Dr Zoe Schnepp

School of Chemistry
Associate Professor in Materials Chemistry

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0) 121 414 3530
Email: z.schnepp@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @zoeschnepp

Address: School of Chemistry
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Zoe Schnepp’s research focusses on the sustainable synthesis of materials. In particular, she is interested in using biomass to produce materials for applications in energy (fuel cells, batteries) and water purification. Zoe is a regular user of the Diamond Light Source synchrotron and ISIS, a neutron beamline in Didcot, where she studies the mechanism of formation of materials and the structure of biological polymers.

In addition to her research, Zoe leads the ChemBAM project, which aims to enhance the experience of chemistry for school pupils throughout the UK. ChemBAM links the National Curriculum to University research and ‘real world’ chemistry through activities and experiments.

Listen to Zoe speaking about her research on BBC World Service's Science In Action.

Qualifications

Lecturer in Chemistry:

PhD in Chemistry, University of Bristol, 2009
MSci (Hons) in Chemistry with Industrial Experience, University of Bristol, 2005

Biography

Zoe Schnepp completed a PhD with Professor Stephen Mann at the University of Bristol in 2009. She then held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and interfaces in Germany before moving to the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan. Here, she was awarded an independent postdoctoral fellowship in the International Center for Young Scientists. In 2012, she returned to the UK as a Birmingham Fellow.

Research

RESEARCH THEMES

Sustainability
Biopolymers for materials synthesis
Ceramic nanomaterials
Carbon nanomaterials
Biopolymer structure
Metal carbide and nitride nanomaterials

Publications

Selected Recent Publications:

D Fletcher, R Hunter, E Blackburn & Z Scnepp Scalable synthesis of dispersible iron carbide (Fe₃C) nanoparticles by ‘nanocasting’ Journal of Materials Chemistry A. 2019. 7, 33, p. 19506-19512 7 p.
M Britton, Z Schnepp The aggregation of an alkyl-C₆₀ derivative as a function of concentration, temperature and solvent type Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 2018. 20, 5, p. 3373-3380 8 p.
A. E. Danks, M. J. Hollamby, B. Hammouda, D. C. Fletcher, F. Johnston-Banks, S. E. Rogers , Z. Schnepp, Mechanistic insights into the formation of porous carbons from gelatin, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 11644.
A. E. Danks, S. R. Hall, Z. Schnepp, The evolution of ‘sol-gel’ chemistry as a technique for materials synthesis, Mater. Horiz. 2016, 3, 91.
Z. Yang, A. E. Danks, J. Wang, Y. Zhang, Z. Schnepp, Triple templating of graphitic carbon nitride to enhance photocatalytic properties, APL Mater., 2016, 4, 015706.
Z. Schnepp, A. E. Danks, M. J. Hollamby, B. R. Pauw, C. A. Murray, C. C. Tang, In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction study of the sol-gel synthesis of Fe₃N and Fe₃C, Chem. Mater., 2015, 27, 5094.
Z. Yang, Y. Zhang, Z. Schnepp, Soft and hard templating of graphitic carbon nitride, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2015, 3, 14081.
E. Thompson, A. Danks, L. Bourgeois, Z. Schnepp, Iron catalyzed graphitization of biomass, Green Chemistry, 2015, 17, 551.
R. Boston, Z. Schnepp, Y. Nemoto, Y. Sakka, S. R. Hall, In Situ TEM Observation of a Microcrucible Mechanism of Nanowire Growth, Science, 2014, 344, 623.

View all publications in research portal