Prof. Jas Pal S. Badyal

Personal web page

(email at j.p.badyal@durham.ac.uk)

Youtube Channel

Research Interests

Designing functionalised surfaces forms the basis of a multi-billion dollar global industry. For example, the cleanliness of optical lenses, the resistance of biomedical devices to bacteria, the speed of computer hard disks, and even the wear of car brake pads are all governed by their surface chemistry. While there are many ways of incorporating specific chemical groups onto a solid surface - self-assembly, chemical coupling, and Langmuir-Blodgett films, to name just a few; none of these offer a generic method for surface functionalisation. Each depends critically on the nature of the underlying substrate material. We are interested in devising alternative substrate-independent methods based on non-isothermal ("cold") plasma chemistry. Often referred to as the "fourth state of matter", plasmas are a mixture of electrons, ions, neutrals and photons, and in fact they make up most of the universe. By introducing precursor molecules into the plasma state it has been shown that structurally well-defined functional surfaces can be produced.  Current topics of investigation include:

Industrial Support and Start-Up Companies

Many of these projects involve collaboration with industry.  In addition, the following start-up companies have been set up to commercialise patented research from Professor Badyal's laboratory:

• Surface Innovations Ltd
• Dow Corning Plasma Ltd (Invexus)
• P2i Ltd (2012 International Business Award for 'Most Innovative Company in Europe')

References

1. Beyond the Surface, J. P. S. Badyal, Chemistry In Britain, 2001, 37, 45.
2. Re-Writable DNA Microarrays, W. C. E. Schofield, J. McGettrick, T. J. Bradley, S. Przyborski, and J. P. S. Badyal, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2006, 128, 2280.
3. Multi-Functional Molecular Scratchcards, L. G. Harris, W. C. E. Schofield, and J. P. S. Badyal, Chemistry of Materials, 2007, 19, 1546.
4. Rewritable Glycochips, L. G. Harris, W. C. E. Schofield, K. J. Doores, B.G. Davis, and J. P. S. Badyal, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2009, 131, 7755.
5. Surface Actuation of Smart Nanoshutters, S. Morsch, W. C. E. Schofield, and J. P. S. Badyal, Langmuir, 2010, 26, 12342.
6. 3-Dimensional Hierarchical Structures for Fog Harvesting, H. G. Andrews, E. A. Eccles, W. C. E. Schofield, and J. P. S. Badyal, Langmuir, 2011, 27, 3798.
7. A Combined Plasmachemical and Emulsion Templating Approach for Actuated Macroporous Scaffolds, S. Morsch, T. J. Wood, W. C. E. Schofield, and J. P. S. Badyal, Advanced Functional Materials, 2012, 22, 313.