Dr Adrien Chauvet
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Senior Lecturer in Physical Chemistry
+44 114 222 9414
Full contact details
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (nee chemistry)
C94
Dainton Building
13 Brook Hill
Sheffield
S3 7HF
- Profile
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Adrien is a multidisciplinary spectroscopist. His specialisation is in ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy. Adrien’s research is mainly based in Sheffield’s Lord Porter Laboratory; with projects in collaboration with the departments of Chemistry, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, and the School of Biosciences. And in his research, Adrien is dedicated to applying spectroscopy in innovative ways to tackle today’s grant challenges.
One of these grand challenges is the development of renewable energies. And beyond tackling it in his own lab, Adrien also joined the cross-faculty Energy Institute, as a management board member since 2023 as the ED&I lead, to engage and help fellow energy-dedicated ECRs develop their own research and careers.
Adrien is now establishing Hi-PLUS: Hi-Performance Lasers for Ultrafast Spectroscopy; a £1.4M EPSRC-funded user-base facility dedicated to the ultrafast characterisation of functional materials. This state-of-the-art facility is expected to be a regional hub for ultrafast science, with world-leading capabilities and direct links to national facilities.
Adrien holds a BSc in Material Sciences (2005) from the university of Strasbourg, France, as well as a Master (2008) and PhD (2012) in Biophysics from Purdue University, USA, under Prof. Sergei Savikhin’s supervision. He then moved to Switzerland in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) under a Marie-Curie postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Majed Chergui followed by a senior postdoctoral position at the University of Geneva (2015) with Prof. Jean-Pierre Wolf. He moved to Sheffield in 2016 as a lecturer of Physical Chemistry and was appointed senior lecturer in 2024.
- Research interests
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Adrien’s research is dedicated to answering society’s most pressing needs. The goal is to benefit from the fundamental knowledge of the materials intrinsic electronic and nuclear behaviour to inform the development of novel materials that are better suited to specific practical applications. Adrien is actively involved in various projects, reflective of his multidisciplinary approach to science:
- Development of novel catalysts for green hydrogen production via hydrolysis as well as novel catalysts for hydrogen fuel cells
- Development of sensors for soil-health analysis to achieve precision farming
- Development of sensors to monitor greenhouse gas emission to inform their reduction
- Characterisation of the natural elements involved in plant’s photosynthesis as well as their artificial counterparts for artificial photosynthesis
- Characterisation of thin-film metal-oxides with antibacterial properties
- Characterisation of novel anti-cancer agent for drug development
- Crop-health monitoring via optical coherence tomography
Adrien is also invested in the field of Science & Religion. He benefits from his formal and informal religious and scientific education to explore the interplay between religion and the sciences. Acquainted of both systems of knowledge, he publishes and routinely engages the public on that topic.
- Publications
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Books
- Scientifically Religious Using Science to Rationalize Faith.
- De la science à la croyance : Raffermir sa foi par une approche scientifique. Paris: Maison Ennour.
- De la science à la croyance: Raffermir sa foi par une approche scientifique. Paris: Maison d'Ennour (2019).
Journal articles
- Photophysical Exploration of Two Isomers of Octaethyltrioxopyrrocorphin. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 127(37), 7694-7706.
- Clearing an ESKAPE pathogen in a model organism; a polypyridyl ruthenium(II) complex theranostic that treats a resistant acinetobacter baumannii Infection in Galleria mellonella. Chemistry – A European Journal.
- On the intersystem crossing rate in a Platinum(II) donor-bridge-acceptor triad.. Phys Chem Chem Phys.
- Ultrafast pulse shaping modulates perceived visual brightness in living animals.. Sci Adv, 7(18).
- Understanding spontaneous dissolution of crystalline layered carbon nitride for tuneable photoluminescent solutions and glasses. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 9(4), 2175-2183.
- Deciphering the Mechanisms of Bacterial Inactivation on HiPIMS Sputtered CuxO-FeOx-PET Surfaces: From Light Absorption to Catalytic Bacterial Death. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 11(48), 45319-45329.
- Time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy with a water window high-harmonic source. Science, 355(6322), 264-267. View this article in WRRO
- Ultrafast Dynamics of the Photo-Excited Hemes b and cn in the Cytochrome b6f Complex. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 19, 3287-3296. View this article in WRRO
- Photo-induced oxidation of the uniquely liganded heme f in the cytochrome b 6 f complex of oxygenic photosynthesis. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 18, 12983-12991. View this article in WRRO
- Note: Small anaerobic chamber for optical spectroscopy. Review of Scientific Instruments, 86(10), 106101-106101. View this article in WRRO
- Set-up for broadband Fourier-transform multidimensional electronic spectroscopy. Optics Letters, 40(3), 312-312. View this article in WRRO
- Photo-induced dynamics of the heme centers in cytochrome bc1. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 17(3), 2143-2151. View this article in WRRO
- Does the Singlet Minus Triplet Spectrum with Major Photobleaching Band Near 680–682 nm Represent an Intact Reaction Center of Photosystem II?. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 119(2), 448-455. View this article in WRRO
- A microfluidic flow-cell for the study of the ultrafast dynamics of biological systems. Review of Scientific Instruments, 85(10), 103118-103118. View this article in WRRO
- A Map of Dielectric Heterogeneity in a Membrane Protein: the Hetero-Oligomeric Cytochrome b 6 f Complex. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 118(24), 6614-6625. View this article in WRRO
- Temporal and spectral characterization of the photosynthetic reaction center from Heliobacterium modesticaldum. Photosynthesis Research, 116(1), 1-9. View this article in WRRO
- Spectral Resolution of the Primary Electron Acceptor A 0 in Photosystem I. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 116(10), 3380-3386. View this article in WRRO
- Type I reaction center from the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum: is Chl a a primary electron acceptor?. Biophysical Journal, 96(3), 526a-527a. View this article in WRRO
- Cosmographical Readings of the Qurʾan. American Journal of Islam and Society, 40(1-2), 8-38.
- From Chemotherapy to Phototherapy – Changing the Therapeutic Action of a Metallo‐Intercalating Ru
II
‐Re
I
Luminescent System by Switching its Sub‐Cellular Location. Chemistry – A European Journal.
- Ultrafast Transient Absorption Spectroscopy of Inkjet-Printed Graphene and Aerosol Gel Graphene Films: Effect of Oxygen and Morphology on Carrier Relaxation Dynamics. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C.
- Tailoring the Intersystem Crossing and Triplet Dynamics of Free-Base Octaalkyl-β-oxo-Substituted Porphyrins: Competing Effects of Spin–Vibronic and NH Tautomerism Relaxation Channels. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A.
- Structural and Photophysical Characterization of All Five Constitutional Isomers of the Octaethyl‐β,β'‐dioxo‐bacterio‐ and ‐isobacteriochlorin Series. Chemistry – A European Journal.
Chapters
- Can One Be Religious in a Scientific World? In Edelman DV & Guillaume P (Ed.), The Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in F Equinox Publishing Ltd
- Fourier Transform in Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Fourier Transforms - Century of Digitalization and Increasing Expectations IntechOpen
- Microfluidics for Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Advances in Microfluidics - New Applications in Biology, Energy, and Materials Sciences InTech View this article in WRRO
Conference proceedings papers
- Translating Optical Coherence Tomography Technologies from Clinical Studies to Botany: Real Time Imaging of Long-Distance Signaling in Plants. Biophotonics Congress: Biomedical Optics 2020 (Translational, Microscopy, OCT, OTS, BRAIN), 2020. View this article in WRRO
- Time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy with a water-window high-harmonic source. 2017 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, CLEO 2017 - Proceedings, Vol. 2017-January (pp 1-2)
- Time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy with a water-window high-harmonic source. 2017 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC), 25 June 2017 - 29 June 2017.
- Time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy with a water-window high-harmonic source. Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2017.
- Dielectric Heterogeneity in the Cytochrome B6F Complex. Biophysical Journal, Vol. 106(2) (pp 371a-371a)
- Electrostatically Constrained Pathway of Intra-Monomer Electron Transfer in the Cytochrome B6F Complex of Oxygenic Photosynthesis. Biophysical Journal, Vol. 104(2) (pp 488a-488a)
- Scientifically Religious Using Science to Rationalize Faith.
- Teaching interests
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Physical Chemistry, Spectroscopy.
- Teaching activities
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Undergraduate and postgraduate taught modules
- Mathematics for Chemists 1 (Level 1)
This course covers the basic principles of mathematics needed for a degree in Chemistry. - UV-visible and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (Level 2)
The aims of this segment are to introduce general principles that apply to spectroscopic analysis, and to describe in more detail the use of UV-visible spectroscopy and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in molecular structure determination. Emphasis is placed on understanding the basic physical principles underpinning the techniques.
Support Teaching:
- Tutorials: Level 1 General Chemistry
- Level 3 Literature Review
Laboratory Teaching:
- Level 2 Physical Laboratories
- Level 4 Research Project
- Mathematics for Chemists 1 (Level 1)