The team

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Jesum Alves Fernandes
I am an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham, UK. My research expertise focuses on metal clusters and ammonia catalysis.
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Emerson C. Kohlrausch
I am a Research Fellow in the JAF group since 2022.
My research expertise focuses on the fabrication of metal clusters, including on-surface metal cluster assembly via magnetron sputtering and their characterisation such as XPS, AC-STEM, PXRD, XAS.

Andreas Weilhard
I am a Research Fellow in the JAF group since 2020.
My research expertise focuses on ammonia catalysis, including kinetic investigations, mechanistic analysis and computational data processing.
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Richard Plummer
I am a Research Technician in the JAF group since 2022. My expertise lies in the design and fabrication of instrumentation for metal cluster synthesis and catalytic testing.
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Thomas Liddy
I am a PhD student in the JAF group since 2023. My project focuses on hydrogen production from ammonia. My PhD is supported through a partnership between the Sustainable Hydrogen CDT and Diamond Light Source.

Matthew Young
I am a Research Technician in the JAF group since 2022. My expertise lies on fabrication of metal clusters.
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Larissa Ricardo Ferreira
I am a visiting PhD student in the JAF group since 2025. My project focuses on methanol production from COâ‚‚. My PhD is supported by UNICAMP/FAPESP (Brazil).

Harry Hiams
I am a Trainee Technician in the JAF group at the University of Nottingham since 2022. My expertise lies in the design and fabrication of instrumentation for cluster fabrication.

Dylan Seaman
I am a MSci student in the JAF group working on the production of highly dispersed metal catalysts on surfaces using ion bombardment.
Alumni
2020-2024, Benjamin Young (PhD), Hydrogen Engineer at JCB
Thesis: Development of Low-Temperature Ammonia Cracking Catalysts
Thomas Liddy, Benjamin Young et al, Angewandte Chemie, 2025, e22937
Yifan Chen, Benjamin Young et al, Chemical Science, 2025, 16, 6, 2648-2660
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2020-2022, Luke T. Norman (PDRA), Head of Professional Development, Knowledge Exchange UK
Ilya Popov, Luke Norman at al, Nano Letters, 2023, 23, 17, 8006–8012
2016-2020, Jose Pinto (PhD), Technical Product Manager at Molton Brown
Thesis: Fabrication of AuPd Bimetallic Nanoparticles and Their Effects on Hydrogenation Reactions
Jose Pinto at al, Catalysis Science & Technology, 2023, 13, 4082-4091
2019-2020 lsrael Cano (PDRA), Associate Professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Israel Cano et al, Nature Communications, 2021, 12, 4965
2024-2025, Phoenix Robinson (MSc)
2023-2024, Alexander Bush (MSc)
2022-2023, Molly Knight (MSc)
2022-2023, Ben O'Neill (MSc)
2021-2022, Jake Parkes (MSc)
2021-2022, Emma Jane Hall Maclachlainn (MSc)
2020-2021, Dominic Armstrong (MSc)
2020-2021, Sarah Kathleen Yorke (MSc)
2020-2021, William Benjamin Baker (MSc)
2019-2020, Benjamin Young (MSc)