My research is centred on the use of Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) to deposit thin films of functional materials. 

This has included the use of atmospheric variants to deposit thin films of various metal phosphides, oxides and selenides, the use of aerosol assisted CVD for the deposition of various nanostructured oxide materials and also the  use of low pressure techniques for deposition of thin films of zirconium and tungsten carbonitrides. 

The applications I have been targeting range from microelectronics to energy (active solar control coatings for energy demand reduction and catalysts for generation of hydrogen from water) through to the environment (gas sensing).

Recent research on the use of CVD for the deposition of composite thin films composed of bismuth oxide and platinum nanoparticles, which gain the property of being able to split water, evolving hydrogen, under photoillumination, a property not present in either of the constituents of the composite alone, has been featured in a“Young Investigators Award” issue of Inorganic Chimica Acta.

Methods of nanoparticle synthesis must be developed in accordance with green chemistry, but these techniques must also be compatible with device manufacture to ensure that green principles are followed throughout the fabrication process and also to ensure the potential benefits of the materials are realised. New manufacturing strategies that are additive rather than subtractive, i.e. bottom-up synthesis strategies, can reduce energy requirements and waste generation. A potentially greener approach to top-down or wet-chemical methods of nanoparticle synthesis is to employ direct deposition from the vapour phase, which provides increased atom efficiency and reduced waste production.

I am currently interested in the opportunities afforded by AACVD to synthesise materials with high purity and precise structural control at the nanometre scale level at the relatively low processing temperatures required for the fabrication of nanocrystalline materials. By altering the deposition conditions to control the chemical reaction it is possible to obtain nanocrystalline powders, nanostructured materials or thin films. Hence AACVD is a technique with great promise for synthesis of functional nanomaterials.

Recent research is concerned with the use of AACVD for the synthesis of metal nanoparticle modified metal oxide nanostructures, with the aim of producing highly sensitive and highly selective gas sensors. This work, which is supported by theLeverhulme Trust, has recently been featured in an Emerging Investigators issue of Chemical Communications.