Dr Paul D Topham

Phone number
+44 (0)121 204 3413

Email
p.d.topham@aston.ac.uk

Room number

Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry CE201

Profile

Dr. Topham joined the Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry department at Aston in August 2008 as a Lecturer in Chemistry.

Following completion of a PhD in 2006, he undertook a post-doctoral research position working for Unilever, under the supervision of Professor Tony Ryan and Professor Steve Armes.

Qualifications & Education

• Aston University Early Career Researcher of the Year, 2010
• Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Practice in Higher Education, Aston University, 2010
• PhD in Polymer Science, University of Sheffield, 2006

• MChem, Upper second class. University of Sheffield, 2002

Teaching activity

Chemical Kinetics

Physical Chemistry

Polymer Science (all levels)

Research interests

Dr Topham’s research focuses on the synthesis, development and application of well-defined polymer systems, including “smart” polymers, biocompatible and biodegradable materials and tethered polymer brushes. Controlled living polymerisation techniques are combined with synthetic organic chemistry to fabricate novel (co)polymers, which display varying phenomena, depending on the material itself and the environment in which it is placed. Current interests include organic solar cells, rubber technology, electrospinning, microphase separation, click chemistry, drug delivery, polymer fibres and biomedical applications.

Membership of Professional Bodies and External Roles

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC)

Treasurer of Recent Appointees in Polymer Science (RAPS)

Vice-Coordinator of FP7-funded ITN project (ESTABLIS)

Publications (click on the link for the full article)

23) Anthony J. Ryan, Paul D. Topham* (2012). Stimuli-Responsive and Motile Supramolecular Soft Materials in Supramolecular Chemistry: from Molecules to Nanomaterials, J.W. Steed and P.A. Gale (eds).  John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, UK, pp 3337-3354. Book chapter

22) Dave J. Adams*, Paul D. Topham* (2012). Assembly of Block Copolymers in Supramolecular Chemistry: from Molecules to Nanomaterials, J.W. Steed and P.A. Gale (eds).  John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, UK, pp 3235-3254. Book chapter

21) Linge Wang*, Meng Wang, Paul D. Topham, Yong Huang*. Fabrication of magnetic drug-loaded polymeric composite nanofibres and their drug release characteristics. RSC Advances (2012). DOI: 10.1039/C2RA00484D. Article

20) Paul D. Topham*, Andrew J. Parnell, Roger C. Hiorns. Block Copolymer Strategies for Solar Cell Technology. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics (2011), 49 (16), 1131-1156. Featured as the front cover August 2011. Article

19) Stephen Ebbens*, Richard Hodgkinson, Andrew J. Parnell, Alan Dunbar, Simon J. Martin, Paul D. Topham, Nigel Clarke, Jonathan R. Howse*. In-Situ Imaging and Height Reconstruction of Phase Separation Processes in Polymer Blends during Spin-Coating. ACS Nano (2011), 5, 5124-5131. Article

18) Joshua M. G. Swann, Paul D. Topham.* Design and application of actuators derived from block copolymers. Polymers (2010), 2(4), 454-469. Article

17) Dave J. Adams,* Paul D. Topham.* Peptide Conjugate Hydrogelators. Soft Matter (2010), 6, 3707-3721. Article

16) Joshua M. G. Swann, Wim Bras, Jonathan R. Howse,* Paul D. Topham,* Anthony J. Ryan. Effect of the Hofmeister anions upon the swelling of a self-assembled pH-responsive hydrogel. Langmuir (2010), 26 (12), 10191-10197. Article

15) Joshua M. G. Swann, Wim Bras, Jonathan R. Howse,* Paul D. Topham,* Anthony J. Ryan. Quantifying Hydrogel Response using Laser Light Scattering. Soft Matter (2010), 6, 743-749. Featured as the back cover. Article

14) Andrew J. Parnell,* Nadia Tzokova, Paul D. Topham, Dave J. Adams, Sarah Adams, Christine M. Fernyhough, Anthony J. Ryan, Richard A. L. Jones. The efficiency of encapsulation within surface rehydrated polymersomes. Faraday Discussions (2009), 143, 29-46. Article

13) Nadejda Tzokova, Christine M. Fernyhough, Michael F. Butler, Steven P. Armes, Anthony J. Ryan, Paul D. Topham,* Dave J. Adams.* The Effect of PEO Length on the Self-Assembly of Poly(ethylene oxide)-Tetrapeptide Conjugates Prepared by ‘Click’ Chemistry. Langmuir (2009), 25(18), 11082-11089. Article

12) Nadejda Tzokova, Christine M. Fernyhough, Paul D. Topham,* Nicholas Sandon, Dave J. Adams,* Michael F. Butler, Steven P. Armes, Anthony J. Ryan. Soft Hydrogels from Nanotubes of Poly(ethylene oxide)-Tetraphenylalanine Conjugates Prepared by ‘Click’ Chemistry. Langmuir (2009), 25(4), 2479-2485. Article

11) Paul D. Topham,* Nicholas Sandon, Elizabeth S. Read, Jeppe Madsen, Anthony J. Ryan, Steven P. Armes. Facile Synthesis of Well-defined Hydrophilic Macromonomers using ATRP and Click Chemistry. Macromolecules (2008), 41 (24), 9542-9547. Article

10) Paul D. Topham, Jonathan R. Howse, Christine M. Fernyhough, Anthony J. Ryan.* The performance of poly(styrene)-block-poly(2-vinyl pyridine)-block-poly(styrene) triblock copolymers as pH-driven actuators. Soft Matter (2007), 2, 1506-1512. Article

9) Linge Wang, Paul D. Topham, Oleksandr O. Mykhaylyk, Jonathan R. Howse, Wim Bras, Richard A. L. Jones, Anthony J. Ryan.* Electrospinning pH-Responsive Block Copolymer Nano-Fibres. Advanced Materials (2007), 19 (21), 3544-3548. Article

8) Paul D. Topham, Jonathan R. Howse, Colin J. Crook, Anthony J. Gleeson, Wim Bras, Steven P. Armes, Richard A. L. Jones, Anthony J. Ryan.* Autonomous Volume Transitions of Polybase Triblock Copolymer Gel in a Chemically Driven pH-Oscillator. Macromolecular Symposia: Polymer Networks (2007), 256, 95-104. Article

7) Paul D. Topham, Jonathan R. Howse, Colin J. Crook, Steven P. Armes, Richard A. L. Jones, Anthony J. Ryan.* Antagonistic Triblock Polymer Gels Powered by pH Oscillations. Macromolecules (2007), 40 (13), 4393-4395. Featured as the front cover from October to December 2007. Article

6) Mark Geoghegan,* Lorena Ruiz-Perez, Cheen C. Dang, Andrew J. Parnell, Simon J. Martin,Jonathan R. Howse, Richard A. L. Jones, R. Golestanian, Paul D. Topham, Colin J. Crook, Anthony J. Ryan, Devinderjit S. Sivia, John R. P. Webster, Alain Menelle. pH induced swelling and collapse of a polybase brush synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization. Soft Matter (2006), 2, 1076–1080. Article

5) Jonathan R. Howse, Paul  D. Topham, Colin J. Crook, Anthony J. Gleeson, Wim Bras, Richard A. L. Jones, Anthony J. Ryan.* Reciprocating Power Generation in a Chemically Driven Synthetic Muscle. Nano Letters (2006), 6(1), 73-77. Article

4) Paul D. Topham, Jonathan R. Howse, Oleksandr O. Mykhaylyk, Steven P. Armes, Richard A. L. Jones, Anthony J. Ryan.* Synthesis and Solid State Properties of a Poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-poly(2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) Triblock Copolymer. Macromolecules (2006),39(16), 5573-5576. Article

3) Paul D. Topham, Jonathan R. Howse, Colin J. Crook, Andrew J. Parnell, Mark Geoghegan, Richard A. L. Jones, Anthony J. Ryan.* Controlled growth of poly (2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) brushes via atom transfer radical polymerisation on planar silicon surfaces. Polymer International (2006), 55(7), 808-815. Article

2) Anthony J. Ryan*, Colin J. Crook, Jonathan R. Howse, Paul D. Topham, Richard A. L. Jones, Andrew J. Parnell, Mark Geoghegan, Lorena Ruiz-Perez, Simon J. Martin. Mechanical Actuation by Responsive Polyelectrolyte Brushes and Triblock Gels. LMSB Journal of Macromolecular Science, Part B: Physics (2005), 44(6), 1103-1121. Article

1) Anthony J. Ryan*, Colin J. Crook, Jonathan R. Howse, Paul D. Topham, Richard A. L. Jones, Mark Geoghegan, Andrew J. Parnell, Lorena Ruiz-Perez, Simon J. Martin, Andrew Cadby, Alain Menelle, John R. P. Webster, Anthony. J. Gleeson, Wim Bras. Responsive brushes and gels as components of soft nanotechnology. Faraday Discussions (2005), 128 (Self-Organising Polymers), 55-74. Article