during their UROP can lead to co-authorships with the academic group. This was the case for second year Undergraduate student Yingxu Li and fourth year Undergraduate student Seif Mehanna, whose research contributed to a recent paper with Dr Mark Oxborrow which is now published in Physical Review Applied. The paper demonstrates how a cheap organic material can be exploited to detect extremely weak radio signals so weak that the signal contains only a small number of radio-frequency photons.

Both students have provided us with a snapshot into the research they did for the paper and their UROP experience.

Seif Mehanna

The aim of my part of the research was to see if we could get a maser to run using a much cheaper and less bulky light source than a massive medical laser. Lasers tend to be very inefficient at producing yellow light, so we used a luminescent concentrator instead. Luminescent concentrators are devices that concentrate and shift the colour of light, so you end up with a very bright light with a desired wavelength (colour).

I made this very simple setup where we had a luminescent concentrator that Dr Oxborrow had made earlier, surrounded it with two Soviet-made Xe-flash lamps held up with lab clamps, and had a sample at the end of the concentrator that we tried to get to mase. As old as those lamps were, they’re very energy efficient and did a great job! They were so powerful that you could feel when they went off, just like with the flash in a profession studio. Sometimes you don’t need the newest and fanciest equipment to be on the cutting edge of science!

I’m very happy to see the consequences of my research included in this paper, and I hope that it shows that you can have fun and look to the past while doing pioneering research to advance the future.

Yingxu Li

My research contribution to the paper was to render the instrument setup of this newly-developed MASTER, trying to make it look real as in the reality. Figures 5(a) and (b) in the publication were produced by the 3-D rendering program, “Blender”.

This UROP was my first ever research experience in my life, definitely unforgettable! Despite the whole programme shifted to online-based, I learned a lot about MASER, as well as 3D graphical modelling using Blender software. Also, the working vibe in Dr Mark Oxborrow’s team was so welcoming and everyone in the team was happy to help me as “a baby in scientific research”. It gave me an immersive insight of researchers life and a taste of how a publication paper was produced. Last but not least, thank you to Dr Oxborrow for giving me the opportunity to contribute in the paper, it made the summer in 2020 so special!

I hope this can show the fantastic opportunities available to students in our department.

Hear more from our students about their UROPs and find out how to apply.

Read Student Interview: We co-authored a paper using research from our UROP in full

To celebrate LGBT STEM Day 2020, Dr Ben Britton, Reader in Metallurgy and Microscopy – and RAEng Research Fellow, has shared more about LGBT+ STEM Day, his research and how simple acts from everyone can go a long way.

Can you tell us more about yourself and your research?

Hi, I’m Ben and my pronouns are he/him. I’m a Reader in Metallurgy and Microscopy, and I lead a group who try to understand how metals are processed, perform and ultimately fail in high-risk high-value applications, such as nuclear power plants, aeroengines, and the petrochemical industry. We work together to combine experiments and simulations together, collaborating with folks across Imperial, in industry and across the world. I also tweet a bit (@bmatb), teach a bit, and have other interests.

What does LGBTSTEMDay mean to you and why is it important for everyone?

I am not only a material scientist and engineer, I’m also a gay man. Many folks may suggest that my sexuality and gender identity have no relevance for my work. This is incorrect, as numerous surveys and academic papers tell a different story. There is substantive co-correlation of evidence that the relationships we form and who we connect with influence our successes in work and beyond. LGBTSTEMDay provides people who identify as ‘not straight’ and/or ‘not cisgendered’ (i.e. those whose current gender identity matches their gender identity at birth) to celebrate contributions of those people like us, create communities, and create meaningful changes to the practice of science, technology, engineering and maths across the world.

On a more personal level, I also used #LGBTSTEMDay to ‘come out’ more widely in public. As frankly, it is EXHAUSTING to hide this part of your identity and to worry about the implications on your career. So #LGBTSTEMDay has, as I shared in a public talk at the College, entitled me to say: go and read my b****y blog piece – ‘So it’s #LGBTSTEMDay…so what?’

Who are your greatest role models in STEM?

This is always a challenge. Most historical queer figures have had their queer identity written out of the history books. Additionally, one of the privileges for me, as a white man in STEM, is that there are many people like me who have ‘succeeded’ and can be seen in positions of power. This also highlights the imbalance in our midst, especially for those who are at the intersection of minority identities and are doubly marginalised (e.g. people who identify as Black and queer).

There are efforts to correct this, as, for instance, Dr Jess Wade (and many others) have been strengthening representation individuals from marginalised groups on Wikipedia, and so we can now more easily identify and empathise with existing role models in our field. There are also professional networks, such as IOM3Pride, LGBTQ+ STEM, Pride in STEM, 500 Queer Scientists and many more where LGBTQ+ people can find people like them, share experiences, and benefit from networking opportunities that they have been (directly and indirectly) excluded from.

How can everyone be an ally and action for change?

In my opinion, the ‘ally’ objective is overrated. I would prefer for people to want to be decent human beings. In that light, I want co-conspirators who are willing to say that the status quo is not good enough, and to agitate for change. There is no reason why we should sustain and support systems that establish marginalisation of individuals based upon their sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as other protected characteristics (and socio-economic class).

There are old and new barriers that actively exclude LGBT+ people and members of other minority groups from participating, and these exist both within the Department, within the College, in the Profession and in wider society. Dismantling these all at once is a daunting task, but simple acts can go a long way, and lots of the work to identify these issues has been done already. So if you want a more refined list of recommendations, you should read the Royal Society of Chemistry, Institute of Physics and Royal Astronomical Society report on Exploring the Workplace Climate for LGBT+ Physical Scientists. 

Read LGBTSTEMDay: Interview with Dr Ben Britton in full

Alexis Abayomi is an alumna of the Department, who studied MEng Materials Science and Engineering. Alexis graduated in 2017 and is currently the founder of start-up UCYCLESYNC and a Data Analyst at EY.

In her free time, Alexis loves cycling around the river and parks in London and visiting different parts of the city. She also builds and program legos and enjoys travelling to and exploring different countries.

I wanted to study Materials because I like to understand why materials behave the way they do and how to change the properties of materials. This interest was sparked from my love of physics during A-level, especially solid-state physics. Plus, I enjoyed physical chemistry. I initially applied to study Chemistry, but I had a conversation with my Physics teacher, and she introduced me to Materials. I wrote to the Materials department and asked to move my application from Chemistry to Materials, and they said yes.

My best moments at Imperial included having much fun with netball, the African and Caribbean society and my course mates in G10. Afrogala 2014: it took a lot of my time, but I got to meet some amazing people and model dance. It was completely out of my comfort zone, and I’m glad I did it. Also, Varsity in 3rd and 4th year because the 3s beat the medics, and the last song with the netball ladies in metric was always a highlight!

However, there were challenges. I struggled to balance studying, working, netball and ACS. Also Menstrual Cycle health was not a focus at Imperial. I suffered from period pain in the third and fourth years, and there was nowhere to turn. That’s one of the reasons I started the start-up UCYCLESYNC. 

Finances were so difficult. I wasn’t able to get a maintenance loan, and I didn’t feel supported when Imperial withheld a grant because of my immigration status. I am so glad to have had an amazing personal tutor. Professor Vandeperre listened to me cry and try to leave with a bachelor, but said: “let’s figure how you can afford to stay for your masters.” I have no words to describe how much I appreciated having someone help me. He is the best. 

I am inspired and energised by so many people right now. I’m in awe of the FIRE (Financial Freedom, Retire Early) movement. I spend a lot of my spare time watching YouTube videos about people who have retired early and learning how to take steps in my own life to do the same. Also, Bukola from The Come Up, she is a self-thought software engineer who is on the FIRE Track. It’s so great to see someone who looks like you and has had a similar upbringing with the same investing goals.

My advice for students from the Black community wishing to study STEM subjects is: go for it! Pick whatever you want to do. It might be lonely sometimes walking the corridor and not seeing anyone that looks like you. Simple questions like “where do I get my hair done?” or “where can I get plantain?” become big issues, but you will find your people and explore London to get these answers.

Read Black History Month Spotlight: Interview with Alexis Abayomi in full

For National Postdoc Appreciation week, some of our postdocs share their journey into research and advice for those thinking of a career in academia. Marta is a Research Associate in the group of Molly Stevens.

What led you to postdoc research? 

After finishing my PhD, I decided to do my postdoc abroad as I wanted a new challenge in my progression through academia. I intended to understand different ways of thinking about science and broaden my scientific network. I also wanted to start creating my own research lines, managing self-made projects, supervising students, and learning about a new research field. Altogether, I believed this would help me gain the desired skills to become a group leader, a career goal of mine.

What do you enjoy about your current research?

What I enjoy most about my current research is the ability to create and define my own ideas. In a couple of years, I have been able to define innovative projects and see how students have been able to take them forward. Learning from all these new ideas, both personally and through students, is really rewarding.

What has been the highlight of your academic journey so far?

I believe it is worth highlighting how scientists from many disciplines have come together to fight the current situation with scientific solutions. I have had the opportunity to work with one of these teams and the collaboration and drive shown by everyone really made me feel proud of the scientific community. It has also given me the chance to be involved in a more translational project really broadening my knowledge!

What advice would you give to those who are considering a career in academia?

I would recommend thinking about what they would like to learn and what is the objective in pursuing academic positions. Institutions and research groups have different ways of thinking towards research, from more applied to translational, and understanding where you want to go will really help moving forward. Furthermore, it is important not only to learn new things at every step but to be able to share and improve your own acquired skills.

Read National Postdoc Appreciation week: Dr Marta Broto Aviles in full

For National Postdoc Appreciation week, some of our postdocs share their journey into research and advice for those thinking of a career in academia. Gurpreet is a Research Associate in the group of Professor Luc Vandeperre.

What led you to postdoc research?

My journey to postdoc research is fuelled by my passion for science and my religion. I want to establish myself as a ‘Sikh Scientist’, since the world is yet to get familiar with scientists from unnoticed ethnic backgrounds, especially from Sikhism. Therefore, as opposed to my fellow Sikhs commonly excelling in the army or business sector, I decided to pursue science and travelled to the UK to complete my Masters and PhD in inorganic chemistry.

Then, one job led to another, and finally, after 5 years of struggle, I secured a job at Imperial as a postdoc to pursue my passion of synthesising nanoparticles and achieve excellence in this field. I believe this is my pathway to establishing my research group in the future and fulfil my dream to represent my community in science.

What do you enjoy about your current research?

My current research is about inorganic nanoparticles, particularly magnetic composites. I really enjoy syntheses and characterisation, as I feel my strengths reside in experimentation. A normal day at work for me is to synthesise nanoparticles with a magnetic property, and then functionalise these with different chemical groups. This is quite an exciting task as I get complete freedom to explore many chemicals that I foresee to be compatible in the structure and useful towards my application.

Therefore, I enjoy designing new protocols and then testing my samples using both simple techniques such as a bar magnet, and advanced tools like magnetometers and spectroscopies. This sort of freedom is quite rare for a postdoc project, but I consider myself lucky that apart from the niche field of application, I get to explore new inorganic synthetic reactions every day.

What has been the highlight of your academic journey so far?

Apart from being the 1st and only Sikh male so far to have graduated with a PhD in chemistry from my Alma mater (in the north-west UK), I have also achieved recognition from the Royal Society of Chemistry as an ‘Emerging Leader’ in inorganic chemistry. I believe this to be the highlight of my academic journey so far, which of course was a fruit of my previous efforts in industry, which was no less of a feat.

I am proud to have led a start-up from inception and successfully carried it through 2 clinical trials. It was a great learning experience to translate lab research to a commercial product and get involved in all areas of a start-up, whether it is product design, syntheses, scale-up, budgeting, troubleshooting, tester-mechanic roles, or even as a trainer, spokesperson and point of contact in clinics.

What advice would you give to those who are considering a career in academia?

My general advice to all students who are considering a career in academia is to focus on excellence. It is not about money or fame, but it is about having a reason to teach or research, and how much you love what you do. Academia, for me, is about progressing and building on what you had learnt in the past. It is about learning and perfecting to then demonstrate the knowledge in your own unique way.

Secondly, I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage all students from minority groups like me, whether they are Sikhs or any other BAME group members, to come forward and add colour to UK’s academia. No matter who or what had put you off in the past, if you have a vision in life towards academia, then strive for excellence in it. Rest everything will fall into place automatically.

Read National Postdoc Appreciation week: Dr Gurpreet Singh in full

For National Postdoc Appreciation week, some of our postdocs share their journey into research and advice for those thinking of a career in academia. Abigail is a Research Associate, with a particular focus on Corrosion Metallurgy.

What led you to postdoc research?

Read National Postdoc Appreciation week: Dr Abigail Ackerman in full

For National Postdoc Appreciation week, some of our postdocs share their journey into research and advice for those thinking of a career in academia. Xin is a Research Associate in the group of Professor David Dye.

What led you to postdoc research?

I have always been interested in materials science. I like investigating the basic scientific questions in materials science and applying the accumulated knowledge to solve engineering problems. Therefore, I wanted to stay in academia.

After my PhD study, I felt that I was still not ready to independently lead a research group and also wanted to fill my research toolbox with more skills and expand my research fields. Postdoc research can give me this training. As a postdoc, we can participate in different projects and research topics, and we get more opportunities to collaborate with other research teams in both academia and industry. It can be seen that postdoc research also helps expand our network, which is very important to our future career.

What do you enjoy about your current research?

My current research is mainly focused on developing novel Ti alloys for jet engines and high-strength steels for automobiles to improve their fuel efficiency. The project is to address the pollution issues arising from the transport sector and future resource limits.

It involves answering both basic scientific and engineering questions, which is quite challenging but excites me a lot. To resolve these questions, I need to employ different research methods/techniques and collaborate with other scientists within and outside Imperial. This strengthens my independent and collaborative research skills. I also like the atmosphere in my group and Engineering Alloy (EA) theme. EA theme performs diverse research on metallic materials, and we have EA seminar regularly, which helps broaden my research horizon.

My PI, Professor David Dye, is very supportive. My colleagues are not only smart but also very helpful. We get along very well and often help each other in labs and joke a lot though research work sometimes makes us serious and stressed. We also have many after work activities which bring us much fun and keep us closer.

What has been the highlight of your academic journey so far?

Many good things have happened during my academic journey. Just mention a few here. I have managed to discover some small interesting scientific questions and find ways to resolve them independently or together with collaborators. This has led to 11 peer-reviewed journal papers and good progress in introducing novel alloys which have the potential for industrial applications.

Additionally, I have gained different research skills and excellent research collaborators during the path. As a result, my confidence in the future research career has been enhanced. Scientific conferences are another highlight. The trip to Ti-2019 in Nante, France and TMS2020 in San Diego, US is unforgettable to me. I had a lot of fun with my colleagues. Besides, through communication with other attendees on these conferences, I have got new research ideas and established new connections.

What advice would you give to those who are considering a career in academia?

I suggest you think about what academic life is in your mind and what you expect from such a career, then talk to some seniors about your thoughts to make sure you are seeking the right career. Independent researchers not only do science but also apply for funding and grants, form and leading a research team, writing and reviewing papers, managing labs and probably teaching etc. It sounds fun but it can be very stressful and challenging.

If you are considering postdoc positions, I advise thinking about your research interests and goals, abilities and skills you want to gain, then find the proper projects and make a plan for your postdoc period. The plan could help you work efficiently and remind you about your original objectives when you lose your track because of being busy.

I strongly recommend Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre to postdocs/fellows at Imperial, which provides a wide range of training and help to postdocs/fellows.

Read National Postdoc Appreciation week: Dr Xin Xu in full

For National Postdoc Appreciation week, some of our postdocs share their journey into research and advice for those thinking of a career in academia. Oriol is a Research Associate, with a particular focus on Ceramic Composites and Manufacturing.

What led you to postdoc research?

Doing a PhD was hard, but I enjoyed the type of work I was doing more than when working in an aerospace company before. Working within academia let me focus on trying to understand why things happen, and this kept me motivated and engaged with the project. After my PhD, I was keen to continue working within academia, and I liked the idea of moving to another research group to start a postdoc and become more independent.

What do you enjoy about your current research?

I like the feeling that the experiments I perform have a tangible benefit to a product/industry. In my case, I work trying to solve problems for companies by using experiments which seek a more fundamental understanding and are not easily accessible in many places. For example, testing materials at a very small scale. This keeps my research focused on clear targets but gives me a high degree of freedom to approach problems how I want. At the same time, being surrounded by academic and industrial collaborators allows me to get the best from both worlds.

What has been the highlight of your academic journey so far?

I find it difficult to appreciate my own highlights, but I was very happy to be employed after my PhD at the structural ceramics group. I had been interested in the research performed by the group and the problems they were targeting since my PhD in Nottingham. Being part of this group for 2 years has allowed me to grow in the direction I wanted and get the right mentorship. I now feel ready to start creating my own independent research line and explore new opportunities.

What advice would you give to those who are considering a career in academia?

An academic career can be difficult, so it is important to find people that are willing to give you advice and be supportive in difficult times. Do not be scared if you think that your profile does not fit, academia is not perfect, but it is trying to change and needs people from different backgrounds. If you want to do a PhD or a Postdoc, make sure that you choose the right supervisor/mentor, someone that will give you opportunities and will put your learning process at the top of their priority list. For this, talk to people in the group and ask them what the group is like to work in and any other questions you have.

Read National Postdoc Appreciation week: Dr Oriol Gavalda Diaz in full