EMI Group on Weatherup Group

Operando X-ray Techniques

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Observing reactions under operating conditions to understand how catalysts and functional materials transform during operation.

Electrocatalysis

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Investigating electrocatalytic processes for water splitting, CO₂ conversion, and sustainable ammonia synthesis.

Rechargeable Battery Interfaces

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Understanding degradation mechanisms in lithium-ion batteries through operando studies and advanced spectroscopy.

Electrolyte Solvation and Transport

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Understanding how electrolyte solvation structure affects transport properties and electrochemical stability.

Thermocatalysis

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Redesigning chemical industry processes to use sustainable feedstocks instead of fossil fuels.

Electronic Structure Simulations

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Computational research using DFT and CTM theory to predict properties and interpret experimental findings.

Operando Catalysis Beamtime at B07, DLS

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Recent operando Catalysis Beamtime at B07, DLS

Beamtime at PLEIADES

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Beamtime at PLEIADES

Aryan Dixit

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Aryan is a 4th year materials science student at Mansfield College, completing his Part II master’s project in the Weatherup group. After graduating, Aryan is keen on a career in consulting in a science and technology-related industry. In his spare time, he enjoys playing football, squash and board games and loves spending time with his mates.

Boruch Epstein

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Boruch completed his MChem in the University of Manchester, studying Chemistry. His previous research experience is in the Popelier group and Walton group, both in Manchester.

Boruch dabbles in programming and anything computer related. He is also a committed bibliophile and can be easily waylaid by a strategically placed book. Boruch is aware of both outdoors and sport, and one day intends to experience both.

Catherine Kohler

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In 2023, Catie graduated from the University of Sheffield with an MEng in Materials Science and Engineering. Her final year research project focused on the influence of counterions on biotemplating layered transition metal oxide nanowires for potential cathode application. Catie previously took part in the Faraday Undergraduate Student Experience (FUSE) with FutureCat to create educational resources for students. Her integrated masters offered an accredited industrial placement, where she worked at Exawatt Ltd as a Research Analyst. During her time in Sheffield, she picked up a keen interest in climbing and spent many weekends exploring the Peak district.

Chanisa Phuralrakul

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Chanisa is a 4th year undergraduate in the Department of Materials at the Queen’s College, University of Oxford.

Prior to starting her undergraduate degree, she went to secondary school in Cheltenham and the Netherlands. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and going on runs.

Connor Sherwin

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Connor completed his PhD at the University of Southampton Department of Chemistry in 2024 with Prof. Andrea Russell. His PhD focussed on designing a spectro-electrochemical cell for operando XAS measurements of gas evolving and gas consuming reactions. This work focussed on characterising state of the art catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction, carbon dioxide reduction reaction and oxygen reduction reaction.

Conor Phelan

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Conor joined he group in October 2020 to investigate the electrode-electrolyte interfaces in rechargeable Alkali-Ion batteries. He obtained a degree in Nanoscience, Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials from Trinity College Dublin. Conor grew up in Dublin and his sporting interests include football, hurling and rugby. He was a member of Dublin University Boat Club (DUBC) at Trinity college Dublin during his undergraduate degree.

Elizabeth Jones

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In 2020 Lizzie graduated from the University of St Andrews with an MSci in Chemistry and Physics. Lizzie loved being in the coastal town for 5 years, but never took up golf and spent more time in pubs instead! During her undergraduate degree Lizzie started playing korfball (a mixed gender sport which is a combination of basketball and netball) and hopes to continue to play in Oxford. Lizzie grew up in a rural village on Dartmoor and enjoys going for walks with her family when going back to visit. During the summers of 2017, 2018, and 2019 Lizzie worked as a research intern at KP Technology (Wick), University of St Andrews, and Diamond Light Source, respectively.

Erik Björklund

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Erik Björklund started as a postdoctoral research assistant at Oxford in November 2019, working in the Faraday degradation project in Robert Weatherup’s Group. He received his PhD from Uppsala University for analysing how commercial electrode materials degrade during usage. He is mainly focused on combining the understanding of the electrochemistry with the surface degradation product on the outermost nanometres of the electrodes by using XPS.

With his spare time Erik likes to read books, visit parks and play the board game, Go.

Fabian Bourdeaux

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Fabian is a 4th Year Materials science student at St Anne’s college. Under a scheme from the Henry Royce institute, he interned in the Weatherup group in the summer of 2022 helping set up the nanoparticle deposition system being used now. In his free time he enjoys going running, playing guitar, and acting.

Francesc Puchal Salat

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Francesc joined the group as a Master’s by Research student in October 2025. He graduated from the Autonomous University of Barcelona with a Double BSc degree in Physics and Chemistry. His final project for chemistry involved simulating XAS spectra of selenium compounds to study their presence in plants. He then completed a placement at the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), where he worked on recycling solar panels using laser techniques. During his studies, he also undertook internships at the Institut Català d’Investigació Química (ICIQ-CSIC), researching metal oxides as catalysts, and at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), where he assessed radionuclide levels in soil samples. In his free time, Francesc enjoys running and art.

Frank de Groot

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Frank de Groot studied Chemistry at the University of Nijmegen, where he continued with his Ph.D. degree (cum laude) under supervision of John Fuggle. The title of his 1991 thesis was ‘X-ray absorption spectroscopy of transition metal oxides’. From 1992, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the LURE Synchrotron in Orsay, France and at the University of Groningen, Netherlands. Since 1998 he works at Utrecht University, from 2009 as professor X-ray spectroscopy.

Graham Smith

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dr Graham Smith is a Principal Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), where he leads the Electrochemistry Group. His work focuses on electrochemical technologies including water electrolysers, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, and emerging industrial electrochemical processes.

You can see Graham’s full biography here.

Greta Thompson

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Greta is a final year materials science student studying at The Queens College. She is completing her master’s year research project in Robert Weatherup’s group. In the summer of 2019 she completed a FUSE internship sponsored by the Faraday Institution, where she worked in Mauro Pasta’s group in Oxford researching the solid-state battery material LLZTO. Presenting her research poster at the Faraday conference led to a virtual internship in the summer of 2020 with the early-stage start-up Breathe Battery Technologies. In her spare time she enjoys playing football for Headington Ladies and getting involved in the entrepreneurial scene in Oxford.

Helen Engelhardt

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Helen joined the group as a DPhil student in October 2024, supported by the Clarendon Fund and an Oxford-Wolfson-Marriott scholarship. She graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2024 with a BASc of Nanotechnology Engineering with Honours. Her final project was a treatment system for removing microplastics from water using iron oxide nanoparticles.

During undergrad, Helen researched CO2 reduction electrochemistry, synthesis of various shapes of gold nanoparticles, and the electrochemical stability of gold nanoparticle catalysts with the Klinkova lab. She also spent 4 months studying metal foil battery electrodes at NRC-Nano with the Fleischauer group. Helen has also interned in industry: she spent 8 months working on separation of Co and Ni for battery recycling at SiTration, and 8 months in microfluidics design for nanomedicine at Precision Nanosystems.

Inigo Stratton

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Inigo is a 4th Year Materials science student at St Catherine’s College. In his free time, he enjoys doing cue sports, karate and exploring entrepreneurial ventures.

Jack Swallow

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dr Jack Swallow is a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester. His group is based in the Photon Science Institute, working at the intersection between experimental and computational chemistry to understand and develop better materials for Li-ion batteries and catalysts for fuel generation.

Jasper Singh

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jasper joined the Weatherup group in October 2021 to investigate the electrode–electrolyte interface in lithium-ion batteries and completed his DPhil in the Department of Materials at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. He is now a postdoctoral researcher in the group. He was a Drayton Research Fellow in the Bazant Group at MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering, working on molecular simulation of concentrated aqueous electrolytes, supported by awards from the Drayton Fellowship, SCI, IOM3 and St Edmund Hall. Jasper received First Class honours in his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Warwick (2018–2021), where his research investigated bacterial strains capable of converting brown coal into green fuel.

Jessica Wen

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jessica joined the Energy Materials Interfaces group in October 2020 for her Integrated Master’s project as part of her undergraduate studies in Materials Science at Oxford. In her spare time, Jess enjoys playing violin, table tennis, badminton and football.

Jodie Charlton

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

After completing her MChem at the University of Manchester in 2018, Jodie decided to venture out to the land of The Southrons to join the Weatherup group and inadvertently live out her life as a beamtime junkie.

As a proud Northumbrian and 80-year-old granny at heart, Jodie’s outside interests involve reading, crafting, boozy baking, complaining about the noisy neighbours and arguing about where the north (of England) truly begins.

Joshua Gibson

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Josh joined our group in November 2019 to perform ultra-high vacuum (UHV) studies on battery surfaces during their operation as part of the Faraday characterisation project. He attained his PhD from the University of Nottingham by looking at the interaction of small molecules with ionic liquids utilising UHV techniques. This involved both laboratory based experiments as well as use of external facilities (Diamond Light Source). Following this he held a teaching position within the School of Chemistry at Nottingham, before moving to the University of Birmingham to investigate the effect of electrical potentials on the formation of biologically relevant surfaces. Josh spent his childhood and teenage years growing up and working on farms, so consequently enjoys visiting the nearby Cotswolds and Chilterns to go walking in the countryside. On rainy days he enjoys playing guitar or learning new skills with any spare time.

Leanne Jones

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Leanne obtained her PhD at the University of Liverpool studying the electronic structure of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy coupled with theoretical calculations. As well as TMDs, she has been involved in collaborative projects looking at batteries, PV absorbers, wide band gap oxides and transparent conducting oxides with multiple groups across the University. Her primary focus is x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) of these materials including both soft and hard XPS. In her free time Leanne enjoys going on long walks (that usually end up at the pub!) in the countryside, watching any tv show that includes drag queens, and reading history books.

Lijin An

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lijin joined the group and started as a DPhil student in 2021. She graduated from Imperial College London in 2020 with an MRes degree in Nanomaterials where she worked on a project exploring the electronic properties of defective graphene-based 2D heterostructures. Her major was Materials Science and Engineering and her undergraduate lab experience at Wuhan University of Technology focused on photocatalysis.

Lijin is always excited about trying new things. Among all the intriguing activities, she is most passionate about cinema and enjoys stage play, reading and hiking.

Longxiang Liu

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Longxiang completed his PhD at UCL Department of Chemistry in 2023. His PhD project focused on the design and characterization of carbon-based materials for electrochemical hydrogen peroxide production. He joined Robert Weatherup’s group as a postdoctoral researcher in October 2023.

May Rainbird

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

May studied Chemical Physics at the University of Bristol where her final year project focused on electrochromic tungsten oxide thin films for smart windows. This involved electrodepositing the films before carrying out electrochemical and optical testing and other characterisation methods. Her interest in nanotechnology specifically for solar cell applications has led her to pursue further study in this area including a PGCert in Nanotechnology. Outside of academics she enjoys spending time with her family and friends as well as swing and ballroom dancing and singing.

Michael Fraser

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Michael joined Professor Robert Weatherup’s group in October 2019 as a DPhil student. Prior to coming to Oxford, Michael received his undergraduate degree in Pure and Applied Chemistry (BSc) in 2018 from the University of Strathclyde. He then worked 14 months as a graduate for AGM Batteries Ltd. in Scotland developing prototype high performance lithium-ion batteries for automotive applications. In his spare time Michael enjoys Skiing, watching and playing football.

Namrata Ramesh

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I received my BA with Honors in Physics from UC Berkeley in 2020, where I worked with the Ginsberg Group as an undergraduate researcher. My undergraduate thesis investigated the self-assembly of gold nanocrystal superlattices by analyzing x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) data. I joined Oxford Materials as a Masters by Research candidate under Dr. Rebecca Nicholls and Prof. Robert Weatherup in Michaelmas 2020.

Owen Lawton

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Owen is a 4th Year Materials Science student at St Catherine’s College. In his free time, he enjoys swimming and photography.

Peixi Cong

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Peixi is a postdoctoral research associate at the Materials Department at the University of Oxford in Prof R Weatherup’s research group. He received a PhD from University College London for the work on “The application of X-ray techniques to identify deactivation processes and active species in novel catalytic materials” under Prof. A Beale’s supervision. This work focused on the in situ and operando characterisation of deactivation and active species in catalytic materials with combined X-ray spectroscopic and scattering techniques.

Pravin Didwal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Pravin Didwal joined as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Materials, University of Oxford in October 2021 to work on the Faraday degradation project as part of Robert Weatherup’s Group. He undertook his PhD from Chonnam National University, South Korea as a Brain Korea fellow-2016. He completed his MPhil and MSc in Physics from University of Pune, India. During his PhD work was based on designing highly efficient composite solid electrolytes for high-performance all-state-state Li-ion batteries. He has worked on the development of different types of composite solid polymer electrolytes and analysis of their interface and interphases with cathode/anode by several characterization techniques such as by FIB-TEM, XPS, AFM, and ToF-SIMS.

Renkai Zhang

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Renkai is a 4th year Materials Science student in St Catherine’s College at the University of Oxford, working under the supervision of Rob Weatherup. His current research investigates the development of suspended graphene membranes for analytical characterisation.

Robert Weatherup

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rob is Professor of Energy Materials (2024) in the Department of Materials, and a Tutorial Fellow of the Queen’s College, University of Oxford. He received a PhD from University of Cambridge (2013) for work on “In Situ Studies of Catalytic Graphene Growth” with Prof. Stephan Hofmann. He went on to a stipendiary research fellowship by St. John’s College, Cambridge (2013-2017) during which he spent two years in the USA as a Marie Skłodowska Curie Fellow (2015-2017) at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory hosted by Prof. Miquel Salmeron. This involved the development of new methods to extend X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy to the atmospheric pressure regime, in order to study solid-liquid and solid-gas interfaces. After a brief return to Cambridge, working in the group of Prof. Clare Grey on anodes for Li-ion batteries, he became a Diamond-Manchester research fellow (2018-2019) based at Diamond Light Source on the Harwell campus. He joined Oxford as an Associate Professor in October 2019, and continues to work extensively at facilities on the Harwell campus. He is the Research Area Lead for Electrochemical Systems within the Henry Royce Institute (2021), a visiting scientist at Diamond Light Source (2019), and a CAMS-UK Fellow (2019).

Roxanna Roskilly

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rosanna is a 4th year materials science student at Mansfield College, completing her Part II master’s project in the Weatherup group. In summer 2021, she interned with the Henry Royce Institute roadmapping materials challenges for the hydrogen economy. In her free time she likes walking, fitness, badminton, and drawing.

Seonghyun Kim

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Seonghyun is a combined master’s and doctoral (M.S.–Ph.D.) student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), under the supervision of Prof. Seungbum Hong. His research focuses on elucidating real-time morphological and property changes occurring at electrode interfaces using operando electrochemical AFM.

Sevinç Yağmur Bekler

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yağmur joined the group as an MSc by Research student in 2024. Prior to this, she graduated from Sabancı University in 2023 with a BSc degree in Materials Science and Nano Engineering, with minors in Chemistry and Physics. She worked in Prof. Gözde Ince’s group, and her graduation project on a molecularly imprinted nanotube-based chemosensor for cancer diagnosis resulted in a joint publication. Additionally, she completed an exchange semester at the National University of Singapore in 2022. Beyond academia, Yağmur enjoys taking walks in nature, playing tennis, cooking, travelling, and singing in the college choir.

Sirui Li

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sirui joined the group in 2023, as a DPhil student. She completed her BSc Materials Science and Engineering from a 2+2 joint program from Central South University and University of Manchester. After completing bachelor’s degree, in 2022, Sirui took MRes in Nanomaterials from Imperial College London, working on the topic of photoelectrochemical water splitting with transient absorption spectroscopy. In her spare time, she enjoys movies, hiking, baking, and crocheting.

Soumyajit Maitra

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Soumyajit completed his undergrad in Chemical Engineering at the University of Calcutta in India. During his undergrad, he worked on photoelectrochemical water splitting, Dye-Sensitised solar cells, perovskite solar cells and electrocatalytic water splitting at different research institutes, namely, Bose Institute, JU, IIEST and IIT Bombay. After finishing his undergrad in 2020, he took up the role of a research assistant at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) and CSIR-CSIO with an Institute Fellowship, where he worked on 2D materials for photoelectrochemical water splitting and supercapacitors. He also worked on DFT calculations of 2D materials for photocatalysis as a collaboration project with Wuhan University of Technology, China and U-Namur, Belgium. From HT 2023, Soumyajit is pursuing a DPhil with a Clarendon and Trinity Whitehead Scholarship, supervised by Prof. Sebastian Bonilla and Prof. Robert Weatherup.

Style Guide

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This page showcases the reusable components, grid utilities, and carousel controls available in the EMI Group theme.

Thomas Bricknell

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tom is a Part II Undergraduate Student in Materials Science at the University of Oxford.

He joined the University in 2018 after having completed A levels at Hereford Cathedral School. His hobbies include playing Rugby, Football and Cricket and singing for his College, St Edmund Hall.

Trevor Binford

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

After growing up in the US (in Los Angeles, California and Austin, Texas), Trevor moved to the UK for university. He completed a BA at Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 2019, studying Natural Sciences with a focus on chemistry. He then undertook an MPhil at Pembroke College, Cambridge, researching supercapacitors for CO2 capture under the supervision of Alex Forse and finishing in 2021.

Will Skinner

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Will completed his MEng and PhD in the Department of Materials at Imperial College London under the supervision of Profs. David Payne and Johannes Lischner. His PhD project focused on the synthesis of heterogeneous nanoparticle catalysts via exsolution, with particular emphasis on probing their electronic structure and understanding how their crystal structure and surface chemistry evolve under the highly reducing conditions applied during synthesis.

Outside the lab, he enjoys reading, watching films, and spending time outdoors running, hiking, swimming, cycling, and kayaking.

Yifan Bai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yifan joined the Weatherup Group in 2025 to investigate the electrode–electrolyte interface in lithium-ion batteries. He graduated from Imperial College London in 2025 with an MEng in Materials Science and Engineering, awarded with First Class Honours. During his final-year project, he worked in Professor Stephen Skinner’s group, focusing on enhancing the performance of solid oxide fuel cell cathodes at intermediate temperatures. Beyond research, Yifan enjoys swimming, reading, and jogging.