Molecular stopwatch measurements of dynamics in catalysts, battery electrolytes and ionic liquids in situ
Lead Research Organisation:
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Department Name: Central Laser Facility (CLF)
Abstract
'Clean growth' and 'Future of mobility' are two challenges in the UK government's industrial strategy. From these challenges are a call for the physical sciences to respond with a better understanding, better predictions and novel ideas in catalysis, battery and fuel cell science at the molecular level. There are many basic, but unanswered questions remaining in these fields. How do molecules react in the pores of Zeolite Catalysts? How does water react at the surface of catalysts to form Hydrogen and Oxygen? What is the mechanism of proton conduction in ionic liquids? Of the many experimental methods available to address these questions, none can easily report on the fastest timescales of molecular motion (femtoseconds), or initiate a reaction fast enough in a heterogeneous catalyst to separate out the earliest steps. This proposal outlines a vision for a UKRI future leaders fellowship to change this by centering on developing and applying new, cutting edge ultrafast IR methods in-situ to answer these key molecular dynamical questions in catalysis, ionic liquids and fuel cell electrolytes. The experiments proposed will reach out to reveal the fastest timescales of the motions and chemical transformations of the key molecules involved - information currently inaccessible to researchers in the field. This information will i) reveal new aspects of the behaviour of these complex molecular systems, ii) provide information that can guide and verify molecular dynamics simulations (one of the best predictive tools available to chemical scientists) and iii) be used as a powerful means of empirically comparing the behavior of different catalysts or electrolytes.
Planned Impact
In addition to the academic impact of this proposal, the proposed research aims to make progress in areas of catalysis that contribute to materials/feedstock generation and emissions control, thus contributing toward environmental sustainability and protection. Likewise, better understanding of potential fuel cell and battery electrolytes leading to technological impact is also contributing to sustainability. The proposal is aligned with two of the UK government's industrial challenges - clean growth and future of mobility.
Based at a UKRI-STFC funded national facility and collaborating with interested business (see letter of support from Johnson Matthey), the applicant will be enhancing the research capacity, knowledge and skills of an important national organisation (UKRI-STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) and a global business (Johnson Matthey). As the programme extends from R&D into applications and its aims of industrial relevance, it is expected that R&D investment from business in the research will increase (current offer from JM for relevant projects is staff resource worth approximately £30k per year, see JM letter of support).
Any specific discoveries of industrial relevance will, with the support of UKRI-STFC and industrial partners lead to patents. The CLF at STFC RAL will be in the position to provide general industry access to the non-ip methods and instrumentation developed from this proposal at cost. The CLF will be able to provide the academic community access to the methods and instrumentation developed from this proposal through its peer reviewed, free at the point of access route.
Based at a UKRI-STFC funded national facility and collaborating with interested business (see letter of support from Johnson Matthey), the applicant will be enhancing the research capacity, knowledge and skills of an important national organisation (UKRI-STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) and a global business (Johnson Matthey). As the programme extends from R&D into applications and its aims of industrial relevance, it is expected that R&D investment from business in the research will increase (current offer from JM for relevant projects is staff resource worth approximately £30k per year, see JM letter of support).
Any specific discoveries of industrial relevance will, with the support of UKRI-STFC and industrial partners lead to patents. The CLF at STFC RAL will be in the position to provide general industry access to the non-ip methods and instrumentation developed from this proposal at cost. The CLF will be able to provide the academic community access to the methods and instrumentation developed from this proposal through its peer reviewed, free at the point of access route.
Organisations
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN (Collaboration)
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Collaboration)
- Cardiff University (Collaboration)
- Research Complex at Harwell (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL (Collaboration)
- University of Pittsburgh (Collaboration)
Publications
Donaldson PM
(2020)
Photon echoes and two dimensional spectra of the amide I band of proteins measured by femtosecond IR - Raman spectroscopy.
in Chemical science
Donaldson PM
(2023)
Ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy of intensely optically scattering pelleted solid catalysts.
in The Journal of chemical physics
Donaldson PM
(2022)
Spectrophotometric Concentration Analysis Without Molar Absorption Coefficients by Two-Dimensional-Infrared and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.
in Analytical chemistry
Donaldson PM
(2023)
Breaking Barriers in Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Imaging Using 100 kHz Amplified Yb-Laser Systems.
in Accounts of chemical research
Hawkins A
(2024)
Laser induced temperature-jump time resolved IR spectroscopy of zeolites
in Chemical Science
Johnson CA
(2021)
An ultrafast vibrational study of dynamical heterogeneity in the protic ionic liquid ethyl-ammonium nitrate. I. Room temperature dynamics.
in The Journal of chemical physics
Maiti S
(2022)
pH Jumps in a Protic Ionic Liquid Proceed by Vehicular Proton Transport.
in The journal of physical chemistry letters
Title | Front cover image of Journal of Chemical Physics Issue 11 (March 21st) 2023 |
Description | Recent successes in applying ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to heterogeneous catalysis were recognised in the fellow's latest work on the subject by being invited to be considered for a front cover of Journal of Chemical Physics. The artwork generated was selected by the editor and shows a 2D-IR spectrum of Zeolite Y's acid sites appearing in the midst of the molecular structure and crystal image. The new techniques of laser scatter suppression are symbolically represented in the artwork |
Type Of Art | Artwork |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Impact | At time of writing, we are one week away from release of the front cover This front cover will be used for promoting the CLF and STFC's facilities, in particular, CLF-ULTRA |
Description | This award aimed to improve the way we look at catalysts, fuel cell materials and batteries using the techniques of vibrational spectroscopy. The award enabled the development of three new spectroscopy techniques - (a) 2D-IR-Raman, (b) 2D-IR of heterogeneous solids and (c) T-Jump spectroscopy. These are advanced techniques of vibrational spectroscopy now available as instruments at the Central Laser Facility (CLF). The award applied (b) and (c) to catalyst and fuel cell materials for the first time. The award enabled the new data to be understood and opportunities provided by the new techniques for the communities of scientists studying these materials to be identified. |
Exploitation Route | The awardee is part of a team developing a £17m CLF facility upgrade called HiLUX, which will focus heavily on making the techniques enabled by the award available to the UK scientific and industrial user community https://www.clf.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/HiLUX.aspx The award is now in Phase 2 (considered a separate grant, 2023-2027) |
Sectors | Chemicals Energy Transport |
Description | 32 Week Facility Program: Molecular stopwatch measurements of dynamics in catalysts, battery electrolytes and ionic liquids |
Amount | £32,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | LSF1828 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2020 |
End | 05/2024 |
Title | Invention of new spectroscopic techniques |
Description | New spectroscopies demonstrated and a new set of approaches for measuring 2D-IR-Raman spectra developed and through intensive research, an understanding of their workings gained. The approaches revolutionize the collection of 2D-IR-Raman spectra and the data obtained so far indicate that collection of these kinds of spectra could be very useful for problems across the molecular sciences. |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Imperial College London, The Rosalin Franklin Institute and The Central Laser Facility have invested in a two year proof of concept research program researching protein-drug binding interactions. It is to be delivered using the technology that I developed. The program comprises two professors (Mike Towrie, CLF, David Klug, Imperial), two RFI funded postdocs, the CLF Ultra facility staff and Klug group PhD students. My involvement is advisory. |
Title | Quantitative concentration analysis with 2D-IR spectroscopy |
Description | A protocol was developed which allows analyte concentration ratios to be calculated from 2D-IR and FT-IR spectra. |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This technique was developed at the UKRI-STFC's Central Laser Facility. It will be offered to users and we anticipate demand our user community community. |
URL | https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c04287 |
Title | Techniques developed for measuring ultrafast 2D-IR spectra of scattering solid samples |
Description | Catalysts are important for industrial chemistry. With the techniques developed by the fellow and collaborators, ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy can now study them in their solid form, offering a deeper view of these types of materials' vibrational spectra |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The paper is to be published in the March 21st edition of Journal of Chemical Physics (one week past the RFish deadline) This technique was developed at the UKRI-STFC's Central Laser Facility. It will be offered to users and we anticipate demand from the UK catalysis community. |
Description | 2D-IR of acid zeolites |
Organisation | Research Complex at Harwell |
Department | UK Catalysis Hub |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | This collaboration formed in 2018 between myself and Russell Howe (Uni. Aberdeen), with initial support from Paul Wright (Uni. St Andrews) and UK Catalysis Hub. The latter two collaborators contributed an interested PhD student and postdoc to the proof of concept work, who then became uninvolved in the project after the first year. My leadership of the collaboration was made possible on commencement of this grant in May 2019. I provide the majority of the expertise on the novel aspects of the work (ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy), the effort in measurement, data analysis, paper writing and I provide leadership regarding our grant applications and strategy. In 2019, I wrote a programme applications to the CLF which supports this partnership to-date. A postdoc in my team has been supporting me with measurements and sample characterisation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Russell Howe (University of Aberdeen) acted as PI when I was a CLF operations staff member in 2018, prior to my FLF award. The award of the present FLF grant and experiments conducted in 2019 stems from our proof-of-concept work in 2018. Russell contributes a vast amount of experience in the spectroscopy of acid zeolites, putting aside 1-2 hours every week or-so for discussions. The Central Laser Facility granted the team access to its instrumentation by peer reviewed application, with additional financial support for the experiments (see in-kind estimates) |
Impact | Award of CLF programme grant, LSF1828 2019-2021 The first ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy data from acid Zeolite ZSM-5 The first temperature dependent population relaxation measurements from acid Zeolite ZSM-5 Training and experience of the PI in heterogeneous catalysis Training and experience of the team in ultrafast 2D-IR 2022 Understanding of how to use ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to gain concentration information (Paper published in Analytical Chemistry, 2022, 94, 51, 17988-17999) Understanding of how to apply ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to the study of pelleted solids (Paper in-press for 2023 March 21st edition of Journal of Chemical Physics, front cover, editor's pick) Understanding of how to use ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to characterise Bronsted sites and bound water of zeolites (Paper-in-preparation) This project is multidisciplnary, combining catalysis (chemistry) and laser spectroscopy (physics) |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | 2D-IR of acid zeolites |
Organisation | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
Department | Central Laser Facility |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This collaboration formed in 2018 between myself and Russell Howe (Uni. Aberdeen), with initial support from Paul Wright (Uni. St Andrews) and UK Catalysis Hub. The latter two collaborators contributed an interested PhD student and postdoc to the proof of concept work, who then became uninvolved in the project after the first year. My leadership of the collaboration was made possible on commencement of this grant in May 2019. I provide the majority of the expertise on the novel aspects of the work (ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy), the effort in measurement, data analysis, paper writing and I provide leadership regarding our grant applications and strategy. In 2019, I wrote a programme applications to the CLF which supports this partnership to-date. A postdoc in my team has been supporting me with measurements and sample characterisation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Russell Howe (University of Aberdeen) acted as PI when I was a CLF operations staff member in 2018, prior to my FLF award. The award of the present FLF grant and experiments conducted in 2019 stems from our proof-of-concept work in 2018. Russell contributes a vast amount of experience in the spectroscopy of acid zeolites, putting aside 1-2 hours every week or-so for discussions. The Central Laser Facility granted the team access to its instrumentation by peer reviewed application, with additional financial support for the experiments (see in-kind estimates) |
Impact | Award of CLF programme grant, LSF1828 2019-2021 The first ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy data from acid Zeolite ZSM-5 The first temperature dependent population relaxation measurements from acid Zeolite ZSM-5 Training and experience of the PI in heterogeneous catalysis Training and experience of the team in ultrafast 2D-IR 2022 Understanding of how to use ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to gain concentration information (Paper published in Analytical Chemistry, 2022, 94, 51, 17988-17999) Understanding of how to apply ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to the study of pelleted solids (Paper in-press for 2023 March 21st edition of Journal of Chemical Physics, front cover, editor's pick) Understanding of how to use ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to characterise Bronsted sites and bound water of zeolites (Paper-in-preparation) This project is multidisciplnary, combining catalysis (chemistry) and laser spectroscopy (physics) |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | 2D-IR of acid zeolites |
Organisation | University of Aberdeen |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This collaboration formed in 2018 between myself and Russell Howe (Uni. Aberdeen), with initial support from Paul Wright (Uni. St Andrews) and UK Catalysis Hub. The latter two collaborators contributed an interested PhD student and postdoc to the proof of concept work, who then became uninvolved in the project after the first year. My leadership of the collaboration was made possible on commencement of this grant in May 2019. I provide the majority of the expertise on the novel aspects of the work (ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy), the effort in measurement, data analysis, paper writing and I provide leadership regarding our grant applications and strategy. In 2019, I wrote a programme applications to the CLF which supports this partnership to-date. A postdoc in my team has been supporting me with measurements and sample characterisation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Russell Howe (University of Aberdeen) acted as PI when I was a CLF operations staff member in 2018, prior to my FLF award. The award of the present FLF grant and experiments conducted in 2019 stems from our proof-of-concept work in 2018. Russell contributes a vast amount of experience in the spectroscopy of acid zeolites, putting aside 1-2 hours every week or-so for discussions. The Central Laser Facility granted the team access to its instrumentation by peer reviewed application, with additional financial support for the experiments (see in-kind estimates) |
Impact | Award of CLF programme grant, LSF1828 2019-2021 The first ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy data from acid Zeolite ZSM-5 The first temperature dependent population relaxation measurements from acid Zeolite ZSM-5 Training and experience of the PI in heterogeneous catalysis Training and experience of the team in ultrafast 2D-IR 2022 Understanding of how to use ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to gain concentration information (Paper published in Analytical Chemistry, 2022, 94, 51, 17988-17999) Understanding of how to apply ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to the study of pelleted solids (Paper in-press for 2023 March 21st edition of Journal of Chemical Physics, front cover, editor's pick) Understanding of how to use ultrafast 2D-IR spectroscopy to characterise Bronsted sites and bound water of zeolites (Paper-in-preparation) This project is multidisciplnary, combining catalysis (chemistry) and laser spectroscopy (physics) |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | 2D-IR of electrolytes |
Organisation | University of Pittsburgh |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | 2019-2021 Expertise in experimental aspects of 2D-IR spectroscopy. Applying for CLF access (successfully funded, August 2019), 4 weeks of time to operate experiments, co-writing several manuscripts based on earlier work, driving the side of research aiming to make the developed methodologies applicable to in-operando and industrially relevant contexts. In its original form, we began collaborating in 2017 when I was a CLF operations scientist. My award of a UKRI-FLF was part-based on preliminary data collected from 2017-18. I am recording the start of the UKRI-FLF grant in 2019 as the 'start' of a new phase of the collaboration, as this is when I took an increased leadership role and set the direction of the work towards the aims of the fellowship. 2021-present. Postdoc Sourav Maiti joined my team. He and I initiated studies of proton transfer membranes, which are reaching a publishable state. The collaboration with the Ada lovelace project (see other collaboration) links in to this work now. Sourav also took some older data about proton transfer in protic ionic liquids that I collected in collaboration with the partners, and brought it into a publishable state |
Collaborator Contribution | 2019-2021 Sean Garrett-Roe (Uni. Pittsburgh) is providing expertise in interpreting and modelling 2D-IR spectra and providing 2 PhD students to help with 3 week CLF experimental allocations (one such allocation took place in July 2019) 2021-present. Sean Garrett-Roe's team has reduced in size, and unfortunately the support from Sean has reduced to him alone, with some input from a single PhD student. The grant holder meets with Sean roughly once a week for one hour to talk about the project |
Impact | Successful 3 week CLF access capturing the dynamics of liquid water with at least one manuscript planned Award of CLF programme grant, LSF1828 One manuscript published from earlier proof-of-concept work in case for support of fellowship, the production of which is only made possible by the time available on the present grant One manuscript published from earlier protic ionic liquid pH jump work Two manuscripts in preparation - one about protic ionic liquid dynamics, the other about the dynamics of water in fuel cell membranes |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Ada Lovelace Centre (ALC) Projects |
Organisation | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
Department | Scientific Computing Department |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | Collaboration on two ALC projects supporting computational scientists at 2FTE for 2 years each Scientific advice and input Part of science discussions supporting development of computer code to support CLF, ISIS and the user community interests Steering on science themes. |
Collaborator Contribution | Simulation of Oxygen diffusion in metal oxide fuel cell materials Calculation of reaction stochiometries in Ni(OH)2 electrods Raising awareness of work in ISIS Raising awareness of work on battery materials Engagement encouraging collaboration 6 months theoretical support awarded for atomistic simulations directly relevant to FLF grant for 2023 |
Impact | Two pieces of software for supporting ISIS, CLF and the UK facilities user community Focussed piece of research on proton dynamics in nafion supporting this FLF grant |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Catalysis Hub Richard Catlow |
Organisation | Cardiff University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Engagement with Richard Catlow and his team on the simulation of vibrational spectra in zeolites Engagement with Richard Catlow around hosting my group's staff scientist Amy Edmeades as a PhD student at the University of Cardiff |
Collaborator Contribution | Engagement on simulation of anharmonic vibrational spectra of water inzeolites towards understanding 2D-IR spectra collected by grantholder |
Impact | In progress |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | T-Jump measurements in Heterogeneous catalysts |
Organisation | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
Department | Central Laser Facility |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | i am the PI and have put together the team of collaborators for experiments. I authored a successful application for 3 weeks of CLF facility access in August 2019 which I delivered myself during the covid disruptions of August and September 2020 In 2019 I successfully applied for programme access with the CLF to continue the workpackage of the experiments until 2025 In 2022, I led my new team of one postdoc and one staff scientist in experiments which conclusively confirmed our first project aim of significant laser heating in catalysts and accurate measurement of it |
Collaborator Contribution | Russell Howe (University of Aberdeen) is a co-investigator bringing substantial expertise in heterogeneous catalysis to the project. Mike Towrie and Greg Greetham (CLF) are supporting the project as co-I s and bring substantial spectrosocopy and laser experience |
Impact | Successful award of CLF beamtime. App 20130030, scheduled May 2020 Award of CLF programme grant, LSF1828 Paper in draft on laser heating of zeolite pellets |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | T-Jump measurements in Heterogeneous catalysts |
Organisation | University of Aberdeen |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | i am the PI and have put together the team of collaborators for experiments. I authored a successful application for 3 weeks of CLF facility access in August 2019 which I delivered myself during the covid disruptions of August and September 2020 In 2019 I successfully applied for programme access with the CLF to continue the workpackage of the experiments until 2025 In 2022, I led my new team of one postdoc and one staff scientist in experiments which conclusively confirmed our first project aim of significant laser heating in catalysts and accurate measurement of it |
Collaborator Contribution | Russell Howe (University of Aberdeen) is a co-investigator bringing substantial expertise in heterogeneous catalysis to the project. Mike Towrie and Greg Greetham (CLF) are supporting the project as co-I s and bring substantial spectrosocopy and laser experience |
Impact | Successful award of CLF beamtime. App 20130030, scheduled May 2020 Award of CLF programme grant, LSF1828 Paper in draft on laser heating of zeolite pellets |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | The CLF HiLUX project |
Organisation | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
Department | Central Laser Facility |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Made intellectual and creative contributions to the CLF's £17m infrastructure bid named 'HiLUX' Helped with writing and proofing of case documents The bid was successful, and I am (1) advising on the science/instrumentation choices for the Ultra labs and (2) designing and driving the build/development of 2D-IR and SFG labs. These instruments will be crucial for further research on my projects |
Collaborator Contribution | Mike Towrie (CLF) and Emma Springate (CLF) led the creation of the proposal Greg Greetham (CLF) and Emma Springate (CLF) lead the delivery of the project CLF is the project sponsor CLF-ULTRA will take on the build of the labs, sourcing of the lasers and supporting me in delivering the instruments I design |
Impact | The £17m was awarded by the STFC Facilities Strategic Advisory Board The project is underway |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | UKRI-FLF |
Organisation | Research Complex at Harwell |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The UKRI-FLF of this grant |
Collaborator Contribution | CLF is paying a proportion of my salary on a yearly upwards taper and providing access to offline laboratories and equipment RCaH is providing me with a desk in an office, two benches in a shared laboratory and access to shared facilities |
Impact | Promotion to STFC senior staff at band F, with full training from senior CLF staff to succeed in the interview process |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | UKRI-FLF |
Organisation | Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
Department | Central Laser Facility |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The UKRI-FLF of this grant |
Collaborator Contribution | CLF is paying a proportion of my salary on a yearly upwards taper and providing access to offline laboratories and equipment RCaH is providing me with a desk in an office, two benches in a shared laboratory and access to shared facilities |
Impact | Promotion to STFC senior staff at band F, with full training from senior CLF staff to succeed in the interview process |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | UoL CLF joint PhD student in IR-VIs SFG |
Organisation | University of Liverpool |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Sourced 50% funding for a PhD student from CLF Designed CLF project in SFG studies of electrified interfaces relevant to energy sciences |
Collaborator Contribution | Sourced 50% funding for a PhD student from University of Liverpool Designed project in SFG studies of electrified interfaces relevant to energy sciences |
Impact | PhD student funding acquired |
Start Year | 2023 |
Description | 2023 CLF user meeting (Oxford) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Institute facility user meeting in Oxford Opportunity to share research with user community and potential facility users |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | A talk given to a special advisory board |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | I was invited to showcase my research to a panel deciding the strategy of the Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH). The panel comprised numerous senior figures from academic and state research institutions. My aim was to show that RCaH is a fantastic place for research and inspire the panel to continue steering RCaH positively and effectively. The panel was non-expert, so I put a significant ammount of effort into making an accessible presentation. I was informed by several people on the panel that they found my talk very interesting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | An Invited Talk for the International Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy Online Seminar Series |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The CMDS conference is the most important meeting of scientists relevant to the work of the reporter's UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. It was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic, but CMDSonline was organisated in late 2020. It is a 2 week interval seminar series. The reporter recently made a significant contribution to his field and as a consequence was invited to present his work. This talk was a key opportunity the reporter had to raise awareness of this new work to experts, inspire the community and form connections. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA2GLwva608&feature=youtu.be |
Description | An invited talk at the Sonning division of Johnson Matthey |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Invited to give a seminar and meet with employees of Johnson Matthey. Intended purpose - form links and relationships with company that will enable industrially relevant projects towards the end of the grant. Impact - met a number of scientists from various technology divisions and discussed future grants with others |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | An invited talk to the Lasers for Science Facility about the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I was invited to explain to my organisation how I went about securing my fellowship and what its significant aims were. I pitched the talk towards postgraduate and early careers staff who would benefit from seeing how the process works. I was given alot of positive feedback on how useful my talk was from the target audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy, contributed talk, University of Austin Texas |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Conference presentation showing for the first time the work that this grant supports to the expert community best placed to judge its worth and benefit from its discoveries. As a result of this talk I was invited to give several University Departmental seminars |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | http://cmds2022.org/ |
Description | Continued participation in Catalysis Hub steering group |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Continuing to sit on advisory panel for the UK Catalysis Hub |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
Description | Departmental Seminar at the department of chemistry, University of Cardiff |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Meeting with Spectroscopy and Dynamics Group at the department of Chemistry, Cardiff, and presentation of my work to academic staff, postgrads and students |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | EPSRC early careers event, Bristol |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Invited as panel member for an EPSRC organised day event helping early careers researchers understand how to apply for funding. My specific capacity was to field questions about the URKRI-FLF and work with smaller groups on funding related exercised. Lots of questions and discussion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Invited Departmental Seminar at the University of Pittsburgh, USA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | In-person talk given to the Chemistry Department of the University of Pittsburgh. Purpose: raise awareness, inspire and form connections. A presentation of the beginnings of some major new fellowship results were presented. The students were very interested in this totally unique way of doing things and several experts in the field saw this work for the first time. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Invited Departmental seminar, Queen Mary's College, London |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Visit to Department of Chemistry to give departmental seminar on fellowship work |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Invited departmental seminar at University of Sheffield |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Visit Sheffield and engage an undergraduate/postgraduate audience. Secondary aim was to offer help and advice to a local research group / facility |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Invited departmental seminar, Chemistry, University of Madison Wisconsin |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited seminar to present work from grant to staff and students in the department of chemistry of the University of Madison Wisconsin |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Invited departmental seminar, University of Edinburgh |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Building on earlier invited seminars, I decided to put a significant amount of effort into making a much more general and accessible presentation that could inspire a wider audience. I decided to make the topic of the seminar about light in general. This activity took several weeks of my time, resulting in new material, a demonstration using light and dyes and software demonstrations to use at further similar talks |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Invited group seminar, University of Chicago Chemistry Department |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Made visit to department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago and gave seminar about my zeolite 2D-IR research supported by this grant to the groups of Andrei Tokmakoff and Gregory Engel |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Invited seminar at UniSysCat Seminar series, Berlin |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited to present work from award to consortium of Berlin Universities in the 'Uni-Sys-Cat' initiative. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Invited seminar speaker Uni Leeds |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited to give a departmental seminar and tour the department, meeting with relevant researchers. A major aim was to initiate collaboration with a theorist. This was not a successful outcome (the theorist in question is leaving academia). An unexpected outcome was to meet and form connections with the vast THz research groups at Leeds. Another aim was to engage a diverse audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Invited talk at the Federation of the Analytical Chemistry Society, Cincinnati, USA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited talk in spectroscopy session of large analytical chemistry and industry conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.scixconference.org/ |
Description | Invited talk at the international conference 'Time Resolved Vibrational Spectroscopy' TRVS 2021, University of Michigan |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited talk at the international conference 'Time Resolved Vibrational Spectroscopy' TRVS 2021, University of Michigan Prize awarded for 'Emerging Scientist' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.trvs2021.org/ |
Description | Invited talk at workshop on biological and biomedical vibrational spectroscopy imaging, Exeter, UK |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited to give workshop talk on new techniques developed from this grant to expert audience in different field Cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://physics-astronomy.exeter.ac.uk/contrast-facility/workshop2022/ |
Description | LSF Departmental Seminar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An early lockdown zoom seminar for the department. The aim was to interest and entertain by talking about some of the fundamental properties of light in a manner that can engage students. Another aim was to dispel some common errors in how light is thought about. Some of the preparations for this seminar are assets for future seminars. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | LSF departmental seminar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave seminar on fellowship research progress related to Catalusis |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Research Complex at Harwell departmental seminar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A local departmental seminar introducing myself and my group's work to the RCaH |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Talk at RSC Faraday Joint interest conference (Sheffield, UK) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | RSC Faraday joint interest conference - bringing together physical chemists from different fields Gave talk where key scientist in related field in audience formed scientific connection, significantly affecting course of research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Think-tank to form EPSRC 'Big idea' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | A 'think-tank' style event aimed at forming a 'big idea' to pitch to EPSRC. My participation in this was intended to i) help shape that idea using the ideals of the UKRI-FLF grant and ii) provide representation of STFC-UKRI CLF in the discussions. A 'big idea' was pitched to EPSRC in Feb 2020. My contributions are acknowledged. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | UK Catalysis Hub steering panel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Joined the UK Catalysis Hub Steering group and participated in meeting in January 2022 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | UK Catalysis Town Hall Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited as expert and science community member to a panel discussing how the UK Catalysis community should prioritize resources in order to help the UK achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The panel discussion contributes to the UK Catalysis Hub preparations of a science case for a large investment into Catalysis |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Virtual University research group visit, University of Iowa, USA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I was invited to engage informally with the research group of Professor Chris Cheatum at the University of Iowa. Professor Cheatum's students had prepared questions in advance about my work and we discussed them. The event also afforded the opportunity to raise awareness about the UK's STFC RAL site and a separate discussion was held with Professor Cheatum |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |