Dr Christopher Parlett
Christopher holds a University of Manchester-Diamond Light Source Research Fellowship in Catalysis and leads a group working on catalytic systems for biomass valorisation. He previously held PDRA positions at Aston University, University of Warwick, and Cardiff University. He obtained his PhD in 2013 from Cardiff University, investigating Pd nanoparticle doped porous oxides for catalytic selective oxidation of alcohols. He has an MSc in Green Chemistry and Sustainable Industrial Technology from University of York, and a BSc in Chemistry from Anglia Ruskin University.
Research Interests
Christopher's group's research lies in the design and development of heterogeneous catalysts, which are underpinned by operando spectroscopic techniques to monitor their performance under working conditions. Their focus is nano-engineering of solids as catalytic materials for sustainable chemical production from biomass valourisation to fuels and chemicals via multistep transformations. This necessitates fine-tuning of the active sites and support structures in parallel to spatial control of different active species to govern the overall reaction pathway in these multistep cascade processes. The overarching aim is to apply an educated design approach to catalyst synthesis to address issues of public concern.
