PCCP Blog

We are delighted to welcome Ron Naaman as our newest Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics Associate Editor.

Ron Naaman, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Born in Israel, Prof. Ron Naaman earned his BSc in 1973 from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and his PhD in 1978 from the Weizmann Institute of Science. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University in California, and spent a year in the Department of Chemistry at Harvard University. In 1981, Prof. Naaman joined the Weizmann Institute. From 1989-1995, Ron chaired the Institute’s Chemical Services Unit and from 1995-2000, he headed the Department of Chemical Physics. From 2008-2010, Prof. Naaman was the Chair of the Scientific Council at the Institute. Prof. Naaman is the incumbent of the Aryeh and Mintzi Katzman Professorial Chair.

His research focusses on studying interactions of electrons and their spin with organic and bio-related molecules.

As a PCCP Associate Editor, Ron will provide his expertise in the fields of:

• Electron-molecule interactions
• Organic-inorganic interfaces
• Spintronics
• Molecular electronics
• Organic electronics
• Photovoltaic devices
• Electron transfer

Submit your best work in these areas to Ron now.

Read Ron’s latest article in PCCP here:

Bacteriorhodopsin based non-magnetic spin filters for biomolecular spintronics. Vaibhav Varade, Tal Markus, Kiran Vankayala, Noga Friedman, Mordechai Sheves, David H. Waldeck and Ron Naaman. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 1091-1097. DOI: 10.1039/C&CP06771B

The International Conference on Physical Chemistry and Functional materials (PCFM’18) will be held in Elazığ, Turkey, between 19–21 June 2018.

With a theme of ‘Physical Chemistry and Functional Materials’, the PCFM 2018 conference features three days of scientific sessions, keynote & invited lectures, oral and poster communications, as well as exceptional networking opportunities, an exhibition and a unique social programme. The PCFM 2018 conference reflects the outstanding research being done in Europe and around the world by bringing together scientists from different countries and professional backgrounds to exchange ideas, advance knowledge and discuss key issues for physical chemistry and material science.

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) is delighted to be supporting the meeting and provide three poster prizes.

Register now!

Guest-edited by Laurent Wiesenfeld (Université Grenoble Alpes), Allan Shi-Chung Cheung (The University of Hong Kong) and Jos Oomens (Radboud University), this themed issue of PCCP overviews the recent developments showing physical insights in the areas of theory, experiment, and simulation as applied to molecular astrophysics environments.

Read the full collection here now!

It includes:

Editorial 
Theory, experiment, and simulations in laboratory astrochemistry
Laurent Wiesenfeld, Jos Oomens and Allan S. C. Cheung
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 5341-5343. DOI: 10.1039/C8CP90026D

Perspective 
Spectroscopy of prospective interstellar ions and radicals isolated in para-hydrogen matrices
Masashi Tsuge, Chih-Yu Tseng and Yuan-Pern Lee
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 5344-5358. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP05680J

Paper 
A general method for the inclusion of radiation chemistry in astrochemical models
Christopher N. Shingledecker and Eric Herbst
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 5359-5367. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP05901A

Paper 
Radiation chemistry of solid acetone in the interstellar medium – a new dimension to an old problem
L. Hudson
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 5389-5398. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP06431D

Paper 
Dissociative ionisation of adamantane: a combined theoretical and experimental study
Alessandra Candian, Jordy Bouwman, Patrick Hemberger, Andras Bodi and Alexander G. G. M. Tielens
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 5399-5406. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP05957D

The 2018 Joint ICTP-IAEA School and Workshop on Fundamental Methods for Atomic, Molecular and Materials Properties in Plasma Environments was held at ICTP in Trieste, Italy, from 16 – 20 April 2018. Six Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics poster prizes were awarded.

First prize was awarded to Marta Patricia Alejandra Mendez for her contribution “Inelastic collision calculations of heavy targets”.

Joint second prize was awarded to Szabolcs Goger for “Theoretical studies on the dynamics of the HO + HBr → H2O + Br reaction” and Francisco Ramirez for “Real time electron dynamics using TDDFT”.

Joint third prize was awarded to Jerome Deprince for “Plasma environment effects on K-lines of astrophysical interest”, Chuanguo Zhang for “Long-term evolution of cascades in bcc tungsten: effects of size distribution of interstitial clusters” and Suvam Singh for “Electron and positron induced scattering from propene”.

Congratulations to the awardees!

We are delighted to announce the winner of the PCCP Tulip2018 award that was given at the Tulip VII Summer School on Modern Developments in Spectroscopy, 3–6 April 2018 in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.  The winner for the best presentation was Meissa Diouf of the Free University Amsterdam with a poster on HIGH-RESOLUTION CARS STUDY OF THE FUNDAMENTAL VIBRATION IN T2 AND DT. The winner received a certificate and a cash prize.

Pictured (left to right): Prof. Wybren Jan Buma (co-chair of the Tulip Summer School), Meissa Diouf (PCCP Poster prize winner for best presentation), Prof. Ivan Powis (lecturer at Tulip2018 and presenting the award on behalf of the committee of all 6 Tulip lecturers) and Dr. Maurice Janssen (co-chair of the Tulip Summer School).

Congratulations to Meissa Diouf!

The Theoretical Chemistry Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry is pleased to announce the TCG conference 2018, which will be held at the University of Sheffield between 16 – 18 July.

The meeting will cover a broad spectrum of theoretical and computational chemistry, including talks by leading international and UK scientists. It will also incorporate the TCG Graduate Student Meeting, where final-year graduate students compete for the Coulson prize for the best graduate student talk.

Confirmed speakers:

• Christine Mottet (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille, France)
• Karen Johnston (University of Strathclyde, UK)
• Paul Popelier (The University of Manchester, UK)
• Daniel T. Crawford (Virginia Tech, USA)
• Marie-Pierre Gaigeot (University of Evry, France)

For more information, please visit the conference web page.

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) is pleased to support the meeting and will provide a prize for the best graduate student talk.

The deadline for registration is 8 June. The deadlines for talk and poster abstracts are 18 May and 1 June, respectively.

We are sad to announce that Professor Gaoquan Shi passed away on the 1st March 2018. Gaoquan will be sorely missed by PCCP and the entire community. A PCCP Associate Editor for over five years, his contributions to the journal, field and community were widespread.

As a Professor of Chemistry at Tsinghua University, his research interests were focused on functional polymers, especially the syntheses and applications of conducting polymers and carbon nanomaterials.

A selection of Gaoquan’s recently published articles are highlighted below in his memory.

Paper 
High-performance gas sensors based on a thiocyanate ion-doped organometal halide perovskite
Yue Zhuang, Wenjing Yuan, Liu Qian, Shan Chen and Gaoquan Shi
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2017, 19, 12876-12881. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP01646H

Communication 
Pyridinic nitrogen-rich carbon nanocapsules from a bioinspired polydopamine derivative for highly efficient electrocatalytic oxygen reduction
Zhengran Yi, Zheye Zhang, Shuai Wang and Gaoquan Shi
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 519-523. DOI: 10.1039/C6TA09315A
 
Edge Article 
Water-enhanced oxidation of graphite to graphene oxide with controlled species of oxygenated groups
Ji Chen, Yao Zhang, Miao Zhang, Bowen Yao, Yingru Li, Liang Huang, Chun Li and Gaoquan Shi
Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 1874-1881. DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03828F

Review Article 
Flexible graphene devices related to energy conversion and storage
Xiluan Wang and Gaoquan Shi
Energy Environ. Sci., 2015, 8, 790-823. DOI: 10.1039/C4EE03685A

We are delighted to announce that the Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) themed collection Complex molecular systems: supramolecules, biomolecules and interfaces is now online. 

It includes:

Editorial 
Complex molecular systems: a frontier of molecular science
Tahei Tahara, Akio Kitao, Yasuhisa Mizutani, Hideki Kandori and Masaaki Fujii
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 2945-2946. DOI: 10.1039/C8CP90010H

Perspective 
Multiscale methods framework: self-consistent coupling of molecular theory of solvation with quantum chemistry, molecular simulations, and dissipative particle dynamics
Andriy Kovalenko and Sergey Gusarov
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 2947-2969. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP05585D

Communication 
The effect of regioisomerism on the photophysical properties of alkylated-naphthalene liquids
Narayan, K. Nagura, T. Takaya, K. Iwata, A. Shinohara, H. Shinmori, H. Wang, Q. Li, X. Sun, H. Li, S. Ishihara and T. Nakanishi
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 2970-2975. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP05584F

Paper 
Protonation/reduction dynamics at the [4Fe–4S] cluster of the hydrogen-forming cofactor in [FeFe]-hydrogenases
Moritz Senger, Stefan Mebs, Jifu Duan, Olga Shulenina, Konstantin Laun, Leonie Kertess, Florian Wittkamp, Ulf-Peter Apfel, Thomas Happe, Martin Winkler, Michael Haumann and Sven T. Stripp
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 3128-3140. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP04757F

Paper 
Analysis of the conformational properties of amine ligands at the gold/water interface with QM, MM and QM/MM simulations
Dongyue Liang, Jiewei Hong, Dong Fang, Joseph W. Bennett, Sara E. Mason, Robert J. Hamers and Qiang Cui
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 3349-3362. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP06709G

We hope you enjoy reading the articles. Please get in touch if you have any questions about this themed collection or PCCP.