We are based in the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow and we are interested in all aspects of electrochemistry, electrocatalysis and electrochemical technology. In particular, we are interested in developing new systems for electrolytic water splitting and new electrochemical routes for the sustainable production of fuels and chemical feedstocks. Click the Research tab for more information.
October 2023 - Welcome to Shaun Fletcher, Shuaiwei Cui and Alex Pitman, the Symes group's latest new postgraduate students!
66. Living off the land...on the Moon, Invited Talk to the Kilmarnock Engineering and Science Society, Kilmarnock, October 2023.
65. Electrochemical Approaches for Generating Oxygen on the Moon, Invited Talk at the 243rd Electrochemical Society Meeting, Boston, June 2023.
64. Decoupling Strategies in Electrochemical Water Splitting, Invited Talk at the 243rd Electrochemical Society Meeting, Boston, June 2023.
63. Living off the land...on the Moon, Public lecture at Pint of Science, Glasgow, May 2023.
62. Decoupled Electrolysis for the Production of Green Hydrogen at High Pressure, Contributed Talk at All Energy, Glasgow, May 2023.
61. Decoupled Electrolysis with Soluble Redox Mediators for Energy Storage and Beyond, Keynote Talk at the 7th Frontiers in Metal Oxide Cluster Science conference, Tarragona, April 2023.
60. Towards Making Oxygen from Moonrock: The electrochemical reduction of lunar regolith to produce oxygen and metallic alloys, Invited Talk to the Cambridge Astronomical Association, October 2022.
59. Decoupled Electrolysis with Soluble Redox Mediators for Energy Storage and Conversion, Keynote Talk at the 1st Regional Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, Prague, August 2022.
58. Powering the Planet using Electrochemistry, Virtual Seminar, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, India, February 2022.
57. Decoupled Electrolysis for Water Splitting and Beyond, Virtual Departmental Seminar, UBC Okanagan, Canada, January 2022.
56. Decoupled Electrolysis for Solar Energy Conversion, Invited talk to the 6th Green & Sustainable Chemistry Conference (Green2021, virtual meeting), November 2021.
55. Electrochemical Routes to Nitrogen Fixation: Comparisons, Pitfalls and Breaking in Through the Cat Flap, Keynote talk at the 240th meeting of the Electrochemical Society (virtual meeting), October 2021.
54. Decoupled Electrolysis for Water Splitting and Beyond, Invited talk to the International Conference on Condensed Matter and Device Physics (virtual meeting), September 2021.
53. Decoupled Electrolysis for Solar-Driven Water Splitting, Invited talk to the 9th UK Solar Fuels Network Symposium (virtual meeting), September 2021.
52. Decoupled Electrolysis for Solar Energy Conversion, Contributed talk at the 72nd Annual meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (virtual meeting), September 2021.
51. Decoupled Electrolysis for Water Splitting and Beyond, Invited talk to the 239th meeting of the Electrochemical Society (virtual meeting), June 2021.
50. Decoupled Electrolysis for Water Splitting and Beyond, Contributed talk at the 29th Topical meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (virtual meeting), April 2021.
49. Decoupled Electrolysis for Water Splitting and Beyond, Invited talk to the International Network on Polyoxometalate Science for Advanced Functional Energy Materials (INPOMS) virtual meeting, March 2021.
48. Decoupled Electrolysis for Water Splitting and Beyond, Invited talk to the Workshop on Renewable Energy and Nanotechnology (WREN2020) (virtual meeting), November 2020.
47. Chemical Hydrogenations using an Electro-generated Mediator, Contributed talk at the Electrochemical Society PRiME2020 (virtual meeting), October 2020.
46. Decoupled Electrolysis for Water Splitting and Beyond, Invited talk to the Electrochemical Society PRiME2020 (virtual meeting), October 2020.
45. Electrochemistry for water purification, chemical synthesis, and on the Moon, 11th International Conference on Environmental Catalysis (virtual meeting), September 2020.
44. How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb: Three tales of publishing the opposite of what we set out to do, Northwest Electrochemistry virtual meeting, July 2020.
43. Electrochemistry for water purification, chemical synthesis, and on the Moon, Newton-Bhabha UK-India Researcher Links Workshop on New Electrochemical Technologies for Sustainable Fuels, Chemicals and Industrial Processes, Pune, India, December 2019.
42. Towards Renewables-Driven Hydrogen Production: Fake Catalysts and Making Electrolytes Great Again, Departmental Seminar, University of Kent, UK, November 2019.
41. The Effects of Ultrasound on the Electro-Oxidation of Sulfate Solutions, Invited talk at the 236th ECS meeting, Atlanta, USA, October 2019.
40. Proving the viability of an electrochemical process for the simultaneous extraction of oxygen and production of metal alloys from lunar regolith, Contributed talk at the 236th ECS meeting, Atlanta, USA, October 2019.
39. Proton-Coupled-Electron Transfer Enhances the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrite to NO in a Bioinspired Copper Complex, Contributed talk at the 236th ECS meeting, Atlanta, USA, October 2019.
38. Highly reduced aqueous polyoxometalate solutions for on-demand hydrogen generation and energy storage in redox flow batteries, Contributed talk at the 236th ECS meeting, Atlanta, USA, October 2019.
37. Electron-Coupled Proton Buffers for Water Splitting and Flow Battery Applications, Contributed talk at the 25th ISE Topical meeting, Toledo, Spain, May 2019.
36. Towards Renewables-Driven Hydrogen Production: Fake Catalysts and Making Electrolytes Great Again, Departmental Seminar, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, April 2019.
35. Highly reduced aqueous polyoxometalate solutions for on-demand hydrogen generation and energy storage, Invited talk at the 257th ACS National Meeting and Exposition, Orlando, USA, March 2019.
34. Does powering the planet have to cost us the Earth? Invited public lecture at TEDx University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK, March 2019.
33. Towards Renewables-Driven Hydrogen Production: Fake Catalysts and Making Electrolytes Great Again, Departmental Seminar, Loughborough University, UK, December 2018.
32. Electron-Coupled Proton Buffers for Energy Applications, Invited talk at the International Conference on Materials for Energy Applications, Jaipur, India, December 2018.
31. Towards Renewables-Driven Hydrogen Production: Insight into Electrocatalysis and new Devices, Departmental Seminar, CSIR - Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, India, December 2018.
30. Electron-Coupled Proton Buffers for Water Splitting, UK-Vietnam Workshop on Green Electrochemical and Materials Processing for Environment and Energy Challenges, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam, November 2018.
29. An investigation into the unusual linkage isomerization and nitrite reduction activity of a novel tris(2-pyridyl) copper complex, Invited talk at the Royal Society New Talent Symposium, Royal Society, UK, October 2018.
28. Proton-Coupled-Electron Transfer Enhances the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrite to NO in a Bioinspired Copper Complex, Invited talk at Electrochem2018, Lancaster University, UK, September 2018.
27. Proton-Coupled-Electron Transfer Enhances the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrite to NO in a Bioinspired Copper Complex, Invited talk at the 3rd Japan-UK Joint Symposium on Coordination Chemistry, St Andrews, UK, April 2018.
26. Electron-Coupled Proton Buffers for Water Splitting, Invited talk at the 255th ACS National Meeting and Exposition, New Orleans, USA, March 2018.
25. Towards Solar-Driven Hydrogen Production: Catalysts, Devices and Experimental Snafus, Invited talk at the University of Nottingham symposium on green and sustainable chemistry, Nottingham, UK, December 2017.
24. Distinguishing Genuine Catalysis from the Effects of Adventitious Impurities during Electrocatalytic Water Splitting, Invited talk at the 1st International SolChem Symposium, Ulm University, Germany, October 2017.
23. Distinguishing Genuine Catalysis from the Effects of Adventitious Impurities during Electrocatalytic Water Splitting, Invited talk at the Regius Chair 200th Anniversary Symposium, University of Glasgow, UK, September 2017.
22. Electron-Coupled Proton Buffers for Water Splitting, Invited talk at "Electrochemical Technology for Energy and the Environment", University of Strathclyde, UK, June 2017.
21. Electron-Coupled Proton Buffers for Water Splitting, Invited talk at "Energy Storage in a Changing World" (a Joint Energy Technology Partnership/Scottish Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association meeting), Edinburgh, UK, April 2017.
20. Distinguishing Genuine Catalysis from the Effects of Adventitious Impurities during Electrocatalytic Water Splitting, 5th UK Solar Fuels Symposium, Newcastle, UK, January 2017.
19. Materials for the electrochemical production of chemical feedstocks, RSC - NIT Symposium on Heterogeneous Catalysis and Sustainable Chemistry, NIT Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India, November 2016.
18. Materials for the electrochemical production of chemical feedstocks, RSC/British Council Newton Workshop on Catalysis, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, India, November 2016.
17. Materials and devices for electrochemical water splitting: a fresh look at some old catalysts and some new catalysts for old applications, University of Cambridge departmental seminar, Cambridge, UK, September 2016.
16. Efficient Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation at Neutral and High pH by Adventitious Nickel at Nanomolar Concentrations, Electrochem2016, University of Leicester, UK, August 2016.
15. Materials and devices for electrochemical water splitting: a fresh look at some old catalysts and some new catalysts for old applications, UK-India Symposium on Functional Materials, University of Edinburgh, UK, June 2016.
14. Materials and devices for electrochemical water splitting: a fresh look at some old catalysts and some new catalysts for old applications, Glasgow Nano-materials Research Symposium, Glasgow, UK, June 2016.
13. Materials and devices for electrochemical water splitting: a fresh look at some old catalysts and some new catalysts for old applications, ICIQ, Tarragona, Spain, February 2016.
12. Materials and devices for electrochemical water splitting: a fresh look at some old catalysts and some new catalysts for old applications, UK-Indonesia meeting on Materials Chemistry for Energy and the Environment, Bogor, Indonesia, January 2016.
11. Does powering the planet have to cost us the Earth? The Glasgow Skeptics Society, Glasgow, August 2015 (public lecture and question-and-answer session).
10. Low pH Electrolytic Water Splitting Using Earth-Abundant Metastable Catalysts That Self-Assemble in Situ, Electrochem2014, Loughborough, UK, September 2014.
9. Low pH Electrolytic Water Splitting Using Earth-Abundant Metastable Catalysts That Self-Assemble in Situ, 65th annual meeting of the International Electrochemical Society, Lausanne, Switzerland, August 2014.
8. Low pH electrocatalytic water splitting with first row transition metals, 2014 RSC Scottish Dalton Meeting, St. Andrews University, UK, March 2014.
7. Electron-Coupled Proton Buffers for electrolytic water splitting, ECOST meeting CM1202, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany, December 2013.
6. Catalysis and mediation in electrolytic water splitting, Lorentz Center, University of Leiden, Netherlands, October 2013.
5. Reliable Renewable Fuels - storing renewable energy, Dunkeld and Pitlochry Cafe Scientifique, Dunkeld, October 2013 (public lecture and question-and-answer session).
4. Decoupling Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution During Water Splitting Using a Proton-Electron Buffer, RSC Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Conference 2012 (MASC2012), QMUL, London, UK, December 2012.
3. Reliable Renewable Fuels, Glasgow Cafe Scientifique, Glasgow, November 2012 (public lecture and question-and-answer session).
2. Decoupling Hydrogen and Oxygen Evolution During Water Splitting Using a Proton-Electron Buffer, Frontiers in Metal Oxide Cluster Science 2012, Lanzarote, Spain, November 2012.
1. The Physics of Solar Fuels, Institute of Physics 38th Stirling Physics Meeting, University of Stirling, Stirling, May 2012.
