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Publications

, Mohammadpour Mozhdeh, , ,

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (2026)

, Wadkin-Snaith Dominic, ,

Macromolecular Theory and Simulations Vol 34 (2025)

, Mohammadpour Mozhdeh, , ,

Vibrational Spectroscopy Vol 137 (2025)

Hudek Magdalena, , , ,

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C Vol 128, pp. 21531-21538 (2024)

Wadkin-Snaith Dominic, ,

Polymer Vol 304 (2024)

Anker Samira, McKechnie David, , ,

Crystal Growth and Design Vol 24, pp. 143–158 (2024)

Teaching

My teaching philosophy is to provide the best learning environment by challenging students through providing questions related to everyday exampes, that develop student's understanding and problem solving skills.

I am the course organiser and a lecturer for CP102 Introduction to Chemical Engineering: Fundamentals, Techniques and Tools, and the distance learning course CP108 Mathematics for Chemical Engineers. I also supervise CP407 design projects and 18350 MEng projects.

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Research Interests

Polymers

The properties of polymer composites are dependent on the interface between the polymer and surface. We have developed multiscale models to explore how surfaces affect the polymer properties, such as melt structure, glass transition and crystallisation. We also study sustainably-sourced and compostable polymers including polyhydroxyalkanoates, alginates and chitin/chitosan. We are investigating how the addition of filler particles and plasticisers may help to improve the properties, leading to uptake of sustainable plastics in applications such as food packaging.

Heterogeneous Nucleation

Nucleation mainly occurs via heterogeneous mechanisms, with the nucleus forming on a surface or interface, rather than in bulk solution. We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the composition, structure and dynamics of the solution at the interface region, which can have significantly different properties than in the bulk region.

Adsorption and self-assembly

​Adsorption of molecules to surfaces is important in a wide range of systems, including soft-hard matter interfaces, and self-assembly. We use quantum density functional theory to study the adsorption of molecules onto surfaces.

Force field optimisation

​To model systems using classical MD it is crucial to have a force field that accurately describes the behaviour of the system. In interfacial systems the interaction at the interface is particularly important but experimental information is not often available. We use quantum density functional theory calculations to optimise interface force fields. For crystallising systems the force field should describe both crystal and amorphous/solution phases. We validate force field to describe both phases based on available data.

Professional Activities

Participant

8/9/2025

Examiner

16/7/2025

Visiting researcher

21/3/2025

Participant

11/2/2025

Speaker

5/2/2025

Participant

30/1/2025

Projects

Zhang, Xiaolei (Principal Investigator) Johnston, Karen (Co-investigator) Lyth, Stephen (Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2029

Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator) Mulheran, Paul (Co-investigator) Remsu, Ville (Researcher)

20-Jan-2024 - 22-Jan-2024

Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator) Mulheran, Paul (Academic)

25-Jan-2024 - 23-Jan-2024

Zhang, Xiaolei (Principal Investigator) Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator)

01-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2022

Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator) Mulheran, Paul (Co-investigator)

01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2025

Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator) Liggat, John (Co-investigator) Mulheran, Paul (Co-investigator) Magueijo, Vitor (Researcher)

01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2024