Dr Clare Rees-Zimmerman

I am a chemical engineer by training, though have now joined the Oxford Colloid group based in the Department of Chemistry. My current research addresses the need to make functional materials more sustainable, by using less of the expensive components, but still delivering the required properties. It does this using the science of colloidal hydrodynamics (the motion of small particles in fluid), deriving novel equations to model how mixtures of particles flow. My PhD work examined how a mixture of differently sized particles arranges itself in a thin film as it dries. In my fellowship, I am working on developing a new class of three-phase composite functional materials. The resulting coatings will have highly tuneable properties and I will explore the most promising applications, from reactor materials to tissue engineering. Regarding fundamental science, the required theoretical work will advance our understanding of multiphase colloidal hydrodynamics.

I teach thermofluids sections of the Engineering course at LMH: fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and heat and mass transfer. This involves teaching Paper P4: Energy Systems (first year) and Paper A4: Energy Systems (second year). I also teach parts of Paper B2: Engineering in Society (third year).

[1] Rees-Zimmerman, C. R., & Routh, A. F. (2021). Stratification in drying films: a diffusion–diffusiophoresis model. J. Fluid Mech., 928, A15. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2021.800.

[2] Rees-Zimmerman, C. R., & Chaffin, S. T. (2021). Modelling the effect of bioreactor height on stripping fermentation products from the engineered bacterium Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius. Biochem. Eng. J., 176, 108195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2021.108195.

[3] Hertaeg, M. J., Rees-Zimmerman, C., Tabor, R. F., Routh, A., & Garnier, G. (2021). Predicting coffee ring formation upon drying in droplets of particle suspensions. J. Colloid Interface Sci., 591, 52–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2021.01.092.