Professor Graham J. Leggett
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Professor of Nanoscale Analytical Science
+44 114 222 9556
Full contact details
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Dainton Building
13 Brook Hill
91Ö±²¥
S3 7HF
- Profile
-
Prof. Leggett obtained a BSc in Chemistry from UMIST in 1987. His PhD from the same institution, obtained in 1990, was followed by consecutive appointments as Research Associate at Universities of Washington and Nottingham. In 1994 he was appointed as lecturer at the University of Nottingham 1994-98. He became a Lecturer at UMIST in 1998, where he was subsequently promoted to senior lecturer and reader.
In 2002 he was appointed as Professor of nanoscale analytical chemistry at the University of 91Ö±²¥. He was appointed as the Head of Department in 2018.
- Research interests
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Graham's research is focused on the chemistry of nanoscale interfaces. Currently, three themes are of special interest:
- nanophotonics, including nanofabrication and plasmonics
- biologically-inspired design, in particular the construction of photonic materials inspired by photosynthetic systems
- molecular interactions at nanometre scale interfaces, including fundamental investigations of the thermodynamics and mechanics of sliding contacts between molecules (nanotribology)
In strong light-matter coupling, an ensemble of excitons (molecular excited states) is hybridised with a confined optical mode (localised surface plasmon resonance) to create new states called plexcitons that combine the properties of light and matter. Our goal is to combine strong light-matter coupling with biologically-inspired design principles, to create new materials for applications in technologies such as solar energy capture and photocatalysis.
In our 'molecular photonic breadboards', minimal units - synthetic antenna complexes - are designed from scratch to organise molecular components precisely in space and assembled to form nanostructured films, with the aim of controlling excitation transfer from the nm to the cm scale. This work builds on our core expertise in making and characterising molecular thin films, including self-assembled monolayers (ordered molecular films formed by spontaneous adsorption onto a solid surface) and polymer brushes (polymers grown from surface-bound initiator molecules). We have developed a suite of techniques for manipulating surface chemistry at the nanometre scale, including nanophotonic methods based upon near-field photolithography and interferometric methods. We use powerful analytical methods, including atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry, to characterise the chemistry of molecular films.
Using scanning probe microscopy, we measure noncovalent interactions between organic molecules at nanoscale interfaces, and we measure nanoscale sliding forces (friction) to explore the thermodynamics of molecular interfaces. Using these quantitative measurements we explore the molecular origins of friction and adhesion in a diversity of applications, including hair-care, laundry detergents and lubrication systems. Our goal is to use nanoscience to discover how to design sustainable alternatives to the active components in these important every-day products.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- . Nature Chemical Biology, 1-9.
- . Nanophotonics, 13(14), 2453-2467.
- . Advanced Functional Materials, 34(2).
- . Chemical Science.
- . Faraday Discussions, 216, 57-71.
- . Nanoscale, 11(13), 6052-6061.
- . Journal of Hazardous Materials, 361, 200-209.
- . Langmuir.
- . Macromolecules, 51(16), 6312-6317.
- . Nanoscale, 10(27), 13064-13073.
- . Tribology Letters, 66(1).
- . Chemical Science, 9, 2238-2251.
- . Langmuir, 33(35), 8829-8837.
- . Langmuir, 33(15), 3672-3679.
- . Chem. Sci., 8(6), 4517-4526.
- . Soft Matter, 13.
- . Langmuir, 33(3), 706-713.
- . ACS Nano, 11(1), 126-133.
- . Nature Communications, 8.
- . European Polymer Journal.
- . Nano Letters, 16(11), 6850-6856.
- . Nanoscale, 8(22), 11738-11747.
- . Langmuir, 32(20), 5048-5048.
- . Langmuir.
- . Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 4(18), 3948-3955.
- . Macromolecules, 48(17), 6272-6279.
- . Interface Focus, 5(4).
- . Acta Biomaterialia, 21, 35-43.
- . ACS Nano, 9(6), 6262-6270.
- . Langmuir, 31(21), 5935-5944.
- . Macromolecules, 48(9), 3095-3103.
- . Langmuir, 31(12), 3668-3677.
- . Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Bioenergetics, 1837(10), 1769-1780.
- . Macromolecules, 47(16), 5613-5623.
- . ACS Nano, 8(8), 7858-7869.
- . Langmuir, 30(31), 9623-9623.
- . Tribology Letters, 56(1), 185-185.
- . Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Bioenergetics, 1837, e118-e118.
- . J Am Chem Soc, 136(26), 9404-9413.
- . Soft Matter, 10(16), 2759-2766.
- . Langmuir, 30(5), 1391-1400.
- . Nanoscale, 5(22), 11125-11131.
- . ACS Nano, 7(9), 7610-7618.
- . Langmuir, 29(34), 10684-10692.
- , 999-999.
- . Nanoscale, 5(9), 3632-3637.
- . Langmuir, 29(4), 1083-1092.
- . Tribology Letters, 1-11.
- . Biointerphases, 7(1-4), 1-9.
- . Langmuir, 28(51), 17709-17717.
- . Biointerphases, 7(1-4), 54.
- . Nanoscale, 4(6), 1840-1855.
- . AIP Conference Proceedings, 1502(1), 171-181.
- . Faraday Discussions, 156, 325-341.
- . JOURNAL OF MATERIALS RESEARCH, 26(24), 2997-3008.
- . Nanoscale, 3(6), 2511-2516.
- . J Am Chem Soc, 133(22), 8625-8632.
- . ACS Nano, 5(3), 1575-1579.
- . Biointerphases, 6(1), 8-15.
- . Langmuir, 27(6), 2514-2521.
- . J Am Chem Soc, 133(8), 2749-2759.
- Use of Engineered Unique Cysteine Residues to Facilitate Oriented Coupling of Proteins Directly to a Gold Substrate. Photochemistry and Photobiology.
- . J MATER CHEM, 21(37), 14173-14177.
- . Photochem Photobiol, 87(5), 1050-1057.
- . Microelectronic Engineering, 88(8), 2109-2112.
- Parallel scanning near-field photolithography in liquid: The Snomipede. Microelectronic Engineering.
- . Nano Lett, 10(11), 4375-4380.
- . Langmuir, 26(16), 13600-13606.
- . Biointerphases, 5(2), 60-68.
- . Langmuir, 26(12), 9937-9942.
- . Langmuir, 26(12), 10203-10209.
- . Langmuir, 26(6), 4449-4458.
- . Chemistry - A European Journal, 16(40), 12234-12243.
- . Langmuir, 26(6), 4331-4338.
- . J MATER CHEM, 20(39), 8531-8538.
- . SOFT MATTER, 6(7), 1571-1579.
- . CHEM COMMUN, 46(29), 5292-5294.
- . ACS Nano, 3(10), 3235-3243.
- . Langmuir, 25(18), 10746-10753.
- . Langmuir, 25(16), 9182-9188.
- . ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 1(8), 1688-1697.
- . Nat Mater, 8(6), 507-511.
- , 479-562.
- Application of phosphopantetheinyl transferase catalyzed site-selective covalent protein immobilization on to nanofabricated surfaces. ABSTR PAP AM CHEM S, 237, 399-399.
- Directed single polymer diffusion along surface energy gradients. ABSTR PAP AM CHEM S, 237.
- . Langmuir, 25(4), 2217-2224.
- . J Am Chem Soc, 131(4), 1513-1522.
- . J Am Chem Soc, 131(3), 896-897.
- Bionanofabrication by Near-Field Optical Methods. Nanobiotechnology, 1-18.
- . APPL PHYS LETT, 93(21).
- . LANGMUIR, 24(21), 12420-12425.
- . Biointerphases, 3(3), 59-65.
- . J MATER CHEM, 18(17), 2016-2021.
- . J Am Chem Soc, 129(48), 14842-14843.
- . NANO LETT, 7(12), 3753-3758.
- . NANO LETT, 7(12), 3747-3752.
- . J Am Chem Soc, 129(47), 14625-14631.
- COLL 198-Solid phase organic synthesis of pegylated disulfides for the generation of biocompatible self-assembled monolayers. ABSTR PAP AM CHEM S, 234.
- COLL 44-Preparation of surface energy gradients on the submicron scale by photooxidation. ABSTR PAP AM CHEM S, 234.
- . J R SOC INTERFACE, 4(14), 473-477.
- . Langmuir, 23(13), 7328-7337.
- . Langmuir, 23(9), 4959-4964.
- . ChemInform, 38(5).
- Nanoscale patterning of photosynthetic light harvesting proteins. European Cells and Materials, 14(SUPPL.3), 46.
- . Nanobiotechnology, 3(3-4), 223-240.
- . J EXP NANOSCI, 2(4), 278-290.
- . Chem Soc Rev, 35(11), 1150-1161.
- . LANGMUIR, 22(22), 9254-9259.
- . Langmuir, 22(9), 4179-4183.
- . Nano Lett, 6(3), 345-350.
- . J Am Chem Soc, 128(2), 392-393.
- . Nano Lett, 6(1), 29-33.
- , 419-445.
- . NANOTECHNOLOGY, 16(9), 1798-1808.
- . J PHYS CHEM B, 109(22), 11247-11256.
- . Langmuir, 21(9), 3903-3909.
- . Phys Chem Chem Phys, 7(6), 1107-1120.
- . Analyst, 130(3), 259-264.
- . Nanotechnology, 16(6), 675-682.
- . NANO LETT, 4(8), 1381-1384.
- . LANGMUIR, 20(10), 4109-4115.
- . J PHYS CHEM B, 108(15), 4723-4728.
- . Chemphyschem, 5(3), 419-420.
- . Wear, 256(1-2), 118-125.
- . Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 67A(2), 548-558.
- . ANAL CHIM ACTA, 479(1), 17-38.
- . Journal of Materials Science, 37(22), 4919-4927.
- . NANO LETT, 2(11), 1223-1227.
- . Journal of the American Chemical Society, 124(11), 2414-2415.
- . Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 59(1), 84-99.
- . Journal of Applied Physics, 91(6), 3841-3846.
- . Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena, 121(1-3), 19-32.
- . Polymer, 42(16), 7025-7031.
- . Journal of the American Chemical Society, 123(17), 4089-4090.
- . Langmuir, 17(6), 1970-1974.
- . Polymer, 42(6), 2647-2653.
- . Surface and Interface Analysis, 31(1), 39-45.
- . Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 598(1), 36-41.
- . Polymer, 41(6), 2241-2248.
- . Langmuir, 16(2), 735-739.
- . Journal of Materials Chemistry, 10(1), 133-139.
- . J Biomed Mater Res, 47(3), 379-387.
- . Langmuir, 15(4), 1024-1032.
- . Surface and Interface Analysis, 27(12), 1084-1091.
- . Polymer, 40(21), 5973-5976.
- . Journal of Materials Chemistry, 9(4), 923-928.
- . Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 1(14), 3345-3350.
- A comparative study of cell attachment to self assembled monolayers and plasma polymers. J MATER CHEM, 8(12), 2583-2584.
- . Polymer, 39(24), 5913-5921.
- . Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 41(3), 431-442.
- . Langmuir, 14(17), 4795-4801.
- . Journal of Materials Chemistry, 8(8), 1735-1742.
- . Surface Science, 397(1-3), 154-163.
- . The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 102(1), 174-184.
- . Langmuir, 13(11), 3055-3058.
- . Langmuir, 13(10), 2740-2748.
- . Polymer, 38(11), 2617-2625.
- Contact versus non-contact mode in the scanning force microscopy of plasma-treated poly(ethylene terephthalate) films. American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry, 38(1), 1061-1062.
- . Journal of Materials Chemistry, 7(3), 435-441.
- . Langmuir, 12(22), 5494-5497.
- . Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena, 81(3), 249-268.
- . The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 100(16), 6657-6662.
- . Applied Surface Science, 84(3), 253-266.
- . Surface and Interface Analysis, 23(1), 22-28.
- . Langmuir, 9(4), 1115-1120.
- . The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 97(35), 8852-8854.
- . The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 97(20), 5348-5355.
- . Langmuir, 9(9), 2356-2362.
- . Journal of the Chemical Society, Faraday Transactions, 89(1), 179-179.
- . International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes, 122, 281-319.
- . Surface and Interface Analysis, 18(8), 637-639.
- . Surface and Interface Analysis, 18(3), 210-216.
- . Applied Surface Science, 55(2-3), 105-115.
- . Journal of the Chemical Society, Faraday Transactions, 88(3), 297-297.
- . Surface and Interface Analysis, 17(10), 737-744.
- . International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes, 108(1), 29-39.
- . Analytical Chemistry, 63(6), 561-568.
- . Annual Reports Section "C" (Physical Chemistry), 88, 77-77.
- . Surface and Interface Analysis, 16(1-12), 3-8.
- . Journal of the Chemical Society, Faraday Transactions, 86(10), 1863-1863.
- . Langmuir.
- . Langmuir.
- . Langmuir.
- . Langmuir.
- . Langmuir.
- . Chemistry of Materials.
- . Macromolecules.
- . Chemical Science.
- . Faraday Discussions, 216, 133-161.
- . Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 3(21), 4431-4438.
Chapters
- , Nanolithography and Patterning Techniques in Microelectronics (pp. 238-266).
- Scanning probe microscopy, HANDBOOK OF ADHESION, 2ND EDITION (pp. 441-443).
- Atomic force microscopy, HANDBOOK OF ADHESION, 2ND EDITION (pp. 50-52).
- John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- , Handbook of Adhesion (pp. 439-525). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- , Handbook of Adhesion (pp. 1-58). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Conference proceedings papers
- . 2023 IEEE Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference (NMDC), 22 October 2023 - 25 October 2023.
- High-resolution Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) imaging of native biological membrane systems. EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS, Vol. 46 (pp S368-S368)
- Synthesis and nanometer-scale patterning of stimulus-responsive, biofouling-resistant zwitterionic poly(amino acid methacrylate) brushes. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 248
- Self-cleaning, reusable templates for protein nanopatterning fabricated by interferometric lithography and nanoimprinting. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 248
- Nanoscale positioning of multiple proteins by scanning near-field photolithography. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 248
- Fabrication of metal nanostructures over macroscopic areas by interferometric lithography of self-assembled monolayers. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 247
- Continuous wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy for environmental applications. Optical Instrumentation for Energy and Environmental Applications, E2 2012
- Mechanics and thermodynamics of nanometre-scale molecular contacts. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 244
- . Nanoengineering: Fabrication, Properties, Optics, and Devices IV, Vol. 6645 (pp 64513-64513)
- Scanning near-field photolithography: A new tool for fabricating molecular nanostructures.. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 227 (pp U875-U875)
- Scanning near-field photolithography: A new route to biological nanostructures. Transactions - 7th World Biomaterials Congress (pp 1368)
- Some recent developments in SPM of crystalline polymers. Macromolecular Symposia, Vol. 167(1) (pp 1-14)
- Scanning force microscopy of polyester: Surface structure and adhesive properties.. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 220 (pp U282-U282)
- Scanning force microscopy of polyester: surface structure and adhesive properties. American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry, Vol. 41(2) (pp 1435-1436)
- Development of surface morphology, local friction and adhesion in plasma-treated poly(ethylene terephthalate) films.. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 216 (pp U178-U178)
- Development of surface morphology, local friction and adhesion in plasma-treated poly(ethylene terephthalate) films. American Chemical Society, Polymer Preprints, Division of Polymer Chemistry, Vol. 39(2) (pp 1228-1229)
- Contact versus non-contact mode in the scanning force microscopy of plasma-treated poly(ethylene terephthalate) films.. ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Vol. 213 (pp 528-POLY)
- Surface energy effects on osteoblast attachment: A model system. Transactions of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Biomaterials in conjunction with the International Biomaterials Symposium, Vol. 1 (pp 597)
Preprints
- Teaching interests
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Analytical Chemistry; Surface Chemistry.
- Teaching activities
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Undergraduate and postgraduate taught modules
- Chemistry and the World Around Us (Level 1): Fuel
The course examines how chemical principles may be used to make qualitative assessments of the efficiency of energy production, and explores the complexity of many issues facing society as it grapples with the problems of climate change and energy supply scarcity. - Solid Surfaces and Catalysis (Level 3)
This course considers the nature of gas-solid interactions and their relationship to catalytic activity. - Nanochemistry (Level 4)
This provides an overview of the role of chemistry in nanotechnology, and introduce students to major techniques for the fabrication and characterisation of nanostructured materials and devices. - Polymer Characterisation and Analysis (Postgraduate Level)
This course explores the major instrumental methods for identifying polymers and determining characteristics including: polymer molecular weight, molecular weight distribution, stereochemistry, sequence distribution in copolymers, transition temperatures, and surface features.
Support Teaching:
- Level 3 Literature Review
Laboratory Teaching:
- Level 1 Physical Laboratories
- Level 2 Physical Laboratories
- Level 3 Research Project
- Level 4 Research Project
- Chemistry and the World Around Us (Level 1): Fuel
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