Event Details

Join the Chemistry Department for their next webinar series: 'Researching Chemistry' where, fortnightly, our academics will take you through a research topic. This is a chance to experience university-level teaching and to learn about fascinating research topics spanning the subject of chemistry.

The f-elements, comprising the actinide and lanthanide series, represent an area of the periodic table whose chemistry is significantly less understood than that of main group and transition metal elements. Experimental work on the f-elements can be extremely challenging, especially for the radiotoxic actinides, meaning that chemical simulation, in the form of quantum chemistry, plays a uniquely important role in determining their fundamental properties. In this webinar, Dr Andy Kerridge will give insight into how quantum chemistry can be used to describe the electronic structure of f-element complexes, and how this can be exploited in the development of strategies for the continued management and remediation of spent nuclear fuel.

Andy Kerridge is a senior lecturer and head of the Chemical Theory and Computation research section in the Department of Chemistry, Lancaster University. Andy is a computational chemist, meaning that his research exploits computer simulations of chemical systems. His research focuses on the chemistry of the f-elements, the heavy elements towards the bottom of the periodic table, comprising the lanthanides and actinides. Working with spectroscopists in academia as well as industrial partners from the nuclear power sector, Andy’s work answers questions regarding the fundamental chemical properties of these fascinating elements, exploring how these properties can be exploited to develop new technologies.