Newcastle University

Research Interests

See research.ncl.ac.uk/christensengroup

Research themes:

Industrial Relevance

Consultancy

Specialist Expertise
Electrocatalysis.
Photoelectrocatalysis.
Novel instrumentation design.
Water, wastewater & waste treatment by electrochemical & photoelectrochemical methods (Advanced Oxidation Processes).
Electrocatalytic generation of ozone.
Academic/industrial interface & research & commercialisation.
Low temperature fuel cell electrocatalysis.
Ttechnology and component testing.

Specialist Equipment
In-situ electrochemical Fourier Transform Infra Red spectroscopy for 
the study of mechanism at electrode/electrolyte interface.
Novel in-situ spectroscopic methods for the rapid prediction of paint and polymer weatherability.

Projects

• Highly Efficient Electrochemical Ozone Generators
  Project Leader(s): Prof Paul Christensen

• Christensen PA, Jones SWM, Hamnett A. In Situ FTIR Studies of Ethanol Oxidation at Polycrystalline Pt in Alkaline Solution. Journal of Physical Chemistry Part C: Nanomaterials, Interfaces and Hard Matter 2012, 116(46), 24681-24689.
• Christensen PA, Zakaria K, Curtis TP. Structure and Activity of Ni- and Sb-doped SnO2 Ozone Anodes. Ozone: Science & Engineering 2012, 34(1), 49-56.
• Freitas RG, Antunes EP, Christensen PA, Pereira EC. The influence of Ir and Pt1Ir1 structure in metallic multilayers nanoarchitectured electrodes towards ethylene glycol electro-oxidation. Journal of Power Sources 2012, 214, 351-357.
• Christensen PA, Carroll MA, Linares-Moya D, Molyneux D, Rosamond MC, Woods D. A Novel Composite Anode: The Electrooxidation of Organic Molecules via Formation of Highly Energetic Holes. Journal of Physical Chemistry C: Nanomaterials and Interfaces 2011, 115(21), 10777-10783.
• Christensen PA, Hamnett A, Linares-Moya D. Oxygen reduction and fuel oxidation in alkaline solution. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2011, 13(12), 5206-5214.
• Christensen PA, Hamnett A, Linares-Moya D. The electro-oxidation of formate ions at a polycrystalline Pt electrode in alkaline solution: an in situ FTIR study. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2011, 13(24), 11739-11747.
• Christensen PA, Imkum A. The Inhibition of Ozone Generation at Ni/Sb-SnO2 Electrodes in High Concentrations of Dissolved O-3. Ozone: Science & Engineering 2011, 33(5), 389-395.
• Freitas RG, Pereira EC, Christensen PA. The selective oxidation of ethanol to CO2 at Pt-pc/Ir/Pt metallic multilayer nanostructured electrodes. Electrochemistry Communications 2011, 13(10), 1147-1150.
• Egerton TA, Christensen PA, Fernando SS, White JR. FTIR measurement of CO2 photogeneration from polyethylene, polypropylene and polyester films. In: Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society. 2007, American Chemical Society.
• Christensen PA, Scott K, Cheng H. Electrolysis cell and method. US: Christensen, PA, US 2006/0231415, 19 October 2006.
• Egerton TA, Christensen PA, Scott K, Harrison R, Tinlin JR. UV absorption by nitrophenols:Implications for design of photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic reactors. In: Photocatalytic and Advanced Oxidation Processes for Treatment of Air, Water, Soil and Surfaces, TiO2-9 and AOT-10. 2004, San Diego, California, USA: Redox technologies Inc.
• Jin C, Christensen PA, Egerton TA, White JR. Effect of anisotropy on photo-mechanical oxidation of polyethylene. Polymer 2003, 44(19), 5969-5981.
• Jin C, Egerton TA, White JR, Christensen PA, MacDonald N. Rapid method to assess effect of pigments on photodegradability of polymers. In: 61st Annual Technical Conference (ANTEC). 2003, Nashville, Tennessee, USA: Society of Plastics Engineers, Inc.
• Jin C, Egerton TA, White JR, Christensen PA, MacDonald N. Rapid Method to assess the effect of pigments on photo-degradability of polymers. In: Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition of the Society of Plastics Engineers (ANTEC). 2003, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
• Cheng H, Scott K, Christensen PA. Hydrodehylogenation of 2, 4-dibromophenol by electrochemical reduction. In: 53rd Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE). 2002, Dusseldorf, Germany.
• Christensen PA, Egerton TA, Lawson EJ, Temperley J. Measurements of carbon dioxide evolution from alkyd paint films: Part I Oxidative scission during film ageing. Journal of Materials Science 2002, 37(17), 3667-3673.
• Cheng H, Scott K, Christensen PA. Electrochemical HDH of chlorinated organics. In: ENERGY AND ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESSES FOR A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT, PROCEEDINGS. 2001, 65 S MAIN ST, PENNINGTON, NJ 08534-2839 USA: ELECTROCHEMICAL SOCIETY INC.
• Cheng H, Scott K, Christensen PA. Electrochemical Recycling of Halogenated Phenols. In: Electrochem. 2001, Loughborough, UK.
• Scott K, Cheng H, Christensen PA. Electrochemical Treatment of Chlorinated Organics. In: 2001 Joint International Meeting - 200th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society and the 52nd Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry. 2001, San Francisco, California.
• Lin WF, Christensen PA, Hamnett A, Zei MS, Ertl G. Electro-oxidation of CO at the Ru(0001) single-crystal electrode surface. Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2000, 104(28), 6642-6652.
• Hamnett A, Abel J, Eameaim J, Christensen P, Timonov A, Vasilyeva S. A study of the polymerisation and electrochemical cycling of Pd methoxy- Salen derivatives using fast ellipsometry and FT-infrared spectroscopy. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 1999, 1(22), 5147-5156.
• Eastwood BJ, Christensen PA, Armstrong RD, Bates NR. Electrochemical oxidation of a carbon black loaded polymer electrode in aqueous electrolytes. Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry 1999, 3(4), 179-186.
• Hamnett A, Abel J, Christensen PA, Earley D. Fast ellipsometric studies of surface processes. In: Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society. 1999, American Chemical Society.
• Christensen PA, Eameaim J, Hamnett A. In situ FTIR studies of the photo-electrochemical behaviour of thermal TiO2 films as a function of temperature. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 1999, 1(23), 5315-5321.
• Christensen PA, Dilks A, Egerton TA, Temperley J. Infrared spectroscopic evaluation of the photodegradation of paint - Part I - The UV degradation of acrylic films pigmented with titanium dioxide. Journal of Materials Science 1999, 34(23), 5689-5700.
• Christensen PA, Egerton TA, Harper JC, Tinlin JR. Photoelectrochemical oxidation of organics on thermal film TiO₂,Topical Issues in Glasses ‘ Photons Glasses and Coatings. Society of Glass Technology Newsletter 1999, 146(3), 75.
• Roy SC, Christensen PA, Hamnett A, Thomas KM, Trapp V. Direct methanol fuel cell cathodes with sulfur and nitrogen-based carbon functionality. Journal of the Electrochemical Society 1996, 143(10), 3073-3079.