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Professor Peter Kelly
Plasma processing

The ever increasing drive for improved product performance at reduced cost has led to surface engineering becoming an integral part of product design in most industries. In many cases, it will be surface coatings and thin films that provide the desired surface properties. In fact, the entire device or component may essentially consist of a stack of thin films, each of which delivers specific functionality.

The majority of commercially important thin film materials tend to be compounds; whether they are hard transition metal nitride based coatings, transparent conductive oxides, dielectric layers or photocatalytically active layers. Of the techniques available for the deposition of compound materials, reactive magnetron sputtering has become the process of choice for many applications. The pre-eminent position of this technique has come about through the continual development of the process over the last 20-30 years. Important developments, such as unbalanced magnetron sputtering, closed field multiple magnetron systems, rotatable magnetrons, mid-frequency pulsed magnetron sputtering and, most recently, high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) have all played important roles in taking the technique to increased levels of performance.

Read the full editorial by Peter Kelly which recently appeared in Materials Technology

Photocatalytic and Superhydrophilic Surfaces Workshop (PSS2011)

This inaugural workshop was held at Manchester Metropolitan University on 12th September 2011. It comprised a one-day event incorporating four sessions of invited and contributed oral presentations and posters covering the production, characterisation and applications of photocatalytic and superhydrophilic materials. Guest speakers included experts from the medical and construction sectors, as well as practitioners of photocatalyst scientific techniques. Fifty-two delegates from ten European countries attended, and the response and feedback generated fully supports the continuation of this event in future years. Particular praise was given for the networking opportunities provided by bringing together a range of experts from sectors that do not regularly interact. Support provided by the Institute of Physics and internally through the Nano-Info-Bio project enabled the workshop to be delivered at a very competitive cost – particularly for student delegates; a key factor in establishing a new event in the scientific calendar. The organising committee of PSS2011 (Prof Peter Kelly, Prof Joanna Verran and Dr Glen West) would like to express its gratitude for this generous support. Go to http://www.dri.mmu.ac.uk/pss2011/ for details of the programme and selected papers.
Delegates were asked “What was the most beneficial outcome of your attendance?”

‘discovering the UK community working in photocatalysis’

‘more knowledge of antimicrobial tests/methods and an opportunity to collaborate’

‘was able to understand the development in the field since the last photocatalytic conference’

‘good networking opportunity’

For information on the 2012 conference, please contact Professor Peter Kelly on: peter.kelly@mmu.ac.uk

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