Welcome to the Blanford Group
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| Front entrance to the MIB |
The conversion of oxygen to water limits the power output of low-temperature fuel cells. Catalysing this reaction requires the lion’s share of the precious-metal catalyst used in these devices. One of the technological goals of the group is to replace platinum materials with biological electrocatalysts, including the blue, copper-containing enzymes, laccase and bilirubin oxidase. This goal drives our fundamental and applied research into protein–surface interactions and the development of chemically and physically structured electrodes.
Our research is supported by the UK’s Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/G00434X/2 and 2012 windfall funding) through their Career Acceleration Fellowship scheme, the Royal Society (RG110254), and the University of Oxford’s John Fell OUP Research Fund (project ref. 092/266). We welcome opportunities to engage with the public to discuss the short- and long-term impacts of our publicly funded research; please contact Dr Blanford for more details.
The group is currently accepting applications for Ph.D. positions starting in autumn 2013.
The Blanford group was formerly based in the University of Oxford’s Department of Chemistry and moved to the University of Manchester’s School of Materials in January 2011.