Dr Cox is now based at Durham University. You can find his profile and more information here.

Research Interests

The behaviour of liquids and their interfaces underlies many important phenomena across the biological and physical sciences. I use molecular simulations and statistical mechanics to elicit the microscopic details of interfacial systems, with an emphasis on perhaps the most important of all liquids: water and its salt solutions. 

Recent research has focused on improving simulations methods to give a better description of ions adsorbed to charged interfaces [1], which is important for tackling complex problems such as ice nucleation [2]. I also have a keen interest in understanding dielectric response in water [3,4] and its implications for aqueous ion solvation [5].

[1] T Sayer & SJ Cox, J. Chem. Phys. 153, 164709 (2020) [publisher,arXiv]

[2] T Sayer & SJ Cox, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 21, 14546 (2019) [publisher,arXiv]

[3] SJ Cox, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 117, 19746 (2020) [publisher,arXiv]

[4] SJ Cox & M Sprik, J. Chem. Phys. 151, 064506 (2019) [publisher,arXiv]

[5] SJ Cox, DG Thorpe, PR Shaffer & PL Geissler, Chem. Sci. 11, 11791 (2020) [publisher,arXiv]

Biography

  • 2021-present: Royal Society University Research Fellow, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK
  • 2017-2021: Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Research Fellow, visiting Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK
  • 2018-present: College lecturer, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK
  • 2020-2021: Undergraduate Tutor, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK
  • 2015-2017: Postdoctoral research fellow, Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Ca. USA
  • 2010-2014: PhD student, Department of Chemistry, University College London, UK

 

Awards

Publications

Crumbling Crystals: On the Dissolution Mechanism of NaCl in Water
N O'Neill, C Schran, SJ Cox, A Michaelides
(2022)
Classical quantum friction at water-carbon interfaces
AT Bui, FL Thiemann, A Michaelides, SJ Cox
(2022)
A theory for the stabilization of polar crystal surfaces by a liquid environment.
SJ Cox
The Journal of Chemical Physics
(2022)
157
Dielectric response of thin water films: a thermodynamic perspective
SJ Cox, PL Geissler
Chem Sci
(2022)
13
Understanding crystal nucleation mechanisms: where do we stand? General discussion
MW Anderson, M Bennett, R Cedeno, H Cölfen, SJ Cox, AJ Cruz-Cabeza, JJ De Yoreo, R Drummond-Brydson, MK Dudek, KA Fichthorn, AR Finney, I Ford, JM Galloway, D Gebauer, R Grossier, JH Harding, A Hare, D Horváth, L Hunter, J Kim, Y Kimura, CEA Kirschhock, AA Kiselev, W Kras, C Kuttner, AY Lee, Z Liao, L Maini, SO Nilsson Lill, N Pellens, SL Price, IB Rietveld, JD Rimer, KJ Roberts, J Rogal, M Salvalaglio, I Sandei, G Schuszter, J Sefcik, W Sun, JH Ter Horst, M Ukrainczyk, AES Van Driessche, S Veesler, PG Vekilov, V Verma, T Whale, HP Wheatcroft, J Zeglinski
Faraday discussions
(2022)
235
Can molecular simulations reliably compare homogeneous and heterogeneous ice nucleation?
D Atherton, A Michaelides, SJ Cox
J Chem Phys
(2022)
156
How do interfaces alter the dynamics of supercooled water?
P Gasparotto, M Fitzner, SJ Cox, GC Sosso, A Michaelides
Nanoscale
(2022)
14
Quadrupole-mediated dielectric response and the charge-asymmetric solvation of ions in water.
SJ Cox, KK Mandadapu, PL Geissler
The Journal of Chemical Physics
(2021)
154
Microscopic Kinetics Pathway of Salt Crystallization in Graphene Nanocapillaries
L Wang, J Chen, SJ Cox, L Liu, GC Sosso, N Li, P Gao, A Michaelides, E Wang, X Bai
Physical Review Letters
(2021)
126
Macroscopic surface charges from microscopic simulations.
T Sayer, SJ Cox
The Journal of chemical physics
(2020)
153

Research Group

Research Interest Group

Telephone number

01223 336384 (shared)

Email address