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Biography
Dr. Matthew Wadge is a Research Fellow within the Advanced Materials Research Group at the University of Nottingham (UoN). He holds a First-Class BSc (Hons) degree in Biomedical Materials Science, and a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering and Materials Design, also from UoN, having completed his PhD in August 2020. He previously held to post of EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow. His research has primarily focussed on the production of thin film coatings via wet chemical and PVD methodologies, specifically magnetron sputtering for a plethora of different applications, including biomaterials, energy storage, water treatment and electrocatalysis. Presently, his fellowship is investigating the development of new high pressure, ambient temperature intermetallic alloys for hydrogen storage systems (H2COOL).
Previous research during his Doctroal Prize Fellowship investigated the self-assembly of microspheres into 3D constructs utilising alkaline titanate structures to do so, with the view to generate a platform technology using these materials. He has received a number of prestigious prizes including: The Armourers and Brasiers' Best PhD Student and Best BSc/BEng Student of the Year Awards (2020 & 2018, respectively), presentation prizes at both National (UKSB, Future Materials, etc.) and International (ESB and WBC) conferences, being named as one of '15 under 30' to look out for in Materials Science by Materials World, as well as being a National Finalist in the IOM3 Younger Persons Lecture Competition (2019).
Matthew has also taken on additional voluntary roles as a STEM outreach ambassador during the last three Pint of Science festivals (2017-2020). He has helped organise and co-ordinate the Pint of Science festival, first as an event manager (2017-18), then as the city co-ordinator for Nottingham (2018-19), as well as his current role as one of the National advisors to the Pint of Science central team (2019-20). He co-ordinated a sell-out festival in 2018/19, with over 1500 attendees; 3rd largest festival turnout in the UK, including a sell-out event (over 400 attendees) with astronaut Dr. Michael Foale CBE.
Research Summary
I am currently employed as a Research Fellow working on development of new high pressure, ambient temperature intermetallic alloys for hydrogen storage systems, as well as previously holding an EPSRC… read more
Recent Publications
ALISTAIR SPEIDEL, MATTHEW D. WADGE, LEONARDIS GARGALIS, TIMOTHY P. COOPER, WILLIAM REYNOLDS, DAVID M. GRANT, RICHARD HAGUE, ADAM T. CLARE and JAMES W. MURRAY, 2022. The interaction of volatile metal coatings during the laser powder bed fusion of copper Journal of Materials Processing Technology. 299, MATTHEW D. WADGE, MATTHEW J. CARRINGTON, HANNAH CONSTANTIN, KIERAN ORANGE, JASON GREAVES, MD TOWHIDUL ISLAM, KAZI M. ZAKIR HOSSAIN, TIMOTHY P. COOPER, ZAKHAR K. KUDRYNSKYI, REDA M. FELFEL, IFTY AHMED and DAVID M. GRANT, 2022. Characterization of potential nanoporous sodium titanate film formation on Ti6Al4V and TiO2 microspherical substrates via wet-chemical alkaline conversion Materials Characterization. FELFEL, R. M., PARSONS, A. J., CHEN, M., STUART, B. W., WADGE, M. D. and GRANT, D. M., 2021. Water resistant fibre/matrix interface in a degradable composite: Synergistic effects of heat treatment and polydopamine coating: Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing. 146, MATTHEW D. WADGE, JAMIE MCGUIRE, BENJAMIN V. T. HANBY, REDA M. FELFEL, IFTY AHMED and DAVID M. GRANT, 2021. Tailoring the degradation rate of magnesium through biomedical nano-porous titanate coatings Journal of Magnesium and Alloys. 9(1), 336-350
Current Research
I am currently employed as a Research Fellow working on development of new high pressure, ambient temperature intermetallic alloys for hydrogen storage systems, as well as previously holding an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship in the production of self-assembling titanate structures. In addition, I am also Laboratory Supervisor to the Thin Films Lab at the University of Nottingham (UoN). I am responsible for the maintenance, modification, training, and use of the three magnetron sputtering rigs within this laboratory, which include: a TEER UDP-650 unbalanced, closed-field magnetron sputtering rig capable of multilayer sputtering due to its four orthogonally mounted magnetrons; a UoN vertically mounted custom rig enabling coating from powder targets; and a UoN custom barrel coating rig enabling handling and coating of powders, which highlighted the importance and use of magnetron sputtering to coat AM powders for improved laser absorptivity. I also have experience in coating and generating metallic, ceramic and glass materials; 2D, 3D and powder substrates; as well as oxide, nitride, and hydride reactive sputtering; publishing widely in these areas.
Past Research
Matthew's research has investigated the formation of a platform technology to employ self-assembled core-shell contructs, to be utilised in various fields, including biomaterials, water treatment, battery, and energy technologies, to name a few. Through simplistic wet chemical treatments, 3D constructs can be formed with macro, micro and nanoporoisities.