| Assoc Prof Timothy John White
Associate Professor
Division of Materials Science
School of Materials Science & Engineering
College of Engineering
Email: TJWHITE@ntu.edu.sg
Phone: (+65)6790 4586
Office: N4.1-01-26 |
| Education |
- PhD Australian National University 1982
- BSc(Hons) University of New England 1979
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| Biography |
White received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Australian National University. He has worked at universities and national laboratories in Australia, Europe and North America as well as Singapore. The primary area of his expertise is crystallography that is explored using X-ray, electron and neutron diffraction. He is Co-editor of Acta Crystallographica, Section B, Structural Science.
White is currently Head of the Materials Science Division in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, and Director of the Facility for Analysis, Characterisation, Testing and Simulation (FACTS) that houses the largest concentration of electron microscopes and X-ray diffractometers in Singapore. Previously, he was Director of the Centre for Advanced Research of Ecomaterials (CARE) in Singapore and prior to moving to Singapore was Professor of Environmental Technology at The Ian Wark Research Institute that served the mining and minerals processing industry in Australia.
White has been involved in the design of advanced materials for more than 25 years in the fields of environmental remediation, superconductivity, hydrogen storage, catalysis and ion exchange. These studies require the application of advanced characterization methods including atomic resolution microscopy, crystal structure refinement and determination, and surface analysis for the investigation of chemical states and molecular configurations.
At NTU, he is concerned with developing new pedagogies for the teaching of materials characterization to enable fresh graduates to completely exploit state-of-the-art instrumentation.
White is author or co-author of over 150 papers, 4 conference proceedings, and numerous confidential industry and government reports. |
| Research Interests |
White's research is broadly in the areas of Solid-state chemistry and mineralogy (catalysis, ion conductors, porous materials; toxic and nuclear waste); crystal chemistry and crystallography;
State-of-the-art analytical techniques in materials chemistry and environmental science. Major project over the past 25 years includes:
(1) Team member, Griffith University Synroc Research Group (1982-1985) with special responsibility for structural and chemical characterisation of the nuclear waste form.
(2) Team leader (1991-1992) responsible for conceptualising a novel process for the continuous production of high temperature superconducting wires which attracted $2.2 million of syndicated venture capital.
(3) Group leader, ANSTO (1985-1988) obtained funding for proving synroc as a medium for the incorporation of real high level nuclear waste. Negotiated access to Euratom Facility at Karlsruhe (Germany) for investigation of active synroc. Responsible for first in-depth characterisation of Japanese synroc that enabled high Cm-244 levels to be incorporated for accelerated radiation damage studies at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute.
(4) Consultant (1989 to 1997)) to Nuclear Waste Management Pty. Ltd. and Costain Engineering (England) to facilitate technology transfer of synroc to Russia and develop viable scale-up procedures.
(5) Team leader (1990) at University of Queensland in a program to develop novel ceramic formulations to incorporate high-sodium, breeder reactor and TRU wastes.
(6) Team leader (1991) at the University of Queensland for the development of new and improved waste forms of Portland cement and pozzolanics containing heavy metal wastes.
(7) Research Director (1993-1996) as Multiplex Professor of Environmental Technology developing ceramic methods for the treatment of toxic metal wastes at industrial and mineral processing sites in Australia.
(8) Team leader (1997 - 1999) at ETI responsible for evaluating low level radioactive waste contamination at an industrial site. Work included site assessment, development of remediation strategy in the laboratory and full site remediation including solidification of sludge and preparation of material for repatriation to Europe.
(9) Team leader (1999 - 2001) at ETI responsible for validating the performance of membrane technology for the recovery and recycling of used automotive oil. Duties include the design and supervision of laboratory test work, and the collection of data from industrial pilot plants.
(10) Director (2001-2004) at IESE responsible for developing a program of advanced research for the development of new ecomaterials for environmental protection. Major materials under investigation include catalysts (including decorated nanocatalysts and nanocomposites), modified and intercalated clays for sorption and fixation of waste, microporous tectosilicates and tectotitanates as selective ion exchangers, macroporous materials derived from opaline templates as chemical reactors, development of synchrotron XAFS for environmental studies (in collaboration with SSLS).
(11) Co-PI (2003-2007) leading collaborative project with the National Research Council of Canada designing cermic materials for the stabilisation of incinertor ash.
(12) PI (2003-2007) of collaborative project with Frauhofer UMSICHT to develop composite photoacatlytic materials.
(13) PI (2003-2007) to optimise performance of photocatalysts through adjustment of compostion and morphogy. |
| Research Grant |
- A*STAR Science and Engineering Research Council - Public Sector Funding (2003-)
- A*STAR Science and Engineering Research Council - Public Sector Funding (2004-)
- Academic Research Fund Tier 1 (2007-)
- COE Flagship Multidisciplinary Research Initiative (2012-)
- Environment & Water Industry Development Council (2008-) [by Environment & Water Industry Development Council (EWI)]
- NRF CREATE (2012-)
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| Current Projects |
- Ecomaterials Design & Development
- Incommensuration in Oxide Crystal Structures: Impacts on Photocatalysis and Ion Conduction
- Materials survival under extreme conditions
- Nitrogen-Doped TIO2-Activated Carbon (AC) Composite for Adsorptive Photocatalytic Oxidation-Reduction of Refractory Organic Substances Under Solar Irradiation in Water Purification
- Optimisation of Quantum Effects in Apatite-based Nanocomposite Metallic and Semiconductor Catalysts for Environmental Protection
- Optimization of Apatite Anion Sublattices in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Electrolytes
- SinBeRISE Subproject 5 - Characterization
| Selected Publications | - F. Wei, T. Williams, T. An, T. Baikie, C. Kloc, J. Wei and T. White. (2013). Observations of Atomic Scale Compositional and Displacive Modulations in Incommensurate Melilite Electrolytes. Journal of Solid State Chemistry, .
- T. Baikie, Y. Fang, J. M. Kadro, M. Schreyer, F. Wei, S. G. Mhaisalkar, M. Graetzel and T. J. White. (2013). Synthesis and Crystal Chemistry of the Hybrid Perovskite (CH3NH3)PbI3 for Solid-State Sensitised Solar Cell Applications. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 1, 5628-5641.
- T. An, T. Baikie, J. F. Shin, P. R. Slater, S. Li and T. J. White. (2013). Oxygen Migration in Dense Spark Plasma Sintered Aluminium-doped Neodymium Silicate Apatite Electrolytes. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, .
- T. An, T. Baikie, F. Wei, S. S. Pramana, M. K. Schreyer, R. O. Piltz, J. F. Shin, J. Wei, P. R. Slater, T. J. White. (2013). Crystallographic Correlations with Anisotropic Oxide Ion Conduction in Aluminium-Doped Neodymium Silicate Apatite Electrolytes. Chemistry of Materials, 25, 1109-1120.
- Fengxia Wei, Tom Baikie, Tao An, Christian Kloc, Jun Wei, and Tim White. (2012). Crystal Chemistry of Melilite [CaLa]2[Ga]2[Ga2O7]2: a Five Dimensional Solid Electrolyte. Inorganic Chemistry, 51(10), 5941-5949.
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