Question: Why did you chose to attempt a PhD in “functional nano-materials”? And also what do you find most interesting about it.

Kieren Bradley answered on 9 Mar 2014:

I was doing chemistry and physics in my first degree and wanted to carry on learning about how the two subjects combined. The best area to see this was nanomaterials; you use a lot of physics to characterise something that took chemistry to make in the first place.

I find the broad range of bizarre effects associated with nanomaterials really interesting. When you look at a butterfly and its wings shimmer blue, you might think it has a blue chemical that absorbs every colour other than blue but actually you are seeing multiple reflections from a stack of tiny holes that happen to reflect blue rally well at certain angles, hence the shimmer.

Quantum dots are another fascinating bizarre effect. Shine UV light on a big crystal of cadmium selenide and it will glow red, make particles of it that are 5nm and it glows orange, 4nm and it glows yellow, and 3nm and it glows green.

Odd things happen when things get really small and I think odd things are the most interesting things to study.