Meet Professor Pat Unwin: Part 1

"There's a fantastic range of things one can tackle with electro新利手机客户端chemistry and electrochemical principles."

Prof.Pat Unwin

Professor Pat Unwin,Electro新利手机客户端chemistry and Interfaces Group,Department of 新利手机客户端Chemistry,University of Warwick

At the recentEirelec '11meeting,Professor Mike LyonsofTrinity College,Dublin会见了Professor Pat Unwinof theUniversity of Warwickto speak about his life as a researcher in electro新利手机客户端chemistry.  Read on to find out about Pat's time as a student in Liverpool,his scientific heroes,his current work and why he uses The Beatles to inspire his students…

Mike: Prof.Patrick Unwin,it's a great pleasure to have the opportunity to speak to you on behalf ofAnalyst.I would just like to ask you a couple of questions.  First Pat,could you tell us basically about yourself,your educational background and how you came to be an electrochemist?

Pat: I studied for my B.Sc.at theUniversity of Liverpooland was generally interested in physical 新利手机客户端chemistry.I primarily went to Liverpool as I thought it was a fascinating city: very different to other English cities and almost like going abroad.As an 18 year-old,I was very interested in politics,and was a big fan of Liverpool culture,from the Beatles to playwrights like Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale,and – of course – football and excellent pubs!

There were some inspirational people teaching at Liverpool: (now Sir)David KingandNev Richardsonin surface 新利手机客户端science;Richard Comptonin electro新利手机客户端chemistry;Don Bethellin physical-organic 新利手机客户端chemistry;andDavid Cole-Hamiltonin inorganic 新利手机客户端chemistry,among others.I did my final year project with Richard Compton and really enjoyed it.We wereworking on channel electrodes for mechanistic studiesand I had to get to grips with extensive papers from Amatore and Savéant,and learn about hydrodynamic systems,which was a great introduction to electro新利手机客户端chemistry as an undergraduate.

What appealed to me wasjust how broad electro新利手机客户端chemistry is,and how interesting it is;how it brings together mathematics,fluids,interfaces,kinetics,thermodynamics.There's a fantastic range of things one can tackle with electro新利手机客户端chemistry and electrochemical principles.From there,I went to study for my D.Phil.at Oxford with Richard Compton and I moved on to work withAllen Bardin Austin,Texas as a SERC-NATO Fellow in 1990.

Mike: Ok,now I suppose I'm going to play devil's advocate here and ask: who is your electrochemical hero,or perhaps more generally,who is your scientific hero?

Pat: My electrochemical hero has to beAllen Bard– he's an absolutely fantastic role model as a person and as a scientist,and I learned so much by working with him.My period in Austin was very enjoyable.But,I generally take my inspirations from people and their contributions outside 新利手机客户端science.I occasionally remind my research group of how the Beatles and George Martin revolutionised music,essentially in the period of a typical Ph.D.!Their music has stood the test of time and they were so creative in developing new ideas and pushing the boundaries.And they did it while having a lot of fun along the way;all essential aspects in 新利手机客户端science.

Mike: You've got very broad interests in electro新利手机客户端chemistry,can you tell us a little bit about your research and your current activities?

Pat: A lot of our effort at the moment is going intohigh resolution flux measurementsso that we can really understand structure and function.We are developing new kinds of imaging techniques – largely (but not exclusively) based on electrochemical principles and then applying the techniques and ideas across interfacial 新利手机客户端science,so we have quite a lot going on concerning ionic crystals where we really want to understand what chemical species and phenomena are important in controlling crystal growth.

We're also looking atmembrane transport,again using basic principles of electro新利手机客户端chemistry and diffusion.It's exciting not least because what we learn in one area we can take into another area.Then we also have programmes looking at sensor systems,particularly developing new forms of carbon electrodes: nanotubes,graphene and diamond.That's work I'm doing with my colleagues,Julie MacphersonandMark Newton.

Here again,we are using high resolution electrochemical techniques to map activity.Thenanoscale electrochemical imaging techniqueswe have recently developed allow us to identify active sites on electrode surfaces and give us considerable new insights on the behaviour of new electrode materials.

Mike: I can see where your crystal growth stuff is coming from because that comes back to your work with Richard Compton.

Pat: Yes,we studied dissolution together back in the 1980's and that – and crystal growth investigations – goes back a long way.What we are trying to do now is apply electrochemical principles rather than techniques.There isstill a huge amount to discover in this fieldabout what the active species and processes are and what shapes a final crystal.

Mike: Yes,because soft matter synthesis is very much a black art,and people are trying to make nanoparticles of different shapes at the moment,but there seems to be very little rational basis in deciding what synthetic strategy one would actually adopt,in a particular situation so you've got it dead right there.

van der Sneppen et al,Analyst,2010,135,133-139

van der Sneppen et al,Analyst,2010,135,133-139

We'll be putting up the second part of the interview soon,so watch this space!  In the meantime,do take a look at Pat's article inAnalystfrom last year:

Following interfacial kinetics in real time using broadband evanescent wave cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy: a comparison of light-emitting diodes and supercontinuum sources
Lineke van der Sneppen,Gus Hancock,Clemens Kaminski,Toni Laurila,Stuart R.麦肯齐,Simon R.T.Neil,Robert Peverall,Grant A.D.Ritchie,Mathias Schnippering and Patrick R.Unwin
Analyst,2010,135,133-139
DOI:10.1039/B916712A

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One Response to "Meet Professor Pat Unwin: Part 1"

  1. […] of Prof.Mike Lyon's interview with Prof.Pat Unwin.  You can catch up with the first part here to find out about his love for Allen Bard,Liverpool and The […]

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