Dr Muriel Rigout

Muriel trained as a conventional chemist, graduating from the University of Kent with a first class honours degree in Chemistry. She then entered the fascinating and exciting world of Colour Science and Textile Chemistry while undertaking her PhD studies under the supervision of the world-renowned professor D. M. Lewis at the department of Colour and Polymer Chemistry, University of Leeds.

Following a successful postdoctoral research period, with research themes ranging as far and wide as the high temperature dyeing of wool, to the inkjet printing of Braille and the development of novel colour-changing systems, she then decided to venture overseas and took up a post as a visiting scholar at Heilongjiang University, China. She returned to the UK to work for Pharma Ink Ltd. developing novel security inks for the anti-counterfeiting of pharmaceutical products.

She later embraced the opportunity to join the Textiles and Paper, School of Materials, University of Manchester, as a lecturer in Textile Colouration and Chemistry.

Muriel's research interests and areas of expertise include security inks and papers, novel colour effects for textile applications, contributing to the expansion of inkjet printing in the textile arena, and the development of sustainable/green routes in textile colouration and processing to lower the environmental impact of textiles; in this field, she maintains particular interest in reactive dye chemistry, easy-care finishing, and the colouration of eco-friendly fibres.

• Novel colour effects on textiles (colour-change, iridescence, etc)
• Inkjet printing on textiles
• Eco-friendly textile colouration and finishing
• Security inks and papers

• Capillary Electrophoresis Analysis of Aromatic Carboxylic Acids, The Journal of Capillary Electrophoresis, 2005, Vol.9, issue 3-4, p57-64.
• Use of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to Follow the Heterocumulene Aided Thermal Dehydration of Phthalic and Naphthalic Acids, Applied Spectroscopy, 2006 Dec, Vol.60, issue 12, p1405-13.
• Fabrication and Photoluminescence of Hyperbranched Silicon Nanowire Networks on Silicon Substrate by Laser-Induced Forward Transfer, Nanotechnology, 2008, Vol.19, issue 24.