Dr Alex Aziz

Alex Aziz

Dr Alex Aziz

Lecturer (Materials / Physical Chemistry)

My profile

Biography

I am a Materials Chemistry lecturer and part of the Joint Education Institute with Hubei University. My research focuses on utilizing density functional theory and molecular dynamics methods to gain a fundamental understanding of material properties and their optimization for applications in energy storage and generation.

I received my PhD in computational chemistry at the University of Reading and then went on to gain considerable international postdoctoral experience in Spain at CICEnergiGUNE as well as in Japan through a prestigious JSPS fellowship at the Advanced Institute of Materials Research at Tohoku University. I have also held a postdoctoral position at the University of Bath and a fixed term lectureship position at Queen Mary University London.

Beyond research, I am committed to teach the next generation of material chemists and building bridges between different scientific communities and cultures to enhance scientific exchange, education, and training.

Interests and expertise

My interests centre around applying computational models to address materials problems. I focus on the nano and microscale from 100’s to 1000’s of atoms. I perform calculations using density functional theory and molecular dynamics methods to gain a fundamental understanding of material properties and their optimization for applications in energy storage and energy generation. Of particular interest is the research I have been recently performing with my collaborators in Japan working to understand the fundamental properties of defective graphene as a material for supercapacitor applications. I have also conducted research on photovoltaic (light to electricity), thermoelectric materials (waste heat to electricity), and new battery materials. My goal is to perform computer simulations to understand the differences between experimental and computational results and guide experimentalists to optimize their material for their desired application.

Get in touch

0161 247 6198
5.23 Dalton Building

Impact

EXPERT REVIEWER 

Scientific Reports

American Chemical Society

Royal Society of Chemistry Research Fund Reviewer

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC) 2018 - present

JSPS Alumni

Teaching

JEI Hubei

My current teaching is predominately in Hubei China where I deliver courses at the Joint Education Institute.

Bulk Characterisation (MSc Advanced Materials).  This course provides an in depth discussion to enable students to gain an expert understanding of numerous bulk characterisation techniques.  As a computational chemist who is interested in material properties on the atomic scale I like to  give the students some understanding of the processes and different energy transitions occurring for each method. And the course covers x-ray diffraction (XRD),  X-ray fluorescence (XRF), secondary electron microscopy (SEM), and Raman and Infra-red spectroscopy.  The course is designed to incorporate numerous research examples so that students become familiar with interpreting and assessing data in industry and academia.

Introduction to Thermodynamics and Kinetics (BSc Chemistry). In this unit I introduce students to basic thermodynamic and kinetic principles and apply them to solve problems on chemical stability and reaction rates. I introduce and review key mathematical skills, including calculus and statistical methods that underpin the unit. The goal of my teaching is to provide my students with a fundamental understanding of these key concepts that will prepare them for more in depth physical chemistry units in future years.

Research outputs

  • Books (authored/edited/special issues)

    Hanaor, D.A.H. (2024) Computational Design of Battery Materials. Springer.

  • Chapters in books

    Aziz, A., Arcelus, O., Gallo-Bueno, A., Golov, A., Lakuntza, O., Carrasco, J. (2024) 'Nanoscale Modelling of Substitutional Disorder in Battery Materials.' Topics in Applied Physics. pp. 241-268.

  • Journal articles

    Aziz, A., Yu, W., Tang, R., Crespo-Otero, R., Tommaso, D.D., Nishihara, H. (2024) 'Theoretical insights into the role of defects in the optimization of the electrochemical capacitance of graphene.' Energy Materials and Devices, 2(3)

    Tang, R., Aziz, A., Yu, W., Pan, Z.Z., Nishikawa, G., Yoshii, T., Nomura, K., Taylor, E.E., Stadie, N.P., Inoue, K., Kotani, M., Kyotani, T., Nishihara, H. (2024) 'Prominent structural dependence of quantum capacitance unraveled by nitrogen-doped graphene mesosponge.' Small, 20(18)

    Jia, X., Aziz, A., Hashimoto, Y., Li, H. (2024) 'Dealing with the big data challenges in AI for thermoelectric materials.' Science China Materials, 67(4) pp. 1173-1182.

    Letona-Elizburu, A., Enterría, M., Aziz, A., Villar-Rodil, S., Paredes, J.I., Carrasco, J., Ortiz-Vitoriano, N. (2024) 'Biomimetic nucleotide-graphene hybrids for electrocatalytic oxygen conversion: quantifying biomolecule mass loading.' Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 39

    Ingham, M., Aziz, A., Di Tommaso, D., Crespo-Otero, R. (2023) 'Simulating excited states in metal organic frameworks: from light-absorption to photochemical CO2 reduction.' Materials Advances, 4(22) pp. 5388-5419.

    Liu, H., Pan, Z.Z., Aziz, A., Tang, R., Lv, W., Nishihara, H. (2023) 'Nanoporous Membrane Electrodes with an Ordered Array of Hollow Giant Carbon Nanotubes.' Advanced Functional Materials, 33(40)

    Hoshikawa, Y., Kanno, Y., Tawata, H., Sagae, T., Ishii, T., Imoto, S., Hagihara, S., Wada, T., Nagatsugi, F., Aziz, A., Nishihara, H., Kyotani, T., Itoh, T. (2023) 'Front Cover: Water‐Dispersible Carbon Nano‐Test Tubes as a Container for Concentrated DNA Molecules (Chem. Eur. J. 53/2023).' Chemistry – A European Journal, 29(53)

    Hoshikawa, Y., Kanno, Y., Tawata, H., Sagae, T., Ishii, T., Imoto, S., Hagihara, S., Wada, T., Nagatsugi, F., Aziz, A., Nishihara, H., Kyotani, T., Itoh, T. (2023) 'Water-Dispersible Carbon Nano-Test Tubes as a Container for Concentrated DNA Molecules.' Chemistry - A European Journal, 29(53)

    Hoshikawa, Y., Kanno, Y., Tawata, H., Sagae, T., Ishii, T., Imoto, S., Hagihara, S., Wada, T., Nagatsugi, F., Aziz, A., Nishihara, H., Kyotani, T., Itoh, T. (2023) 'Water-Dispersible Carbon Nano-Test Tubes as a Container for Concentrated DNA Molecules.' Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany), 29(53)

    Yu, W., Yoshii, T., Aziz, A., Tang, R., Pan, Z.Z., Inoue, K., Kotani, M., Tanaka, H., Scholtzová, E., Tunega, D., Nishina, Y., Nishioka, K., Nakanishi, S., Zhou, Y., Terasaki, O., Nishihara, H. (2023) 'Edge-Site-Free and Topological-Defect-Rich Carbon Cathode for High-Performance Lithium-Oxygen Batteries.' Advanced Science, 10(16)

    Shen, Z., Yu, W., Aziz, A., Chida, K., Yoshii, T., Nishihara, H. (2023) 'Sequential Catalysis of Defected-Carbon and Solid Catalyst in Li-O2 Batteries.' Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 127(13) pp. 6239-6247.

    Aziz, A., Carrasco, J. (2022) 'Modeling magnesium surfaces and their dissolution in an aqueous environment using an implicit solvent model.' Journal of Chemical Physics, 156(17)

    Yamamoto, M., Zhao, Q., Goto, S., Gu, Y., Toriyama, T., Yamamoto, T., Nishihara, H., Aziz, A., Crespo-Otero, R., Di Tommaso, D., Tamura, M., Tomishige, K., Kyotani, T., Yamazaki, K. (2022) 'Porous nanographene formation on γ-alumina nanoparticles via transition-metal-free methane activation.' Chemical Science, 13(11) pp. 3140-3146.

    Aziz, A., Sidat, A., Talati, P., Crespo-Otero, R. (2022) 'Understanding the solid state luminescence and piezochromic properties in polymorphs of an anthracene derivative.' Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 24(5) pp. 2832-2842.

    Aziz, A., Carrasco, J. (2021) 'Towards Predictive Synthesis of Inorganic Materials Using Network Science.' Frontiers in Chemistry, 9

    Aziz, A., Carrasco, J., Grosu, Y. (2021) 'Towards tuning the modality of hierarchical macro-nanoporous metals by controlling the dealloying kinetics of close-to-eutectic alloys.' Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 23(44) pp. 25388-25400.

    Tse, J., Aziz, A., Flitcroft, J.M., Skelton, J.M., Gillie, L.J., Parker, S.C., Cooke, D.J., Molinari, M. (2021) 'Unraveling the Impact of Graphene Addition to Thermoelectric SrTiO3and La-Doped SrTiO3Materials: A Density Functional Theory Study.' ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 13(34) pp. 41303-41314.

    Posligua, V., Pandya, D., Aziz, A., Rivera, M., Otero, R.C., Hamad, S., Crespo, R.G. (2021) 'Engineering the electronic and optical properties of 2D porphyrin-paddlewheel metal-organic frameworks.' JPhys Energy, 3(3)

    Yoo, B., Aziz, A., Ghosh, D., Park, H., Min, G., Islam, M.S., Haque, S.A. (2021) 'Structural, electronic, and optical properties of the vacancy-ordered bismuth-antimony perovskites (CH3NH3)3(Bi1-xSbx)2I9.' Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 125(17) pp. 8938-8946.

    Aziz, A., Aristidou, N., Bu, X., Westbrook, R.J.E., Haque, S.A., Islam, M.S. (2020) 'Understanding the Enhanced Stability of Bromide Substitution in Lead Iodide Perovskites.' Chemistry of Materials, 32(1) pp. 400-409.

    Moran, R.F., Mckay, D., Tornstrom, P.C., Aziz, A., Fernandes, A., Grau-Crespo, R., Ashbrook, S.E. (2019) 'Ensemble-Based Modeling of the NMR Spectra of Solid Solutions: Cation Disorder in Y2(Sn,Ti)2O7.' Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141(44) pp. 17838-17846.

    Ghosh, D., Aziz, A., Dawson, J.A., Walker, A.B., Islam, M.S. (2019) 'Putting the Squeeze on Lead Iodide Perovskites: Pressure-Induced Effects to Tune Their Structural and Optoelectronic Behavior.' Chemistry of Materials, 31(11) pp. 4063-4071.

    Mellan, T.A., Aziz, A., Xia, Y., Grau-Crespo, R., Duff, A.I. (2019) 'Electron and phonon interactions and transport in the ultrahigh-temperature ceramic ZrC.' Physical Review B, 99(9)

    Mangelis, P., Aziz, A., Da Silva, I., Grau-Crespo, R., Vaqueiro, P., Powell, A.V. (2019) 'Understanding the origin of disorder in kesterite-type chalcogenides A2ZnBQ4 (A = Cu, Ag; B = Sn, Ge; Q = S, Se): The influence of inter-layer interactions.' Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 21(35) pp. 19311-19317.

    Posligua, V., Aziz, A., Haver, R., Peeks, M.D., Anderson, H.L., Grau-Crespo, R. (2018) 'Band Structures of Periodic Porphyrin Nanostructures.' Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 122(41) pp. 23790-23798.

    Aziz, A., Ruiz-Salvador, A.R., Hernández, N.C., Calero, S., Hamad, S., Grau-Crespo, R. (2017) 'Porphyrin-based metal-organic frameworks for solar fuel synthesis photocatalysis: Band gap tuning: Via iron substitutions.' Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 5(23) pp. 11894-11904.

    Grau-Crespo, R., Aziz, A., Collins, A.W., Crespo-Otero, R., Hernández, N.C., Rodriguez-Albelo, L.M., Ruiz-Salvador, A.R., Calero, S., Hamad, S. (2016) 'Modelling a Linker Mix-and-Match Approach for Controlling the Optical Excitation Gaps and Band Alignment of Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks.' Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 55(52) pp. 16012-16016.

    Grau-Crespo, R., Aziz, A., Collins, A.W., Crespo-Otero, R., Hernández, N.C., Rodriguez-Albelo, L.M., Ruiz-Salvador, A.R., Calero, S., Hamad, S. (2016) 'Frontispiece: Modelling a Linker Mix-and-Match Approach for Controlling the Optical Excitation Gaps and Band Alignment of Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks.' Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 55(52)

    Aziz, A., Mangelis, P., Vaqueiro, P., Powell, A.V., Grau-Crespo, R. (2016) 'Electron and phonon transport in shandite-structured Ni3 Sn2 S2.' Physical Review B, 94(16)

    Corps, J., Vaqueiro, P., Aziz, A., Grau-Crespo, R., Kockelmann, W., Jumas, J.C., Powell, A.V. (2015) 'Interplay of Metal-Atom Ordering, Fermi Level Tuning, and Thermoelectric Properties in Cobalt Shandites Co3M2S2 (M = Sn, In).' Chemistry of Materials, 27(11) pp. 3946-3956.

    Hamad, S., Hernandez, N.C., Aziz, A., Ruiz-Salvador, A.R., Calero, S., Grau-Crespo, R. (2015) 'Electronic structure of porphyrin-based metal-organic frameworks and their suitability for solar fuel production photocatalysis.' Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 3(46) pp. 23458-23465.

    Aziz, A., Hailes, H.C., Ward, J.M., Evans, J.R.G. (2014) 'Long-term stabilization of reflective foams in sea water.' RSC Advances, 4(95) pp. 53028-53036.