天堂视频

Department of Materials

Staff

Dr Zhaoxia Zhou BEng, MSc, PhD

Photo of Dr Zhaoxia Zhou

Senior Research Fellow

TEM specialist - 天堂视频 Materials Characterisation Centre

LMCC Research Support

Background:

Specializing in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Zhaoxia oversees TEM operations in the 天堂视频 Materials Characterisation Centre (LMCC), Department of Materials. She is also responsible for communicating LMCC’s research capabilities and supporting grant proposal costing to academic research across the campus and providing industrial consultancy services.

Zhaoxia joined 天堂视频 in 2010 as an Experimental Officer after completing multiple EPSRC and European Framework projects as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Sheffield. She was promoted to Research Fellow in 2015 and to Senior Research Fellow in 2023. With over 20 years of experience in materials characterization and failure analysis using electron, ion, X-ray, and laser-based techniques, Zhaoxia has had regular access to Diamond Light Source and SuperSTEM national facilities since 2004.

Collaborating with academics in both physical and life sciences disciplines, Zhaoxia covers a wide range of materials of interest, including engineering alloys, functional ceramics, photovoltaic thin films, Li-ion batteries, semiconductors, tribological PVD coatings, nanoparticles, Pb-free solders, polymer composites, bacteriophages, and human muscle biopsies. With over 90 journal papers Zhaoxia also holds several UKRI research grants as an independent investigator.

Qualifications:

  • PhD University of Sheffield entitled “Oxidation and Wear of TiAlN/VN Multilayer PVD Hard Coatings”
  • FRMS Fellow of the Royal Microscopy Society

Outline of main research interests:

Application of advanced electron microscopy and associated analytical techniques to investigate materials microstructure and properties.

This has included:

  1. Interfaces and surfaces: oxidation, wear and friction, wettability.
  2. Materials resilience in a system: heterogeneous integration of polymers, ceramics and metals and their mechanical, thermal and electrical reliability, as well as residual stress (in-situ characterisation at micron and nanometre scale).
  3. Microplastics and particulate matter: morphology, chemistry and statistics.
  4. Cathodoluminescence (CL) for photovoltaic & optoelectronic devices, and wide bandgap semiconductors. Find out more about the National Facility for High-resolution Cathodoluminescence.

Grants:

  1. National facility for high resolution CL analysis of photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices, EP/X030245/1, 01/23-01/26.
  2. Microplastic entrainment, transport and fragmentation in atmospheric boundary-layer flows, 1/2023-12/2025.
  3. Underpinning Power Electronics 2017: Heterogeneous Integration. ERSRC, (EP/R004501/1), 11/2017-10/2020,
  4. Quasi-ambient bonding to enable cost-effective high temperature Pb-free solder interconnects. EPSRC (EP/R032203/1; EP/R031711/1; EP/R031770/1), 7/2018-6/2021.
  5. 3D CTE controlled integration supporting/encapsulation materials. EPSRC Challenge Network in Automotive Power Electronics, Feasibility Award from University of Nottingham EP/P00136X/1. 7/2018-3/2019.
  6. Santander mobility award, 天堂视频 2018.
  7. Diamond Light Source 12 shifts on proposals SP4591 and MG24151 and ePSIC facility 10 days on proposals EM18971 and MG22358, SuperSTEM regular visits since year 2004.

Current teaching:

  • MPP010 MSc project

Current administration responsibilities:

  • LMCC research capability

Recent publications:

  1. Robertson, S, McClintock, A, Jolley, K, Zhou, H, Davis, S, Wu, H, Liu, C, Doak, S, Zhou, Z(2024) , Journal of Microscopy, ISSN: 0022-2720. DOI: .
  2. Agyakwa, PA, Robertson, S, Dai, J, Mouawad, B, Zhou, Z, Liu, C, Johnson, CM (2024) , Journal of Electronic Materials, pp.1374-1398, ISSN: 0361-5235. DOI: .
  3. Wu, J, Aboulkhair, NT, Robertson, S, Zhou, Z, Bagot, PAJ, Moody, MP, Degano, M, Ashcroft, I, Hague, RJM (2023) , Acta Materialia, 259, pp.119239-119239, ISSN: 1359-6454. DOI: .
  4. Venkat, G, Cox, CDW, Zhou, Z, Leo, N, Kinane, CJ, Caruana, AJ, Morrison, K (2023) , Applied Physics Letters, 123(17), 172408, ISSN: 0003-6951. DOI: .
  5. Pattnaik, D, Ushakov, Y, Zhou, Z, Borisov, P, Cropper, M, Wijayantha-Kahagala-Gamage, U, Balanov, A, Saveliev, S (2023) , Physical Review Applied, 19(2), 024065, DOI: .
  6. Bullard, J, Zhou, Z, Davis, S, Fowler, S (2022) , Environmental Science and Technology, 57(1), pp.76-84, ISSN: 0013-936X. DOI: .
  7. Chen, Y, Liu, C, Zhou, Z, Liu, C (2022) , Journal of Manufacturing Processes, 84, pp.1310-1319, ISSN: 1526-6125. DOI: .
  8. Inns, D, Pei, X, Zhou, Z, Irving, DJM, Kondrat, S (2022) , Materials Today Chemistry, 26(2022), 101230, DOI: .
  9. Ramachandran, S, Zhong, Y, Robertson, S, Panteli, C, Liang, S, Wu, F, Zhou, R, Marathe, S, Zhou, Z, Holmes, AS, Haigh, SJ, Liu, C, Mirihanage, W (2022) , Materialia, 23, 101444, DOI: .
  10. Liang, S, Zhong, Y, Robertson, S, Liu, A, Zhou, Z, Liu, C (2021) , IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology, 11(12), pp.2122-2129, ISSN: 2156-3950. DOI: 

External collaborators:

  • SuperSTEM
  • University of Manchester
  • Imperial College London
  • University of Nottingham
  • University of Leeds
  • University of Sheffield
  • The Manufacturing Technology Centre: MTC
  • Dynex Semiconductor Ltd

Contact usGeneral enquiries

Materials Engineering

Tel: +44 (0)1509 222527

Location: S Building