Mike Weir

Contact

• workRoom C111 Physics
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 74 87597
• Michael.Weir@nottingham.ac.uk
• https://michaelpweir.com/

Biography

I was educated at Ernesford Grange School in Coventry, before moving on to the University of Nottingham where I obtained an M.Sci. degree in Physics (2006), and then to The University of Sheffield where I completed a Ph.D. in Polymer Physics under the supervision of Professor Richard A. L. Jones FRS (2010). I then held positions at the Bragg Institute (now the Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering) of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, in Sydney, and in the materials science publishing team at Elsevier Ltd., in Oxford. Afterwards, I returned to The University of Sheffield to complete my post-doctoral work in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. I was appointed to the School as a Nottingham Research Fellow in 2020 and as an Assistant Professor in 2023.

Teaching Summary

I teach on the PHYS4025 Modern Applications of Physics: From Research to Industry. In this module I teach lectures on renewable energy and on energy harvesting materials.

Research Summary

I am an experimental chemical physicist studying polymers, nanomaterials and nanocomposites for a wide range of applications, with specialisms in renewable energy and thermoelectric materials and… read more

Recent Publications

• TOOLAN, DANIEL T. W., WEIR, MICHAEL P., KILBRIDE, RACHEL C., WILLMOTT, JON R., KING, STEPHEN M., XIAO, JAMES, GREENHAM, NEIL C., FRIEND, RICHARD H., RAO, AKSHAY, JONES, RICHARD A. L. and RYAN, ANTHONY J., 2020. Controlling the structures of organic semiconductor–quantum dot nanocomposites through ligand shell chemistry Soft Matter. 16, 7970-7981
• GASPAR, HUGO, SANTOS, RAQUEL, TEIXEIRA, PAULO, HILLIOU, LOIC, WEIR, MICHAEL P., DUIF, CHRIS P., BOUWMAN, WIM G., PARNELL, STEVEN R., KING, STEPHEN M., COVAS, JOSÉ A. and BERNARDO, GABRIEL, 2019. Evolution of dispersion in the melt compounding of a model polymer nanocomposite system: A multi-scale study Polymer Testing. 76, 109 - 118
• WEIR, MICHAEL P., TOOLAN, DANIEL T. W., KILBRIDE, RACHEL C., PENFOLD, NICHOLAS J. W., WASHINGTON, ADAM L., KING, STEPHEN M., XIAO, JAMES, ZHANG, ZHILONG, GRAY, VICTOR, DOWLAND, SIMON, WINKEL, JURJEN, GREENHAM, NEIL C., FRIEND, RICHARD H., RAO, AKSHAY, RYAN, ANTHONY J. and JONES, RICHARD A. L., 2019. Ligand Shell Structure in Lead Sulfide–Oleic Acid Colloidal Quantum Dots Revealed by Small-Angle Scattering The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 10(16), 4713-4719
• BERNARDO, GABRIEL, WASHINGTON, ADAM L., ZHANG, YIWEI, KING, STEPHEN M., TOOLAN, DANIEL T. W., WEIR, MICHAEL P., DUNBAR, ALAN D. F., HOWSE, JONATHAN R., DATTANI, RAJEEV, FAIRCLOUGH, JOHN PATRICK A. and PARNELL, ANDREW J., 2018. Does 1,8-diiodooctane affect the aggregation state of PC71 BM in solution? Royal Society Open Science. 5(9),

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Current Research

I am an experimental chemical physicist studying polymers, nanomaterials and nanocomposites for a wide range of applications, with specialisms in renewable energy and thermoelectric materials and devices. I focus on the study and optimisation of the properties of materials through an understanding of the nanoscale structures and chemical interactions that make up the macroscopic structure. My research is supported by an extensive program of X-ray and neutron scattering techniques at major facilities.

• TOOLAN, DANIEL T. W., WEIR, MICHAEL P., KILBRIDE, RACHEL C., WILLMOTT, JON R., KING, STEPHEN M., XIAO, JAMES, GREENHAM, NEIL C., FRIEND, RICHARD H., RAO, AKSHAY, JONES, RICHARD A. L. and RYAN, ANTHONY J., 2020. Controlling the structures of organic semiconductor–quantum dot nanocomposites through ligand shell chemistry Soft Matter. 16, 7970-7981
• GASPAR, HUGO, SANTOS, RAQUEL, TEIXEIRA, PAULO, HILLIOU, LOIC, WEIR, MICHAEL P., DUIF, CHRIS P., BOUWMAN, WIM G., PARNELL, STEVEN R., KING, STEPHEN M., COVAS, JOSÉ A. and BERNARDO, GABRIEL, 2019. Evolution of dispersion in the melt compounding of a model polymer nanocomposite system: A multi-scale study Polymer Testing. 76, 109 - 118
• WEIR, MICHAEL P., TOOLAN, DANIEL T. W., KILBRIDE, RACHEL C., PENFOLD, NICHOLAS J. W., WASHINGTON, ADAM L., KING, STEPHEN M., XIAO, JAMES, ZHANG, ZHILONG, GRAY, VICTOR, DOWLAND, SIMON, WINKEL, JURJEN, GREENHAM, NEIL C., FRIEND, RICHARD H., RAO, AKSHAY, RYAN, ANTHONY J. and JONES, RICHARD A. L., 2019. Ligand Shell Structure in Lead Sulfide–Oleic Acid Colloidal Quantum Dots Revealed by Small-Angle Scattering The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 10(16), 4713-4719
• BERNARDO, GABRIEL, WASHINGTON, ADAM L., ZHANG, YIWEI, KING, STEPHEN M., TOOLAN, DANIEL T. W., WEIR, MICHAEL P., DUNBAR, ALAN D. F., HOWSE, JONATHAN R., DATTANI, RAJEEV, FAIRCLOUGH, JOHN PATRICK A. and PARNELL, ANDREW J., 2018. Does 1,8-diiodooctane affect the aggregation state of PC71 BM in solution? Royal Society Open Science. 5(9),
• BOOTHROYD, S. C., JOHNSON, D. W., WEIR, M. P., REYNOLDS, C. D., HART, J. M., SMITH, A. J., CLARKE, N., THOMPSON, R. L. and COLEMAN, K. S., 2018. Controlled Structure Evolution of Graphene Networks in Polymer Composites Chemistry of Materials. 30(5),
• GARVEY, CHRISTOPHER J., KHAN, MOHIDUS SAMAD, WEIR, MICHAEL P. and GARNIER, GIL, 2017. Localisation of alkaline phosphatase in the pore structure of paper Colloid and Polymer Science. 295(8), 1293-1304
• GASPAR, HUGO, TEIXEIRA, PAULO, SANTOS, RAQUEL, FERNANDES, LILIANA, HILLIOU, LOIC, WEIR, MICHAEL P., PARNELL, ANDREW J., ABRAMS, KERRY J., HILL, CHRISTOPHER J., BOUWMAN, WIM G., PARNELL, STEVEN R., KING, STEPHEN M., CLARKE, NIGEL, COVAS, JOSÉ A. and BERNARDO, GABRIEL, 2017. A Journey along the Extruder with Polystyrene:C60 Nanocomposites: Convergence of Feeding Formulations into a Similar Nanomorphology Macromolecules. 50(8), 3301-3312
• HSU, YU-CHIEH, TRUSS, ROWAN W., LAYCOCK, BRONWYN, WEIR, MICHAEL P., NICHOLSON, TIMOTHY M., GARVEY, CHRISTOPHER J. and HALLEY, PETER J., 2017. The effect of comonomer concentration and distribution on the photo-oxidative degradation of linear low density polyethylene films Polymer. 119, 66-75
• WEIR, M. P., JOHNSON, D. W., BOOTHROYD, S. C., SAVAGE, R. C., THOMPSON, R. L., KING, S. M., ROGERS, S. E., COLEMAN, K. S. and CLARKE, N., 2016. Distortion of Chain Conformation and Reduced Entanglement in Polymer-Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites ACS Macro Letters. 5(4), 430-434
• WEIR, MICHAEL P., JOHNSON, DAVID W., BOOTHROYD, STEPHEN C., SAVAGE, REBECCA C., THOMPSON, RICHARD L., PARNELL, STEVEN R., PARNELL, ANDREW J., KING, STEPHEN M., ROGERS, SARAH E., COLEMAN, KARL S. and CLARKE, NIGEL, 2016. Extrinsic Wrinkling and Single Exfoliated Sheets of Graphene Oxide in Polymer Composites Chemistry of Materials. 28(6), 1698-1704
• TOPHAM, PAUL D., GLIDLE, ANDREW, TOOLAN, DANIEL T. W., WEIR, MICHAEL P., SKODA, MAXIMILLIAN W. A., BARKER, ROBERT and HOWSE, JONATHAN R., 2013. The Relationship between Charge Density and Polyelectrolyte Brush Profile Using Simultaneous Neutron Reflectivity and In Situ Attenuated Total Internal Reflection FTIR Langmuir. 29(20), 6068-6076
• YIAPANIS, GEORGE, CHRISTOFFERSON, ANDREW J., PLAZZER, MICHAEL, WEIR, MICHAEL P., PRIME, EMMA L., QIAO, GREG G., SOLOMON, DAVID H. and YAROVSKY, IRENE, 2013. Molecular mechanism of stabilization of thin films for improved water evaporation protection. Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids. 29(47), 14451-9
• HSU, YU-CHIEH, WEIR, MICHAEL P., TRUSS, ROWAN W., GARVEY, CHRISTOPHER J., NICHOLSON, TIMOTHY M. and HALLEY, PETER J., 2012. A fundamental study on photo-oxidative degradation of linear low density polyethylene films at embrittlement Polymer. 53(12), 2385-2393
• WEIR, MICHAEL P., HERIOT, SASHA Y., MARTIN, SIMON J., PARNELL, ANDREW J., HOLT, STEPHEN A., WEBSTER, JOHN R. P. and JONES, RICHARD A. L., 2011. Voltage-Induced Swelling and Deswelling of Weak Polybase Brushes Langmuir. 27(17), 11000-11007
• WEIR, MICHAEL P. and PARNELL, ANDREW J., 2011. Water Soluble Responsive Polymer Brushes Polymers. 3(4), 2107-2132
• EDMONDSON, S., VO, C.-D., ARMES, S. P., UNALI, G.-F. and WEIR, M. P., 2008. Layer-by-layer deposition of polyelectrolyte macroinitiators for enhanced initiator density in surface-initiated ATRP Langmuir. 24(14), 7208-7215
• SHARP, J.S., THOMAS, K.R. and WEIR, M.P., 2007. Mechanically driven wrinkling instability in thin film polymer bi-layers Physical Review E. 75, 011601
• SHARP, J. S., THOMAS, K. R. and WEIR, M. P., 2007. Mechanically driven wrinkling instability in thin film polymer bilayers Physical Review E. 75(1),