Brant Walkley

I was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in Sept 2019, where I lead the Sustainable Materials at Sheffield (SMASH) research team. Prior to this I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Sheffield (Oct 2016 – Aug 2019), and completed my PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The University of Melbourne, Australia (awarded Dec 2016). I also hold Bachelor degrees from The University of Melbourne in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (Honours) and Science (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology).

Our mission is to drive new advances in the development of materials and processes for sustainable infrastructure, environmental remediation and clean energy. This will enable industry to meet the needs of our society both sustainably and cost-effectively, improving the well-being of our society and environment.

The development of better, cheaper and more sustainable materials is often impeded by a lack of understanding of the fundamental interactions occurring at the atomic or nanoscale which dictate material performance. Examples include materials for sustainable infrastructure, safe disposal of nuclear waste, pollutant recovery and energy production and storage devices.

Broadly speaking, our research group focuses on investigation of composition-structure-property relationships, reaction mechanisms and kinetics in cements, glasses, ceramics and nanomaterials using advanced spectroscopic and microstructural techniques, including solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Current projects focus on:
Development of low-CO2 cements for sustainable infrastructure
Understanding durability and degradation phenomena in low-CO­2 cements
Understanding and controlling radionuclide-mineral interactions in cement matrices used for immobilisation of radioactive waste
Controlling reaction mechanisms, kinetics and retention in cement wasteforms for safe disposal of heavy metal pollutants
Understanding composition-structure-property relationships in solid state electrolytes for energy storage