Research area

• Characterisation of polymer treatments

IR and Raman micro-spectroscopy is used to chemically map the surface of polymers that have undergone a variety of treatments such as radiation, plasma and solvents and/or graft polymerisation reactions or other processes such as photo-thermal degradation.

• Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations of vibrational spectra

There is still a great need for fundamental research into spectral assignments of many chemical classes. DFT calculations are undertaken to assign the spectra of nitroxide free radicals, which provide insights into the nature of more complicated chemical systems involving these radicals.

• Vibrational spectroscopy of biomaterials and bio-mineralisation

Characterisation studies of minerals are also applied to bio-mineral systems such as hydroxyapatites and fluoro/hydroxyapatites. Polarised IR microscopy is used to study ordered biological systems such as collagen and collagen degradation in cartilage.