Prof Ivan Parkin - UCL

Ivan Parkin's PhD studies were in main group synthetic chemistry and that produced 20 publications in international Journals.  Post-doctoral study was in metal- metal multiply bonded chemistry and produced 10 publications.  He then changed research fields entirely and moved into Materials Science and pioneered a new research field of Solid state metathesis (40 research papers).  This led to a long-term interdisciplinary collaboration with ISMAN in Russia on Self-Propagating High temperature Synthesis (30 papers and on-going) at the interface between materials science and Physics.  He completed the first impedance measurements of SHS, the first high resolution time resolved synchrotron XRD measurement of SHS reactions, the first SHS reactions at exceptionally high magnetic fields (20T) and the first formation of biomaterials implants from SHS-SLS techniques.  Since 1996 he moved to his present main research field - the formation of thin films and coatings by chemical vapour deposition (>100 papers) especially photocatalysis.  This has led to contributions towards commercialisation of  industrial products (Pilkington Activ), medals and a range of international invitations.  Since 2007 he has evolved (with Wilson the Co-I) a further research field- the development of antimicrobial coatings to kill bacteria and reduce hospital acquired infections.  This has involved the development of new nanoparticulate antimicrobial agents and a strong interdisciplinary interaction with microbiology. In 2010 he developed new visible light photocatalysts and showed that they were outstanding at photosplitting water.  He is the author of some 375 international research papers and has given over 150 invited lectures.