Inorganic Chemistry

This research group has two main themes: inorganic photochemistry and element speciation in the natural environment. The first theme includes research on the steps in the femtosecond-picosecond time domain which follow directly upon interaction of the molecule with a photon. This work focuses on metal complexes, preferably with more than one photoreaction path. Photochemistry research extends to applications in photocatalysis. The main application is to oxidative waste treatment. The second theme is centered on contaminant (metal ions, pesticides) binding by naturally occurring ligands (humic substances, hydrous oxide colloids) which are mixture systems with important aggregation and conformation factors in their behaviour. The approach tries to integrate the work into a dynamic system view of soil-water and sediment-water environments. Current work has exploited NMR relaxometry to study movement of water in soils and relate that to contaminant uptake.