Dr Ian Kinloch

I hold a Royal Academy of Engineering/EPSRC Research Fellowship in Carbon Nanotubes in Advanced Engineering Materials. My research is on the production, processing and applications of nanomaterials. I take this approach due to the belief that the full potential of these materials will only ever be achieved if all three of these steps are optimised. While the majority of my research has focussed on carbon nanotubes I have also worked on inorganic nanostructures including ferrosite, titania and WS2.

For my PhD I studied the electrochemical route for nanotube production. One significant advantage of this route is that it can be used to fill the inner cores of nanotubes with metal in-situ. Since then my production research has concentrated mainly on the catalytic deposition route (CVD) due to its potential control and scalability. In this route a hydrocarbon feedstock is cracked over a metal catalyst. The diameter of the catalyst is similar to that of the nanotube grown. Therefore, a major part of the research is on making and controlling these catalysts at the high growth temperatures used (>500 C).

I have a strong interest in the processing of nanomaterials, including their functionalisation and dispersion into useful architectures. Whilst previously I have looked at using covalent functionalisation of nanomaterials, I am increasingly becoming interested in their interaction with biomolecules. I am also interested in the rheology of nanomaterials dispersions, in particular nanotubes which combine a high surface area and hence solvent-nanotube interaction with a high aspect ratio (>100 ). Depending on the morphology of the nanotubes either highly thixotropic dispersions or nematic phases are made.

Nanomaterials have the benefits of high specific surface area, quantum confinement and being nanoscaled. Therefore, applications should take advantage of these properties. One interest is to use nanomaterials as a building block to form structures that have a hierarchy of size scales with a different functionality on each scale. I am currently investigating this concept in biomaterials, where the nano-topology can encourage cell growth, and in structural composites.

I am a member of the Nanostructure Material Group and the Biomaterials Group within the Materials School and collaborate with a number of academics here. I also have current collaborations with the following colleagues:

• Dr Iain Gibson (University of Aberdeen) and Dr. Ruth Cameron (University of Cambridge) on nanotubes as guidance cues for nerve cell growth
• Dr Best, Prof. Windle and Prof. Rushton (University of Cambridge) on nanotube reinforced hydroxapiptite
• Dr V. Stone (Napier University) on nanotube toxicology

I am a committee member of the British Carbon Group.

• Controlled growth of nanomaterials
• Rheology of high aspect ratio systems
• Characterisation of nanomaterials by electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy
• The interaction of biological molecules with nanomaterials (for surfactants, drug delivery, biosensors etc)
• Cell growth scaffolds with topology on the nano-scale
• Nanocomposites

• W. Song, I.A. Kinloch and A.H. Windle, Nematic Liquid Crystallinity of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes, Science, 302, 5649, 2003
• Y. Li, I.A. Kinloch, and A.H. Windle, Direct Spinning of Carbon Nanotube Fibers from Chemical Vapor Deposition Synthesis, Science, 304, 276-278, 2004
• Z. Zhang, I.A. Kinloch and A.H. Windle, Mesogenicity Drives Fractionation in Lyotropic Aqueous Suspensions of Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes, Nano Letters, 6(3), 568-572, 2006
• D. Eder, I.A. Kinloch and A.H. Windle, Pure Rutile Nanotubes, Chem Comm, 13, 1448-1450 2006

A full publication list may be found here