Professor Stephen Jenkins

My research is centred upon the physics and chemistry of solid surfaces, explored predominantly through first-principles computational techniques (often in conjunction with ultra-high vacuum single-crystal experiments performed by colleagues and collaborators).

Past and present topics of particular interest include:

• surface structure and symmetry, with a focus on chirality at multiple length-scales; 
• reaction dynamics of highly-oxidising species on semiconducting surfaces; 
• electronic structure of half-metal surfaces, including states with non-trivial topology;
• non-trivial topology in bulk and surface phonon band structures;
• hydrogen and halogen bonding in adsorbed overlayers on graphite and gold;
• heterogeneous catalysis (ammonia synthesis, hydrocarbon combustion and synthesis, water gas shift, selective reduction).

In addition to my primary research, I am the author of two books - Chirality at Solid Surfaces (Wiley, 2018) and Foundations of Surface Science (Oxford University Press, 2023). I lecture undergraduate courses on the Electronic Structure and Properties of Solids; Surfaces and Interfaces; and the Electronic Structure of Solid Surfaces.

Professor Jenkins discusses his research