December 2013
"Understanding Voltammetry: Simulation of Electrode Processes" by R G Compton, E Laborda and K R Ward
The third book in the 'Understanding Voltammetry' series, published with Imperial College Press and written by the Compton Group has been published. It is the first textbook in the field of electrochemistry that will teach experimental electrochemists how to carry out simulation of electrode processes. Both macro- and micro-electrodes are examined and the simulation of diffusion-only and diffusion-convection processes are considered along with reactions with coupled homogeneous kinetics and at electrode arrays.

December 2013
Success for group alumna
Dr. Debbie Silvester-Dean has been awarded the AM Bond Medal by the Electrochemistry Division of the RACI for excellence in research in electrochemical sciences by a young researcher. First awarded in 2012, the 2013 Medal has been awarded to Debbie in recognition of the excellence of her work in electrochemistry. She formally received the medal at the Division’s symposium in November 2013.

November 2013
Hot article in PhysChemChemPhys
The paper entitled "Electrochemical studies of silver nanoparticles: a guide for experimentalists and a perspective' has been selected as a hot paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal PCCP. See:
http://blogs.rsc.org/cp/category/hot-article/

October 2013
Hot article in PhysChemChemPhys
The paper entitled "Oxygen reduction at sparse arrays of platinum nanoparticles in aqueous acid: hydrogen peroxide as a liberated two electron intermediate" by Matthew Gara, Eduardo Laborda, Philip Holdway, Alison Crossley, Charles J. V. Jones and Richard G. Compton has been selected as a hot paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal PCCP. See:
http://blogs.rsc.org/cp/category/hot-article/

October 2013
Hot paper in Angewandte Chemie
The paper 'Electrochemical sizing of organic nanoparticles' by Wei Cheng, Xiao-Fei Zhou and Richard G Compton has been selected as a 'hot paper' by the editors of Angewandte Chemie. For details please see:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201307653/pdf

September 2013
Singapore Company Manufactures Oxford Chilli Tester
A chilli sensor developed in the Professor Richard Compton's group at the University of Oxford is to be manufactured by Singapore spin-out, Bio-X (S) Pte. Ltd. to bring standardisation for heat in the food industry. The mass-produced sensor could see the ubiquitous chilli symbols on food packaging replaced by Scoville units. The sensor measures the levels of capsaicinoids, chemicals in chillies that gives us the characteristic ‘heat’. The most common method of assessing the heat at the moment involves a panel of tasters – which takes time, incurs costs and often yields variable results.
http://www.isis-innovation.com/news/SingaporeCompanyManufacturesOxfordChilli.html

June 2013
Visit of Professor Guobao Xu, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry
July 4th and 5th saw the visit of Professor Xu who gave us a much appreciated lecture on his work (carbon nano-horns, electrogenerated chemiluminescence, chemical sensors) and enjoyed a visit to the Lamb and Flag.

June 2013
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Theoretical/Computational Electrochemistry
Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Theoretical/Computational Electrochemistry to work under the supervision of Professor Richard G Compton on a research project funded by the European Research Council for a period of 4 years.
The project involves the development of theoretical and computational electrochemical models for nano-impact experiments (see Angewandte Chemie, 50 (2011): 4219-4221 and, for a review, RSC Advances, 2 (2012): 379-384).
You should either already have a PhD in Chemistry or a relevant subject area, or have submitted your thesis prior to taking up the post. You should have extensive previous experience in electrochemistry and expertise in the simulation of electrochemical processes.
The post will start on 1 October 2013 and will be based in the Rodney Porter Building, South Parks Road, Oxford.
Only applications received before 12.00 midday on Wednesday 12 June 2013 can be considered.
The University of Oxford and the Department of Chemistry are Athena SWAN bronze award holders. Applications are particularly welcome from women, disabled and black and ethnic minority candidates, who are under-represented in Chemistry research posts in Oxford.
To apply for this role and for further details, including a job description and selection criteria, please click the link below.
https://www.recruit.ox.ac.uk/pls/hrisliverecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.display_form

June 2013
London and South East Postgraduate Symposium In Electrochemistry
The annual meeting was held at University College. Patricia Lee (1st year D.Phil.) and Sven Ernst (3rd year D.Phil.) gave talks ('Electrochemical detection of NADH, cysteine or glutathione using a polycaffeic acid modified electrode' and 'Changed electrochemical reactivity in a room temperature ionic liquid?') Sven, pictured lecturing, won 2nd place in the competition for the best talk. Dr Denise Lowinsohn and Ms Her Shuang Toh supported.

June 2013
Her Shuang Toh wins prize for best student talk at GWE meeting, Bath
Group member Her Shuang Toh received the prize for the best student talk at this years great western electrochemical meeting. The GWE meeting is a one-day meeting for researchers and postgraduate students covering all aspects of electrochemistry and electroanalysis held annually at Bath University, UK.
Her Shuang is shown receiving her prize from Professor Frank Marken for her talk entitled 'The electrochemical oxidation of silver nanoparticles'.

Apr 2013
Qian Li Receives Prestigious Scholarship from Chinese Government
Ms Qian Li, 3rd year D.Phil. student in the Group, has been granted a 2012 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Student Abroad by the China Scholarship Council (CSC). This award was founded by the Chinese government in 2003 with the purpose of rewarding the academic excellence of self-financed Chinese students studying overseas. Only those with an outstanding performance in their PhD studies are considered by the award selection panel and no more than 500 young talents are granted the award each year all over the world.
[image: Qian receives the award from his excellency, Mr Liu Xiaoming, Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom]

Apr 2013
13th Topical Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry
The meeting took place from 7th to 10th of April in Pretoria, South Africa. The Group contributed three talks to this excellent meeting which was splendidly organised by Prof Ken Ozoemena of CSIR: 'Electrochemical studies of nanoparticles' - Richard Compton; 'Electrochemical detection and quantification of commercial silver nanoparticles in seawater media' - Emma Stuart; 'Asymmetric Marcus-Hush Theory' - Martin Henstridge. The photograph shows Emma and Martin with Professor Sayoko Shironita (Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan) and former group member Professor Greg Wildgoose (University of East Anglia).
http://topical13.ise-online.org/

Mar 2013
18th Meeting of the Portuguese Electrochemical Society
The Group contributed three talks to this annual national meeting which was organised by Dr Luis Moreira Gonclaves: 'Electrochemical studies of nanoparticles' - Richard Compton; 'Variable temperature voltammetry to gain molecular insights into electron transfer processes based on the asymmetric Marcus-Hush model' - Eduardo Laborda and 'Towards electrode selectivity: the study of homogeneous electron transfer reactions' - Chris Batchelor-McAuley.
http://www2.fc.up.pt/18spe/index.html

Mar 2013
Senova pH Meter Wins Best New Product Award at Pittcon
The worlds first ever calbibration free pH meter - based on Compton Group IP and patents - made by Senova Systems of Sunnyvale, California won first place Pittcon Editors Award at the recent Pittcon meeting. The product was also highlighted in ACS publication C&E News - see LINK
http://compton.chem.ox.ac.uk/news/images/senovapH.pdf

Feb 2013
Prof. Compton Joins Editorial Board of `Science China - Chemistry'.
Prof. Compton has joined the Editorial Board of prestiguous journal `Science China - Chemistry'.
Science China Chemistry is an academic journal co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and published by Science China Press. The journal publishes high-quality, original results in both basic and applied research.
Categories of articles include: Reviews that summarize representative results and achievements in a particular topic or an area, comment on the current situation, and advise on research directions; research papers reporting on important original results in all areas of chemistr; brief reports presenting short, timely reports of the latest important results
http://chem.scichina.com:8081/sciBe/EN/column/column19291.shtml

Jan 2013
Compton Group Outreach to Visit The Cheltenham Ladies College
The Royal Society have awarded a Partnership Grant to Dr. David Gamblin (Cheltenham Ladies College) and Prof. Compton for the project 'Red hot science - capsaicin, chilllis and chocolate'. The Oxford team (Emma Stuart, Joanna Ellison, Chris Neumann, Dr. Kristina Tschulik, and Prof. Compton) will visit The College on Saturday March 9th to initiate the project with some hands-on chilli-sensing practical work along with lectures on nanochemistry. Please visit our outreach page or the link below for full details about the project.
http://www.cheltladiescollege.org/latest-news/college-teams-up-with-oxford-for-red-hot-science/

Jan 2013
Compton Group Publish Top 10 Article in RSC Advances
A recent article titled 'Making contact: charge transfer during particle–electrode collisions' by Neil V. Rees, Yi-Ge Zhou, and Richard G. Compton published in the RSC journal 'RSC Advances' was one of the top 10 most cited articles for the month of December.
http://blogs.rsc.org/ra/2012/12/18/top-10-cited-review-articles-in-rsc-advances/