Teaching

Undergraduate and postgraduate taught modules

Scientific method (Level 1)

This short course introduces students to scientific method. We briefly describe the way that our understanding of how science works has evolved, from Baconian induction to Hume's formulation of the problem of induction and Popper's characterisation of science as a process of conjecture and refutation. We consider which questions science can ask, the limits of science, and the ways that science can help us to answer important questions in society. As an experiment, I have started a blog to support the course, Science and Non-Science.

Solid Surfaces and Catalysis (Level 3)

This course considers the fundamental physical chemistry of surface processes, taking gas-solid interactions in heterogeneous catalysis as a model. We begin by considering examples of heterogeneous catalysis, and exploring how adsorption plays a critical role in reducing the activation barrier for chemical reactions. Quantitative models for adsorption are developed including, in particular, the Langmuir isotherm and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm. We describe a range of methods for the spectroscopic and microscopical analysis of surfaces. With these theoretical and experimental tools in hand, we develop a detailed understanding of ammonia catalysis, examining the relationship between adsorption rates and reaction kinetics, investigating the nature of the active site, and discovering how structural and electronic promoters can be used to optimise the rate of reaction in catalytic systems.

Nanochemistry (Level 4), co-taught with Dr Jona Foster

Since the mid-1960s, the density of components in an integrated circuit has doubled approximately every 18 months. The relentless progress of the semiconductor device industry along the path charted by Moore's Law is one of the most remarkable achievements of the last 50 years, spurring a revolution in miniaturisation and giving birth to the field of nanoscience. In this module, we explore chemical aspects of nanoscience, from the development of new techniques for the characterisation of materials at the atomic scale, to the development of new technologies based upon molecular nanostructures for applications in medicine and molecular electronics. We consider how the electrical and optical properties of nanostructures are determined by their size, and why they are different from those of macroscopic structures with the same composition, and we discover how bionanotechnology gives us new tools to study nature, and provides new tools from nature to enhance technology.