Professor Anthony R West

Professor A R West

BSc PhD DSc CChem CPhys FRSC FInstP FIMMM FRSE
Professor of Electroceramics and Solid State Chemistry

Address:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD

Telephone: +44 (0) 114 222 5501
Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 5943

Email: a.r.west@sheffield.ac.uk

Tony West joined the Department in 1999 having spent most of his academic career at The University of Aberdeen. He has written books on Solid State Chemistry, was founding editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry and founding Chairman of the Materials Chemistry Forum of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is a former President of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of IUPAC. He served as Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering from 1999 to 2007 and is now Director of the University´s E-Futures Doctoral Training Centre which takes on ~20 students per annum to do PhDs in a wide range of energy-related projects.

Research interests

His research is a blend of the Chemistry, Physics and Engineering of Inorganic Materials, especially oxides, which focuses on materials with interesting and/or useful electrical properties, especially ionic conductors, mixed ionic/electronic conductors, semiconductors, ferro- and di-electrics. His research programmes are broadly-based and cover a wide variety of experimental techniques, including:

Synthesis and crystal structure determination of new oxide materials.
Use of phase diagrams to determine mechanisms of doping and solid solution formation and to study polymorphism of inorganic and organic (amino acid-based) materials.
Electrical property measurements, especially using impedance spectroscopy. to characterise ceramics and measure their conductivity and permittivity.
Electrochemical testing of materials for possible use as anodes or cathodes in lithium ion batteries.

Key projects

development of new materials for lithium battery applications, including spinels such as LiCoMnO₄, which exhibit a 5V redox couple Co^3+/4+ on lithium (de) intercalation
synthesis and characterisation of new rare earth ion-doped barium titanate, BaTiO₃, which has a room temperature permittivity of ~20,000 when doped with La (In collaboration with Dr Derek Sinclair)
synthesis and characterisation of new solid electrolytes (mainly Li⁺ and 0⁼ ion conductors)
understanding the structure-property correlations that control the performance of zinc oxide varistors and barium titanate positive temperature coefficient of resistance devices
Synthesis of novel oxides with tetragonal tungsten bronze structure with relaxor ferroelectric character for possible capacitor and microwave dielectric applications
Synthesis of high purity electroceramics by sol-gel methods (in collaboration with Univ. Jaume I, Spain)

Key publications

N Masó, H Beltrán, E Cordoncillo, D C Sinclair and A R West, ‘Polymorphism and dielectric properties of Nb-doped BaTiO₃’, J Am Ceram Soc 91[1] 144-150 (2008).
D Pasero, N Reeves, L Gillie, V Pralong and A R West, ‘Oxygen Stoichiometry-structure-property correlations in Li_2/3[Mn_2/3Ni_1/3]O_2-_d with O₃ structure’, J Electrochem Soc 154(8), A760-A769 (2007).
C C Khaw, C K Lee, Z Zainal, G C Miles and A R West, ‘Pyrochlore phase formation in the system Bi₂O₃-ZnO-Ta₂O₅’, J Am Ceram Soc 90(9), 2900-2904 (2007).
D Pasero, N Reeves, L J Gillie and A R West, ‘Variable oxygen stoichiometry in layered rock salt cathodes, Li_x(Mn,Ni)O₂, depending on synthesis conditions’, J Power Sources 174, 1078-1081 (2007).
M Li, A Feteira, D C Sinclair and A R West, ‘Incipient ferroelectricity and microwave dielectric resonance properties of CaCu_2.85Mn_0.15Ti₄O₁₂ ceramics’, Appl Phys Lett 91, 132911 (2007).
M C Stennett, I M Reaney, G C Miles and A R West, ‘Tungsten bronze-structured temperature-stable dielectrics’, J Am Ceram Soc, 90(3), 980-982 (2007).
A R West, ‘Inorganic functional materials: Optimization of properties by structural and compositional control’, The Chemical Record, 6, 206-216 (2006).
H Beltrán, E Cordoncillo, P Escribano, D C Sinclair and A R West, ‘Oxygen loss, semiconductivity, and positive temperature coefficient of resistance behaviour in undoped cation-stoichiometric BaTiO₃ ceramics’, J Appl Phys, 98, 094102 (2005).
M C Stennett, G C Miles, J Sharman, I M Reaney and A R West, ‘A new family of ferroelectric tetragonal tungsten bronze phases, Ba₂MTi₂X₃O₁₅’, J Europ Ceram Soc, 25, 2471-2475 (2005).
D Pasero, L V McLaren, S de Souza and A R West, ‘Oxygen nonstoichiometry in Li₂MnO₃: An alternative explanation for its anomalous electrochemical activity’, Chem Mater, 17(2), 345-348 (2005).