I completed my Ph.D. (2007) at the Department of Chemistry, University College London on chemical vapour deposition of gold nanoparticle thin films. I then did postdoctoral work at the University of Oxford, working on molecular beam epitaxy and photoemission spectroscopy, and later at the University of Liverpool working on pulsed laser deposition.

In 2012 I was appointed Lecturer at UCL Chemistry, and was promoted to Reader (2017) and Professor (2019). My group's research is on solid state materials chemistry, with a focus on materials with applications in renewable energy generation and storage. Please browse the website for the latest research news or take a look at my Google Scholar profile.

I am Director of the EPSRC National XPS Facility, HarwellXPS, a service providing access to XPS instrumentation and training for UK scientists.

I am a member of UCL Chemistry's outreach committee, and work with a number of charities to encourage wider participation in higher education, including The Institute for Research in Schools, The Tutorfair Foundation and Generating Genius. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Maham graduated with an MSci Chemistry from University College London in 2018, before taking up a joint experiment-theory Ph.D. studentship in thermoelectrics. For her M.Sci. project, Maham studied tin halometallates of the form A2SnX6 as highly tunable semiconductors and potential solar cell materials.

Previously she did a literature project on the different computational methods of exploring protein-ligand binding affinities. Besides chemistry, Maham enjoys kickboxing, reading and coffee!

Prajna graduated with a MSci in Natural Sciences student from University College London, specialising in Inorganic and Materials chemistry. Her fourth year dissertation was done under Dr. Anna Regoutz, in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Cairns at Imperial College London, to develop a sol-gel synthesis methods and characterise thin film frameworks of metallic cyanamides. She is now a PhD student in the group, focusing on synthesis and characterisation of lead free halide perovskite crystals, supervised by Prof Palgrave and Dr. Regoutz. Apart from chemistry, she also enjoys hiking and visiting museums! 

Hello, this is Firas Alruwashid, an international PhD student from Saudi Arabia. I completed my undergraduate studies in materials science and engineering at Virginia Tech in the US in 2017, with a final year research on the phase transition of Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) from alpha to beta. Later on, I did my master’s degree at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia in 2021, where my thesis was on the synthesis and charecterization of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles, and the effect of graphene in improving their physical and electrical properties. After my master’s studies, I took a gap year to work in a governmental research organization in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Currently, my PhD research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of A2BX6 perovskites.

More about me, I enjoy coffee (all kinds of coffee, without any exception), watching anime, and traveling. One more thing, I love learning about different cultures and languages.

Andrew’s research project was an investigation into controlling the crystallinity of titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysts. By studying powders and epitaxial films of TiO2, his research revealed a reverse rutile-anatase phase change induced by nitrogen doping. He developed a novel method to quantify surface phases in mixed phase systems via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) valance band analysis. This method was shown to be directly proportional to the photocatalytic activity in anatase/rutile mixtures. He also developed and revealed a novel synthesis of highly photocatalytic non-crystalline TiO2 via liquid phase deposition (LPD). After his PhD, Andrew worked in Cambridge for BioStrata, and is now a science writer at the National University of Singapore. 

Avishek did his PhD (2018) from The Open University, UK in collaboration with NASA Ames Research Center, USA with Thesis title “Applications of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma in Surface Engineering”. His dissertation was aimed at three different applications of atmospheric pressure plasmas: printing nanomaterials, functionalization of nanomaterials and deactivation of airborne microbes. For all the contributions emphasis was given on studying the effects of plasma on surfaces. He is trained on soft X-ray spectroscopy techniques and has collaboration with leading beamlines around the world. 

Following his PhD, Avishek worked on two funded projects. 2018-2019 RAENG funded “Integrated wastewater treatment”. Here he developed solar powered electrocatalysts for industrial effluent degradation in sea water. 2019-2021 UKIERI funded project on recycling Li-ion batteries hosted jointly by UK and India. This project was to sustainably recycle battery electrodes and generate value added products.  

Avishek joined the Palgrave group in March 2021 as a research fellow on The Faraday Institute funded project “NEXGENNA”. He will be using his expertise on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to understand Na-ion battery properties in-situ under operating conditions.  

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Shiny Mathew moved to the UK from her hometown in India when she was 13. Her undergraduate studies in Chemistry were at UCL and later she joined the doctoral training centre, CDT-ACM, for her UCL-Imperial College joint PhD programme, co-supervised by Prof. Robert Palgrave and Dr. David Payne. Her Masters project, supervised by Prof. Richard Catlow, was in computational chemistry, investigating the role of nanoparticle co-catalysts in photocatalysis. Shiny continued her research in the field of photocatalysis for her PhD, studying the structure-function relationship in doped titania single crystal substrates. This is useful for the design of novel catalysts with optimal photoactivity for the application of water splitting. SInce completing her PhD Shiny now works for the EPSRC. Away from work, Shiny enjoy canvas painting, travelling and outdoor activities.

Winnie Leung is originally from Hong Kong and moved to England when she was 17. She graduated with a first in MSci Chemistry and decided to stay on for her PhD project, jointly supervised by Prof. David Scanlon and Dr Robert Palgrave. Her PhD project was about transparent conducting metal oxides for renewable energy applications, which she studied using a combination of computational and experimental techniques. When she is away from the lab, she likes to go swimming and eats a lot of cakes! (Work hard and eat hard!) she also likes travelling and her dream is to travel to Mars one day! Oh and she is also a snapchat addict so watch out for Winnie if she’s around! 

Lizzy spent summer 2017 completing an EPSRC vacation project in the group and stayed in the group for her MSci project in 2017-18. She researched complex rutile structures, doping them with hope of producing effective Transparent Conducting Oxides (TCOs).  In 2016-17 she did a year abroad at The University of Texas at Austin where she was an undergraduate researcher in Dr Brent Iverson’s organic chemistry laboratory group working for Chris Wight. Lizzy graduated with a fist class degree, after spending a year teaching English in France, is now undertaking a Ph.D. at Cambridge. In her spare time, Lizzy plays the violin, competes on the University of London gymnastics team and produces handmade personalised sample boxes for the rest of the group. 

I undertook an MSci in Natural Sciences at UCL, with a focus in Inorganic Chemistry and Physics on the side. I was supervised for my M.Sci. project by Prof. Palgrave as well as Prof. Scanlon, and my project involved comparing experimental XPS valence band spectra to theoretical as a possible means of structural characterisation.

I come from Singapore and move between there and the UK often. In my spare time, I love cooking and gaming. I’m part of the committee for UCL’s Baking Society, and I love trying out new dishes or making up some of my own.

I'm a Ph.D. student working on halide perovskites for photovoltaic applications. My project contains single crystal growth, crystal structure study, thin film deposition and corresponding performance tests. I had my bachelor degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Beihang University (BUAA) in China, then completed a M.Sc. in Advanced Materials Science at UCL studying transparent conducting oxides.

Roxy graduated with an MSci Chemistry from UCL in 2018, before taking a gap year to explore the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. In her fourth year project she developed and modified nanostructured TiO2­ electrodes and used these to fabricate and analyse their performance in solar cells. Her Eng.D. project was on in-situ electrochemical XPS and valence band spectrum analysis of energy materials. She also loves painting, dancing, and long distance running, and aims to compete in an international half-marathon before she graduates!