Professor Philip Davies
Philip obtained his PhD from University College Cardiff before becoming a lecturer in chemistry and later a personal chair in chemistry. From 2012-2016, he was the Coordinator of the FP7 funded PCATDES consortium
Since 2017, he has been the Director of the EPSRC National Research Facility in Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HarwellXPS).
Research Interests
The primary interests of Philip's work is understanding how a surface can modifies or direct a chemical reaction with particular interest in heterogeneous catalysis where the surface has long been recognised critical in determining activity, selectivity and lifetime. However, surface chemistry is an integral part of almost every heterogeneous system and thus our work is also relevant to aspects of adhesion, corrosion and biological activity. The core of our work has been concerned with understanding the reactions of molecules at surfaces characterised both chemically and structurally at the atomic level.
The heart of his research is his group's expertise in photoelectron spectroscopy and he is Director of the EPSRC National Research Facility in Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HarwellXPS)
Other aspects of their work include studying the mechanism of photocatalysis, and in particular water splitting; characterising the decomposition pathways for archaeological iron (collaboration with the School of Conservation); investigating novel polymeric based sensors (collaboration with the School of Pharmacy) and exploring the anti-bacterial properties of nano-particulate silver (collaboration with the School of Pharmacy).
