Mike Pilling

Research section: Physical Chemistry

KEYWORDS Atmospheric chemistry Combustion Interstellar chemistry Chemical kinetics Laser flash photolysis Modelling elementary reactions Modelling complex reactions

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Mike's research interests centre on chemical kinetics and applications in atmospheric chemistry, combustion and interstellar chemistry.

Experimental measurements of the rates of elementary reactions are made using laser flash photolysis, coupled with a range of laser based techniques to probe the behaviour of short lived species in the gas phase. The experiments are based in the Dainton Laboratory and the equipment has recently been substantially extended with a grant from the Joint Infrastructure Find. Current experiments relate to the chemistry of carbon and sulphur containing radicals for combustion applications, and OH and peroxy radicals for atmospheric chemistry. Models of these reactions are constructed using quantum theory and a master equation technique to enable us to understand the mechanisms and to extrapolate from the lab to the conditions of applcations.

We also develop models of complex chemistry and apply them to help us to understand atmospheric field experiments and measurements that we conduct in a large atmospheric reactor in Spain. Models of flames are used to help us understand how pollutant such NOx are formed in combustions systems. An important part of this work is the construction of mechanisms of complex reactions.

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Mike is the Director of NCAS DIAC    Photographs from Mike's 60th birthday       

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

A network for interstellar CO - the first application of objective reduction techniques un astrochemistry. D.P.Ruffle, J.G.L.Rae, M.J.Pilling, T.W.Harquist and E Herbst, Astron and Astrophys, 2002, 381, L13-L16

Eperimental rate measurements for NS + NO, O₂ + NO₂ and electronic structure calculations of the reaction paths for NS + NO₂, M. Blitz, K.W.McKee, M J Pilling, M.A.Vincent amd I.J. Hillier, J Phys Chem, 2002, 106, 8406-8410

OH formatio from CH₃CO + O₂: a convenient experimental marker for the acetyl radical. M.A.Blitz, D.E.Heard and M.J.Pilling, Chem Phys Letters, submitted, 2002 365(5-6) 374, 279

The Eastern Atlantic Spring Experiment 1997 (EASE97): 2. Comparisons of model concentrations of OH, HO₂ and RO₂ with measurements. N. Carslaw, D.J. Creasey, D.E. Heard, P.J.Jacobs, J.D.Lee, A.C. Lewis, J.B. McQuaid, M.J. Pilling, S Bauguitte, S.A. Penkett, P.S. Monks, G. Salisbury. J Geophys Res, 2002, 107(D14), 4190