Biography

Research Project: Structural and ambient pressure XPS investigation of metal/metal-oxide interface
Supervisors: David Payne (Imperial), Tien-Lin Lee (Diamond Light Source Ltd)

Paul completed an MSci in Chemistry from the University of Bristol graduating in 2016. For his PhD studies, Paul is based at both Imperial College London in David Payne’s advanced photoelectron spectroscopy group and at Diamond Light Source Ltd as part of the research group on beamline I09. Paul’s project entails the investigation of metal/ metal-oxide interfaces with a particular focus on metals deposited on magnetite (Fe₃O₄). Remarkably, the Fe₃O₄(100) surface is able to stabilise a range of single metal centres, or adatoms, up to temperatures of 700 K. These adatoms have promising potential as single atom catalysts with much improved properties over more conventional heterogeneous catalysts.