Dear Mohazzam Saeed
Hoping you are OK.
All topics that you wrote are so interesting. All depend what do you like. Based on my experience in research and engineering, I could suggest you the topics 3 and 7.
Why? Because, with the green chemistry principles, right now in the world it is neccesary to look for strategies to reuse or to look for alternative materials that do not generate pollution or something like that. In this way, Recycling of Li-based batteries is a very interesting and hot topic, there are a lot of research group and people working in this topic and you could obtain accesible information and also, it could be a topic if you want to continue in a PhD program. As I said before, recycling of these kind of batteries could be a good alternative for obtaining value products or to replace products that are no used for other things that for waste.
In the case of Raman characterization, you could learn a lot with respect to spectroscopy and also of quantum chemistry/physics which are fundamentals for many of basic sciences. To know about that it would be very pedagogical and besides, very interesting 'cause you would not need a lot of time to make these analyses. There are a lot of another reason to choose the topic 3 or 7.
But, in general you need to think about it and to have clear what are the advantages and disadvantages and also what do you like (Which it is so important)
If you have any doubt, please contact me.
With Kind regards,
Julián Sánchez
Also to consider, what do you want the PhD for? Are you wanting a career in academia or industry? What is your interest like regarding computational work? Or are you more interested in experimental work? Or a mix? A masters is obviously a shorter investment than a PhD. A Masters with no thesis is about 1 year, a MS with thesis is about 2 years. I spent time with two internships, the master's thesis and took about 3 years. Later the PhD in a different school on a different topic.
One advice I would offer is be flexible. I can say that plans never seem to work out the way you think they will. If you want the PhD then there is no guarantee it will work out as you imagine (that is not necessarily a bad thing). I once planned on getting my degree and schooling done, get a job, get married, have kids. I ended up getting married then kids, then finished my degree, and then a job. You never know what life will bring and how your research will go.
As for your topics, this is not my thesis topic, but I do like more options 3-7. However, some of the froth flotation topics could combine and work in a larger study that could come together for a PhD so if I only stuck to 3-7 I could miss a chance to work on topics that compliment and that would make a potentially more cohesive study. I did some early work with flotation so don't ignore that work as I did not call the number. If there's something you have a passion about, it might be worth trying to work that into your decision. "If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life." Having passion for whatever you choose will help you along the way because not all days will go well and sometimes you may have doubts.
Also, back to a career path, would you in the end want an industrial career or an academic one? Picking areas of research you want to grow your knowledge and expand takes time. At the same time my advisor did some work in nuclear isotopes and later worked in the pulp and paper areas of research. He did not stay in just one area but found things he was interested in and made those areas of study. If you have the foundation of how to use the scientific method you can ideally work in any field you want. Figure out your problem statement, collect information, develop models and later test them. Then come to some conclusions on that work in the end. Good luck on the start of your graduate studies. There is more than one right answer so don't go crazy over making a decision.
@john Reye thank you very much for your time to explain the stuff I should expect in future. These tips are really helpful and will adds a lot to my career direction.
Mohazzam, as I said be flexible here is a short summary of things I worked on from undergrad to current job. Wanted to study marine science, changed to chemical engineering, interest in catalysis, worked in a lab for organometallic synthesis, later worked in a material science lab that I contributed to 3 publications, then considered studying food science/engineering but instead worked on a MS degree in chemical engineering and thesis was on thin films, worked also on thermal analysis techniques and polymer dissolution, had to great internships in manufacturing for the development of electrostatic chucks and heaters, later a second internship for R&D and manufacturing in automotive industry for thermal and acoustic solutions, later started Phd in biocatalysis where I ended up focusing on enzymatic processes. Then got a job in semiconductor industry. Right now starting up some new independent research back in catalysis where I am working on two small projects that I hope to get at least to publications out of.
Along the way i got married and have had four kids. The point again being be flexible. I received two fellowships and minored in biology and pulp and paper manufacturing in addition to the chemical engineering degrees. I even audited a class in Tissue Engineering. Be open to the possibilities. Now my path was by no means planned and at times felt very tortuous. I always had a path in mind that constantly changed thus the reminder to be flexible. " If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." You never know how life is actually going to go.
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