Brian Saunders (BS) obtained his PhD at Monash University (Australia) and worked as a post-doc with Prof. Brian Vincent at the University of Bristol between 1994 and 1997. He is a Professor of Polymer and Colloid Chemistry at the Department of Materials, University of Manchester. His research career at Manchester began in 2002 and involves the application of polymer and colloid chemistry principles to solar energy and healthcare research. He has a long track record of EPSRC funding as Principal Investigator in both areas. BS has a strong international reputation for microgel research. Microgels are pre-assembled sub-micrometre gel particles. A highlight of his healthcare research is a new method for constructing gels using pre-assembled sub-micrometer microgel particles. BS has 174 peer-reviewed publications and is the corresponding author for more than 75% of them. Of those papers, more than 90 involve polymer colloids and more than 70 involve microgels. BS also has more than 35 publications involving conjugated polymers and / or light harvesting particles for solar applications, which includes 17 perovskite solar cell (PSC) papers. The BS group designs, constructs and measures the performance of their own PSCs at Manchester. BS is also co-founder of a successful University of Manchester spin-out, Gelexir Healthcare (now Gelmetix). Please see my "Research Interests" page for more details about our research. BS welcomes enquiries for PhDs in the biomaterials and PSC areas. The BS group is now applying machine learning to analyse data generated and guide materials design in both of these research areas.

The polymer and colloid chemistry research conducted within the BS group has two core themes: solar energy and biomaterials. We use polymer and colloid science to address major societal challenges. The group has collaborations with other UK and international universities as well as industry. Our perovskite solar cell (PSC) research involves using nanogels and microgels as mesoscopic additives. Nanogels and microgels have produced solar cell performance improvements. (Nanogels are microgels with sub-100 nm diameters.) The group has biomaterial research projects involving using microgels to repair damaged intervertebral discs (IVDs). The group has shown that injection of a pH-responsive microgel into degenerated IVDs result in an increase in disc height under biomechanically meaningful loads. This research resulted in a prestigious and highly productive EPSRC Established Career Funding (for BS) and a Spin Out (Gelmetix Healthcare). In addition, BS has had a long-standing collaboration with Synthomer in the area of synthetic rubber gloves. Our thriving multicultural research group has students from Britain, China and Saudi Arabia. BS welcomes enquiries for PhDs in the biomaterials and PSC areas. In addition, PhD projects are available that use machine-learning in combination with biomaterial or PSC research.

More details on our biomaterials research: 

Our group pioneered the construction of injectable gels using interlinking of microgels as a means for restoring the mechanical properties of degenerated intervertebral discs. That research continues to be exciting and is now expanding to encompass stretchable injectable gels for cartilage repair.

More details on our PSC research: 

The BS group continues to study bespoke polymers (including nanogels and microgels) as macro-additives for PSCs. This approach exploits their excellent colloidal stability and ease of visualisation within the devices to improve our knowledge and the performance of PSCs.

Recent key papers: We are very excited about two recent papers from our group. 

Reham Aljedaani just had a paper accepted reporting the highest efficiency for PSCs containing nanogels or microgels (21.97%): Rational design of nanogel particle composition to control halide perovskite growth, structure and increase solar cell efficiency. J. Coll. Interf. Sci, 722, 140871, 2026 (DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2026.140871)

Amal Alruwaili had a PSC paper published with structurally coloured devices: Assembly of non-close-packed poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgels on metal halide perovskite films. J. Coll. Interf. Sci, 701, 138591, 2026 (10.1016/j.jcis.2025.138591)

Please see my research output for other papers from the BS group.

• Biomaterials
• Polymers Composites and Carbon