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

Assessing long-range contributions to the charge asymmetry of ion adsorption at the air-water interface.
SJ Cox, DG Thorpe, PR Shaffer, PL Geissler
Chemical Science
(2020)
11
Computing surface acidity constants of proton hopping groups from density functional theory based molecular dynamics: application to SnO2(110)/H2O interface.
M Jia, C Zhang, SJ Cox, M Sprik, J Cheng
J Chem Theory Comput
(2020)
16
Dielectric response with short-ranged electrostatics.
SJ Cox
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
(2020)
117
Finite field formalism for bulk electrolyte solutions
SJ Cox, M Sprik
The Journal of Chemical Physics
(2019)
151
Stabilization of AgI's polar surfaces by the aqueous environment, and its implications for ice formation.
T Sayer, SJ Cox
Phys Chem Chem Phys
(2019)
21
Ice is born in low-mobility regions of supercooled liquid water
M Fitzner, GC Sosso, SJ Cox, A Michaelides
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(2019)
116
Interfacial ion solvation: Obtaining the thermodynamic limit from molecular simulations.
SJ Cox, PL Geissler
The Journal of Chemical Physics
(2018)
148
Formation of Methane Hydrate in the Presence of Natural and Synthetic Nanoparticles.
SJ Cox, DJF Taylor, TGA Youngs, AK Soper, TS Totton, RG Chapman, M Arjmandi, MG Hodges, NT Skipper, A Michaelides
J Am Chem Soc
(2018)
140
Mechanism of ion adsorption to aqueous interfaces: Graphene/water vs. air/water.
DL McCaffrey, SC Nguyen, SJ Cox, H Weller, AP Alivisatos, PL Geissler, RJ Saykally
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(2017)
114
Active sites in heterogeneous ice nucleation-the example of K-rich feldspars.
A Kiselev, F Bachmann, P Pedevilla, SJ Cox, A Michaelides, D Gerthsen, T Leisner
Science
(2016)
355

Research Group

Research Interest Group

Telephone number

01223 336384 (shared)

Email address