Research Interests
Biography
Matt Larkin is a PhD student in the Computational Surface Science Group investigating the effect of light on molecular dynamics at metal surfaces.
PhD Research
Started: October 2024
Office: G205, Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick
Matt’s research involves using mixed quantum-classical dynamics methods to investigate how non-equilibrium electrons, generated at metal surfaces through the action of a laser, can affect the dynamics of molecules interacting with such a surface. With applications to photocatalysis and energy conversion, understanding of hot electron Chemistry provides access to tuneable reaction dynamics.
Research Approach
Matt utilises surface hopping dyanmics methods such as the Independent Electron Surface Hopping (IESH) approach to simulate light driven dynamics beyond the Born-Oppenheimer approximation (non-adiabatic dynamics).
Educational Background
Matt completed his M.Sci in Natural Sciences at Durham University in 2022, specialising in theoretical Chemistry and condensed matter Physics.
From 2022-2024 Matt completed a graduate scheme at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, working with the Detector Development Group on testing novel materials for X-Ray Imaging Spectroscopy and dectector system design, calibration and data processing.