The main theme of my work is focused on the use of synthetic & biological templates as structural scaffolds to control the formation & organisation of colloidal inorganic building blocks. Projects focus on the use of transmission electron microscopy & associated techniques (e.g. energy dispersive X-ray analysis & electron diffraction) to determine the structure of new materials, other analytical techniques used include powder X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy, FT-IR & dynamic light scattering.

Biological templates that have been successfully used include self-assembled cylindrical particles of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV). The surface charge of the virus was chemically controlled thus enabling metallisation to be selectively performed on the outer cylindrical surface or in the inner capillary-like cavity.

Recent work has involved using chiral amphiphilic molecules that self-assemble into helical ribbons & cylindrical tubules to produce viscoelastic fluids & gels. Complex fluids are also used to synthesise & self-assemble higher-order nanoparticle-based structures.