6th Nov-13th Nov 2022

Charley and Laura attended COP27 this year in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. They both did a wonderful job representing the SMASH team at this important conference!

3th Nov 2022

Charley presented a poster of  her PhD research at #NuMAT Nuclear Materials Conference in Belgium. Great job Charley!

26th Oct 2022

PhD researcher Kyle O'Donoghue recently defended his 1st year confirmation viva. Well done Kyle!

19th Oct 2022

Very excited to welcome 4 new MEng researchers to the SMASH group this year! We are all looking forward to see how each project will unfold as they begin their research journey!

12th Oct 2022

Charley, Ella, Kyle, and Madeline presented poster presentations at the annual Grantham Center Symposium in Sheffield. Each of the PhD researchers presented solutions to global sustainability challenges in the cement sector. All the presenters did a wonderful job!

30th Sept 2022

We are very excited to welcome 4 new PhD researchers to the group - Cameron, Ava, Isabelle, and Micael, who are all starting their PhD today! Very much looking forward to working with them all on these projects - Good times ahead!

12-13th Sept 2022

The SMASH research team attended the 41st annual IOM3 Cement and Concrete Conference in Leeds. At the event, we had 8 members present either a poster or presentation. Congratulations to Madeline for winning the "Best Student Contribution" award at the event!

7th Sept 2022

Ademola was privileged to be shortlisted among the participants to present his poster, "The solid-state syntheses of single-phase NASICON solid electrolytes for Na-ion solid-state batteries", at the Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson Dalton Poster Symposium in 2022. Congratulations, Ademola!

27th July 2022

Charley, Ella, and Kyle attended their delayed graduation for their integrated masters undergraduate degrees. Congratulations!

4-7th April 2022

Charley attended the rescheduled GREEN CDT Winter School event, where she presented a 'elevator pitch' style presentation and a poster presentation to other CDT students and industrial partners. Great job Charley!

16th Dec 2021

We have a new paper out in  Journal of Synchrotron Radiation where we looked at uranium–cement mineral interactions in ettringite and hydro­talcite, for immobilisation/encapsulation of radioactive waste in cements. A very enjoyable collaboration with colleagues from Materials Science and Engineering at The University of Sheffield.

10th Dec 2021

Charley passed her VIVA for the GREEN CDT at the end of her 12 week taught course about the nuclear fuel cycle! Great stuff!

4th Nov 2021

Brant recently contributed to the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology 'POSTbrief' Reducing the whole life carbon impact of buildings, which presents strategies to reduce whole life carbon of buildings, and aims to drive innovation in UK policy in this area.

1st Oct 2021

Brant recently chatted with WIRED about the process behind creating cement, and the amount of carbon dioxide that is released throughout., and how we can make cement more sustainable. Read the article here: Concrete is a climate disaster. It’s time to clean it up.

27th Sept 2021

We are very excited to welcome 4 new PhD researchers to the group - Charley, Kyle, Ella and Madeline, who are all starting their PhD today! Very much looking forward to working with them all on these projects - Good times ahead!

23rd Sept 2021

We are very pleased to have had four new papers accepted/published from the group this month!  Details of each of these are below:

• Thermodynamic properties of sodium aluminosilicate hydrate (N-A-S-H), published in Dalton Transactions

• Activator Anion Influences the Nanostructure of Alkali-Activated Slag Cements, published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C

• Degradation resistance of different cementitious materials to phosphoric acid attack at early stage, published in Cement and Concrete Research

• Capture of aqueous radioiodine species by metalated adsorbents from wastestreams of the nuclear power industry, published in SN Applied Sciences

We have also contributed the chapter Cement-based Stabilization and Solidification of Radioactive Waste to the book Low Carbon Stabilization and Solidification of Hazardous Wastes, published this month by Elsevier.

1st Sept 2021

With colleagues Dr Rupert Myers (Imperial College London) and Gregor Gluth (BAM), Brant is putting together a special issue of Frontiers in Materials as a Guest Editor, on a topic of great interest to the SMASH team: New insights into the molecular structure of cementitious materials.

3rd Aug 2021

Today the SMASH research team were on Sky News, talking about sustainable cement and how the answer to net zero lies here with us at The University of Sheffield. Watch the feature here!  The challenges are immense & complex, but solutions are within reach! Ed also wrote an article on the Sky News website to accompany this piece, featuring some items from his chat with Brant.

28th July 2021

Today we welcomed Ed Conway and his team from Sky News to our Dept. Chemical and Biological Engineering! It was great to do some filming and talk about all things cement & sustainability, and the research we are doing in our group to develop low carbon & net zero cements to tackle the climate crisis! Huge thanks to Dr Sarah Kearney, Dr Dan Geddes and Cassandre Le Galliard, who all did a wonderful job discussing their exciting research in both, and showing off some of their cool experiments. The piece will be aired on Sky News soon!

19th July 2021

Today Brant gave a talk at the Energy Institute's ECR conference on pathways to net zero, discussing cement, sustainability in the built environment, and the research that we do at here in our group to help the industry achieve Net Zero.

1st July 2021

Congrats to Dr Sarah Kearney, who has just published an opinion piece about her experience working on our Advanced Fuel Cycle Programme (BEIS) funded work, in the March/April issue of Nuclear Futures, the Nuclear Institute's journal!

26th May 2021

Huge congrats to Dr Sarah Kearney and Dr Tom Robshaw, and all co-authors, for winning the American Nuclear Society award for Best Poster/Paper at the Waste Management Symposia! Read more about it here.

7th April 2021

Congratulations to Dr Adam Canner from CBE Sheffield, who today presented some of our Advanced Fuel Cycle Programme (BEIS) funded work on capture and immobilisation of 14-CO2, at the RSC Faraday Discussion on CO2 utilisation.

31st Mar 2021

Congratulations to Dr Sarah Kearney, Dr Tom Robshaw, & all co-authors, for winning the “Best in Track #2 Poster Presentation” at the Waste Management Symposia, which included work from our Advanced Fuel Cycle Programme (BEIS) funded project in CBE Sheffield.

29th Mar 2021

Huge congratulations to our PhD researchers Tamara, Cassandre, Laura, James and Ademola, who all presented at the Dept. Materials Science and Engienering PGR conference today!

22nd Mar 2021

We have a new paper out in  Cement and Concrete Research developing strategies for control and mitigation of efflorescence in metakaolin-based geopolymers. A very enjoyable collaboration with friends from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul @ufrgsnoticias, Hunan University @hunanuniv, and Universidade Federal de Santa Maria @UFSM_oficial. 

19th Mar 2021

We are recruiting for a fully funded PhD project, pioneering development of low-carbon cements to help tackle the Climate Crisis! This is an EPSRC funded project in a friendly group, investigating interesting and important cements and related materials to enable sustainable infrastructure and clean energy. Check out the vacancies page for more info.

18th Feb 2021

Brant recently spoke with Dr Helen Freeman about how sustainable cement can help reduce CO2 emissions associated with construction, as an invited Expert Panel Member of the Net Zero: Decarbonising Construction briefing for the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. This briefing highlights opportunities for achieving net-zero in the built environment, including innovations in low carbon building materials.

15th Feb 2021

Excited to share that we have 4 fully-funded PhD studentships available with our team in @CBESheffield, to commence in Oct 2021. Advertisements up soon, but we encourage anyone who is interested to get in touch to arrange a chat. Further details are on the Vacancies page.

8th Feb 2021

Really pleased to share our latest paper in Acta Materialia - we used ADF-STEM  to characterise oxygen atoms in perovskite and pyrochlore oxides using at a resolution of a few tens of picometers. The functionality of these oxides is often dependent on defects, in particular oxygen displacements or oxygen vacancies, and determines physical and electrical phenomena including magnetic, ferroelectric, dielectric, pyroelectric, piezoelectric and superconducting properties. Great collaboration with @msesheffield @CBESheffield @OxfordMaterials @warwickuni.

4th Jan 2021

First day back at work and really pleased to share our latest paper in Langmuir looking at polyamine-mediated surface chemistry in bioinspired silica - a very enjoyable collaboration with Dr Joe Manning, Siddharth Patwardhan and John Provis (@jrhmanning, @GreenNanoRes and @cementsatshef), initiated in @CBESheffield and @msesheffield. 

17th Dec 2020

Today Dr Tom Robshaw presented his and Dr Sarah Kearney's great work on our Advanced Fuel Cycle Programme project with National Nuclear Laboratory, developing novel inorganic adsorbents for iodine capture and cement (PC-SCM, AAM and geopolymer) encapsulants for conversion to wasteform. Synergy between capture and wasteform processes! Funded by BEIS.

3rd Dec 2020

Today Brant presented live at the 2020 Materials Research Society Spring/Fall Meeting #F20MRS @Materials_MRS, discussing Sr and Ca incorporation mechanisms in geopolymer cements for radioactive waste immobilisation. Great collaboration involving @CBESheffield @msesheffield @RoyceSheffield @LeedsUniEng @DiamondLightSou @NrfHf.

29th Oct 2020

PhD researcher Tamara Chidiac recently defended her 1st year confirmation viva. Well done Tamara!

8th Oct 2020

Very excited to welcome 9(!) MEng researchers to the SMASH group this year! Really looking forward to a set of exciting projects focused on development of materials for sustainable infrastructure and radioactive/toxic waste abatement! Read about these projects here.

6th Oct 2020

Huge congratulations to Dan Geddes who submitted his PhD thesis yesterday! Dan completed his PhD within the Cements@Sheffield research group, supervised by John Provis, focusing on  geopolymer cements for radioactive waste encapsulation, and has been working as a PDRA within the SMASH team on a project w/ Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. Ltd. Well done Dan!

14th Oct 2020

We have recently been awarded funding by the White Rose Collaboration Fund, in partnership with colleagues Civil Engineering, University of Leeds and Environment and Geography, University of York. The project focuses on Enhancing analytical capabilities in soils for low-carbon technologies, and full details can be found here.

1st Oct 2020

PhD researcher James Watt recently defended his 1st year confirmation viva. Well done James!

28th Sept 2020

Brant recently chatted with Mike Johnson from the BBC World Service about sustainable cement, and the impact it can have on global efforts to mitigate climate change. The discussion aired on the World Business Report, which also covered the Global Cement and Concrete Association's commitment to become carbon neutral by 2050. Listen to the discussion here.

23rd Sept 2020

This week we have been doing some exciting XAS experiments (remotely) at the Diamond Light Source looking at radioactive waste immobilisation mechanisms in geopolymer cements. Great collaboration w/ Martin Stennett of the Immobilisation Science Laboratory  and John Provis of Cements@Sheffield, on an EPSRC funded project. Really cool to be able to use the beamline from my lounge room, or anywhere else in the house!

7th Sept 2020

Last week was a very busy week for us all in the SMASH team, as well as the Cements@Sheffield team, with The University of Sheffield hosting the 74th RILEM Annual Week & 40th Cement and Concrete Science Conference. Sarah Kearney and Dan Geddes did an excellent job organising the conference as part of the core organising committee, and the SMASH team delivered 5 talks across the 3 days of the conference.

3rd Aug 2020

Very pleased that Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. Ltd., Japan, have chosen to extend the collaborative project with us for another year. Many thanks to Dan Geddes for this hard work since taking over as the PDRA on this project in Sept 2019.  Keep an eye out for some exciting publications from this work soon!

27th Aug 2020

Huge congratulations to Dr Sarah Kearney, who has recently joined the group as a PDRA, on passing her PhD viva! Well done Sarah!

21st Aug 2020

Brant has written an article for The Conversation - Sustainable cement: the simple switch that could massively cut global carbon emissions. The Energy Institute has also run a news story on this article.

14th Aug 2020

Brant has written a guest blog post for Materials Sustainability Research @MaterialSust, discussing how sustainable cement and concrete can help mitigate climate change.

4th Aug 2020

Brant has been awarded funding from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, as part of the Advanced Fuel Cycle Programme, this time for a project on C-14 abatement in irradiated nuclear fuel recycling. This project is in collaboration with Dr Mark Ogden, Separations and Nuclear Chemical Engineering (SNUCER) in Dept. Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield, Dr Clint Sharrad in Dept. Chemical Engineering & Analytical Science, University of Manchester, and the National Nuclear Laboratory.

27th July 2020

Brant has recently been awarded funding from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, as part of the Advanced Fuel Cycle Programme, for a project on Iodine abatement in irradiated nuclear fuel recycling. This project is in collaboration with Dr Mark Ogden, Separations and Nuclear Chemical Engineering (SNUCER) in Dept. Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield, Dr Clint Sharrad in Dept. Chemical Engineering & Analytical Science, University of Manchester, and the National Nuclear Laboratory.

23rd July 2020

PhD researchers Cassandre Le Galliard and Ademola Adetona both recently defended their 1st year confirmation vivas. Well done Cassandre and Ademola!

22nd May 2020

The Frontiers in Built Environment and Frontiers in Materials special issue Materials and Technologies for Low-Carbon Concrete is now open for submissions. This special issue is edited by Dr Brant Walkley along with colleagues Rupert J. Myers (ICL) and Alireza Kashani (UNSW).

21st May 2020

PhD researcher Laura Sefanini recently defended her 1st year confirmation viva. Well done Laura!

20th May 2020

PhD researcher James Watt recently gave a presentation at the Centre for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics Spring Meeting. The meeting was originally planned to be held at North Carolina State University, NC, USA, however it was transitioned online after the COVID-19 pandemic. James' presented his PhD work developing new approaches to cold sintering of lithium chemistries for solid state energy storage applications.

19th May 2020

We would like to welcome our latest group member Dr Maryam Derkani, who joins as a KTP Associate and will be working on developing additives to improve durability and engineering properties of alkali-activated materials. Welcome Maryam!

18th May 2020

Welcome to the new SMASH research group website!