Prof Angelos Michaelides

Biography

Research Interests

Our research aims at understanding important phenomena in surface- materials- and nano-science. Using concepts from quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics, we apply and develop methods and computer simulations to study processes of relevance to catalysis - such as the properties of metal surfaces and chemical reactions at surfaces - and processes of environmental relevance - such as the nucleation of ice or the dissolution of salts. Water and ice are major focuses of our work.

For more information on our research, including movies of recent simulation results, see www.chem.ucl.ac.uk/ice

Recent Publications

Initial stages of salt dissolution determined with ab intio molecular dynamics,
Li-Min Liu, Alessandro Laio and Angelos Michaelides,
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 13, 13162 (2011) [pdf]

Melting the Ice: On the Relation between Melting Temperature and Size for Nanoscale Ice Crystals,
Ding Pan, Li-Min Liu, Ben Slater, Angelos Michaelides and Enge Wang,
ACS Nano, 5, 4562 (2011) [pdf]

Van der Waals density functionals applied to solids,
Jiří Klimeš, David R. Bowler and Angelos Michaelides,
Phys. Rev. B 83, 195131 (2011) [pdf]

Quantum nature of the hydrogen bond,
Xin-Zheng Li, Brent Walker and Angelos Michaelides
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108, 6369 (2011) [pdf]

c(2x2) Water-Hydroxyl Layer on Cu(110): A Wetting Layer Stabilized by Bjerrum defects.
Matthew Forster, Rasmita Raval, Andrew Hodgson, Javier Carrasco and Angelos Michaelides
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 046103 (2011) [pdf]

To wet or not to wet? Dispersion forces tip the balance for water-ice on metals.
Javier Carrasco, Biswajit Santra, Jiří Klimeš and Angelos Michaelides
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 026101 (2011) [pdf]

Theory of gold on ceria
Changjun Zhang, Angelos Michaelides, and Stephen J. Jenkins
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 13, 22 (2011) [pdf]

For a full publication list see www.chem.ucl.ac.uk/ice

Biography

Angelos Michaelides obtained a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry in 2000 from The Queen's University of Belfast. Following this he worked as a post-doctoral research associate and junior research fellow at the University of Cambridge and then at the Fritz Haber Institute, Berlin, as an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow. Subsequently he was promoted to staff scientist and research group leader at the Fritz Haber Institute. In 2006 he moved to University College London, where since 2009 he has been Professor of Theoretical Chemistry.

He has received a number of honours and awards for his research including the Royal Irish Academy Young Irish Chemist of the Year (2000), a visiting professorship at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (2004), and a European Young Investigator Award (2005). He was also the 2010 recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry Marlow Award "For his innovative contributions in broad areas of surface and physical chemistry, with particular relevance to heterogeneous catalysis and improved understanding of the water-ice interface". He currently holds a European Research Council Start-up Grant, is an Academic Editor for AIP Advances, and since 2011 has been Director of the Thomas Young Centre (www.thomasyoungcentre.org).

His current research focuses on the application and development of computer simulation techniques to study catalytic and environmental interfaces, with water being a major focus.