Current Interests

Andy Wain has a background in electrochemistry and his research interests include electrochemical imaging; electrocatalysis for fuel cells; photoelectrochemistry for solar cells; and heterogeneous catalysis.

Biography

Andy received his undergraduate Masters degree in chemistry (MChem, 2003) and doctorate in electrochemical electron spin resonance spectroscopy (DPhil, 2006) from Oxford University. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral research associate at California State University Los Angeles, where he focused on novel electrochemical approaches to studying bio-molecule modified interfaces. In 2008, Andy moved to the National Physical Laboratory where he now works as a senior research scientist.

At NPL, Andy has worked on a range of projects as part of the Electrochemistry and Corrosion Group, most notably in the application of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to address industrial problems. His focus has been on evolving the technique beyond the convention, a particular highlight being the development of dual-function probes for nano-electrochemical imaging. Andy is also the lead scientist of a new initiative in heterogeneous catalysis, a theme with the long-term goal of establishing a suite of state-of-the-art catalyst characterisation tools and expertise at NPL.

Andy has published over 30 papers and one book chapter. He is a member of the RSC and sits on the committee of the RSC Electrochemistry interest group as an industrial representative.

Selected publications

• Influence of ultrathin poly-(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) film supports on the electrodeposition and electrocatalytic activity of discrete platinum nanoparticles
  H. V. Patten, E. Ventosa, A. Colina, V. Ruiz, J. López-Palacios A. J. Wain, S. C. S. Lai, J. V. Macpherson, P. R. Unwin
  Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry, 15, pages 2331-2339 (2011)
  http://www.springerlink.com/content/27q38062n15878w7/
• High-aspect ratio needle probes for combined scanning electrochemical microscopy ‑ Atomic force microscopy
  A.J. Wain, D. Cox, S, Zhou, A. Turnbull
  Electrochemistry Communications, 13 (1), pages 78-81 (2011)
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1388248110004832
• Electrocatalytic activity mapping of model fuel cell catalyst films using scanning electrochemical microscopy
  P. G. Nicholson, S. Zhou, G. Hinds, A. J. Wain, A. Turnbull
  Electrochimica Acta, 54 (19), pages 4525-4533 (2009)
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013468609003934
• Measurement of pH in concentrated brines
  G. Hinds, P. Cooling, A. Wain, S. Zhou, A. Turnbull
  Corrosion, 65, pages 635-638 (2009)
  http://corrosion.aip.org/resource/1/corrak/v65/i10/p635_s1?isAuthorized=no
• Scaning electrochemical microscopy imaging of DNA microarrays using methylene blue as a redox-active intercalator
  A. J. Wain, F. Zhou
  Langmuir, 24 (9), pages 5155-5160 (2008)
  http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/la703922v?journalCode=langd5&quickLinkVolume=24&quickLinkPage=5155&volume=24

Contact details

E-mail: andy.wain@npl.co.uk
Tel: 020 8943 6243