Dr Kevin Lovelock

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01183784736
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Lecturer in Physical Chemistry
- Royal Society University Research Fellow
Office
114Building location
ChemistryAreas of interest
The vast majority of chemical reactions occur in liquids. Rationalising liquid-phase reactivity is extremely difficult, as for any reaction a large number of electrons interact. Therefore, much more needs to be known about electron location and energy for reactive species in solution. In addition, solvents affect reactivity. However, our understanding of the specific and detailed effects of the solvent on reactive species is still in its infancy.
Direct measurements of liquid-phase electron location and energy (i.e. valence electronic structure) are extremely scarce, particularly for light elements, due to the problems posed by liquid vaporisation in the high vacuum conditions required for soft X-ray spectroscopy (apparatus pressure <10-8 mbar). Dr Lovelock uses synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy to measure liquid-phase electronic structure.
The techniques are:
- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
- Auger electron spectroscopy (AES)
- resonant AES (RAES)
- resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy (RXES)
- core-hole clock spectroscopy
- near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy.
The terminology of Lewis acids and bases is an attempt to rationalise chemical reactivity. Valence electronic structure is vital for understanding and predicting the reactivity of Lewis acids (electron-pair acceptors) and Lewis bases (electron-pair donors). Lewis reactivity features across all areas of chemistry.
Metal ions dissolved in ionic liquids can be used as both Lewis acidic and Lewis basic catalysts; these systems are particularly attractive due to the rare ability to fine-tune catalyst acidity/basicity. Frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) have been developed as outstanding candidates for small molecule activation, including H2 (for the hydrogen energy economy) and CO2for carboncapture and processing).
Research centres and groups
Dr Lovelock is part of the Soft Matter research group.Learn more about our research groups
Publications
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Gousseva, E.
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Midgley, S.
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Seymour, J.
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Seidel, R.
ORCID: 0000-0003-2613-4106 , Grau-Crespo, R.
ORCID: 0000-0001-8845-1719 , Lovelock, K.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1431-269X (2022) Understanding X-ray photoelectron spectra of ionic liquids: experiments and simulations of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate. Journal of Physical Chemistry B , 126 (49). pp. 10500-10509. ISSN: 1520-6106 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c06372
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Clarke, C.
ORCID: 0000-0003-2698-3490 , Baaqel, H. , Matthews, R.
ORCID: 0000-0003-3328-4954 , Chen, Y. , Lovelock, K.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1431-269X , Hallett, J.
ORCID: 0000-0003-3431-2371 , Licence, P.
ORCID: 0000-0003-2992-0153 (2022) Halometallate ionic liquids: thermal properties, decomposition pathways, and life cycle considerations. Green Chemistry , 24 (15). pp. 5800-5812. ISSN: 1463-9270 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d2gc01983c
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Paterson, R.
ORCID: 0000-0002-9237-6130 , Alharbi, A.
ORCID: 0000-0001-7189-2008 , Wills, C.
ORCID: 0000-0002-6571-2389 , Dixon, C. , Šiller, L. , Chamberlain, T.
ORCID: 0000-0001-8100-6452 , Griffiths, A. , Collins, S.
ORCID: 0000-0002-5151-6360 , Wu, K. , Simmons, M.
ORCID: 0000-0001-7598-7266 , Bourne, R. , Lovelock, K. , Seymour, J. , Knight, J.
ORCID: 0000-0002-1120-8259 , Doherty, S.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1103-8090 (2022) Heteroatom modified polymer immobilized ionic liquid stabilized ruthenium nanoparticles: efficient catalysts for the hydrolytic evolution of hydrogen from sodium borohydride. Molecular Catalysis , 528 ISSN: 2468-8231 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mcat.2022.112476
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Seymour, J.
ORCID: 0000-0002-1217-9541 , Gousseva, E. , Bennett, R.
ORCID: 0000-0001-6266-3510 , Large, A.
ORCID: 0000-0001-8676-4172 , Held, G.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0726-4183 , Hein, D. , Wartner, G. , Quevedo, W. , Seidel, R.
ORCID: 0000-0003-2613-4106 , Kolbeck, C. , Clarke, C.
ORCID: 0000-0003-2698-3490 , Fogarty, R.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2617-4207 , Bourne, R.
ORCID: 0000-0001-7107-6297 , Palgrave, R.
ORCID: 0000-0003-4522-2486 , Hunt, P.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9144-1853 , Lovelock, K.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1431-269X (2022) Resonant X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy: identification of atomic contributions to valence states. Faraday Discussions , 236 pp 0. ISSN: 1364-5498 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d1fd00117e
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Doherty, S.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1103-8090 , Knight, J. , Alharbi, H. , Paterson, R. , Wills, C. , Dixon, C. , Šiller, L. , Chamberlain, T. , Griffiths, A. , Collins, S. , Wu, K. , Simmons, M. , Bourne, R. , Lovelock, K. , Seymour, J. (2022) Efficient hydrolytic hydrogen evolution from sodium borohydride catalyzed by polymer immobilized ionic liquid‐stabilized platinum nanoparticles. ChemCatChem , 14 (4). pp 0. ISSN: 1867-3899 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cctc.202101752
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Seymour, J.
ORCID: 0000-0002-1217-9541 , Gousseva, E. , Large, A.
ORCID: 0000-0001-8676-4172 , Clarke, C.
ORCID: 0000-0003-2698-3490 , Licence, P.
ORCID: 0000-0003-2992-0153 , Fogarty, R.
ORCID: 0000-0002-2617-4207 , Duncan, D.
ORCID: 0000-0002-0827-2022 , Ferrer, P.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9807-7679 , Venturini, F. , Bennett, R.
ORCID: 0000-0001-6266-3510 , Palgrave, R.
ORCID: 0000-0003-4522-2486 , Lovelock, K.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1431-269X (2021) Experimental measurement and prediction of ionic liquid ionisation energies. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics , 23 (37). pp. 20957-20973. ISSN: 1463-9076 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/D1CP02441H
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Large, A.
ORCID: 0000-0001-8676-4172 , Seymour, J.
ORCID: 0000-0002-1217-9541 , Quevedo Garzon, W. , Roy, K.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0802-7710 , Venturini, F. , Grinter, D.
ORCID: 0000-0001-6089-119X , Artiglia, L.
ORCID: 0000-0003-4683-6447 , Brooke, E. , de Gutierrez, M. , Raj, A. , Lovelock, K.
ORCID: 0000-0003-1431-269X , Bennett, R.
ORCID: 0000-0001-6266-3510 , Eralp-Erden, T. , Held, G.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0726-4183 (2021) Operando characterisation of alumina-supported bimetallic Pd–Pt catalysts during methane oxidation in dry and wet conditions. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics , 54 (17). ISSN: 1361-6463 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/abde67
- Kahk, J. , Kuusik, I. , Kisand, V. , Lovelock, K. , Lischner, J. (2020) Frontier orbitals and quasiparticle energy levels in ionic liquids. npj Computational Materials , 6 (1). ISSN: 2057-3960 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41524-020-00413-4
- Clarke, C. , Hayama, S. , Hawes, A. , Hallett, J. , Chamberlain, T. , Lovelock, K. , Besley, N. (2019) Zinc 1s valence-to-core X-ray emission spectroscopy of halozincate complexes. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A , 123 pp. 9552-9559. ISSN: 1520-5215 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpca.9b08037
- Fogarty, R. , Palgrave, R. , Bourne, R. , Handrup, K. , Villar-Garcia, I. , Payne, D. , Hunt, P. , Lovelock, K. (2019) Electron spectroscopy of ionic liquids: experimental identification of atomic orbital contributions to valence electronic structure. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics , 21 (35). pp. 18893-18910. ISSN: 1463-9076 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C9CP02200G
- Doherty, S. , Knight, J. , Backhouse, T. , Summers, R. , Abood, E. , Simpson, W. , Paget, W. , Bourne, R. , Chamberlain, T. , Stones, R. , Lovelock, K. , Seymour, J. , Isaacs, M. , Hardacre, C. , Daly, H. , Rees, N. (2019) Highly selective and solvent-dependent reduction of Nitrobenzene to N-phenylhydroxylamine, azoxybenzene, and aniline catalyzed by phosphino-modified polymer immobilized ionic liquid-stabilized AuNPs. ACS Catalysis , 9 (6). pp. 4777-4791. ISSN: 2155-5435 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.9b00347
- Clément, P. , Xu, X. , Stoppiello, C. , Rance, G. , Attanzio, A. , O’Shea, J. , Temperton, R. , Khlobystov, A. , Lovelock, K. , Seymour, J. , Fogarty, R. , Baker, A. , Bourne, R. , Hall, B. , Chamberlain, T. , Palma, M. (2019) Direct synthesis of multiplexed metal nanowire based devices using carbon nanotubes as vector templates. Angewandte Chemie International Edition , 58 (29). pp. 9928-9932. ISSN: 1433-7851 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201902857
- Doherty, S. , Knight, J. , Backhouse, T. , Abood, E. , Al-shaikh, H. , Clemmet, A. , Ellison, J. , Bourne, R. , Chamberlain, T. , Stones, R. , Warren, N. , Fairlamb, I. , Lovelock, K. (2018) Heteroatom donor-decorated polymer-immobilized ionic liquid stabilized palladium nanoparticles: efficient catalysts for room-temperature suzuki-miyaura cross-coupling in aqueous media. Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis , 360 (19). pp. 3716-3731. ISSN: 1615-4169 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adsc.201800561
- Clarke, C. , Puttick, S. , Sanderson, T. , Taylor, A. , Bourne, R. , Lovelock, K. , Licence, P. (2018) Thermal stability of dialkylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate and hexafluorophosphate ionic liquids: ex situ bulk heating to complement in situ mass spectrometry. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics , 20 pp. 16786-16800. ISSN: 1463-9076 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C8CP01090K
- Fogarty, R. , Matthews, R. , Ashworth, C. , Brandt-Talbot, A. , Palgrave, R. , Bourne, R. , Vander Hoogerstraete, T. , Hunt, P. , Lovelock, K. (2018) Experimental validation of calculated atomic charges in ionic liquids. The Journal of Chemical Physics , 148 (19). ISSN: 0021-9606 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.5011662
- Doherty, S. , Knight, J. , Backhouse, T. , Bradford, A. , Saunders, F. , Bourne, R. , Chamberlain, T. , Stones, R. , Clayton, A. , Lovelock, K. (2018) Highly efficient aqueous phase reduction of nitroarenes catalyzed by phosphine-decorated polymer immobilized ionic liquid stabilized PdNPs. Catalysis Science & Technology , 8 (5). pp. 1454-1467. ISSN: 2044-4761 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c7cy02557b
- Fogarty, R. , Rowe, R. , Matthews, R. , Clough, M. , Ashworth, C. , Brandt, A. , Corbett, P. , Palgrave, R. , Smith, E. , Bourne, R. , Chamberlain, T. , Thompson, P. , Hunt, P. , Lovelock, K. (2018) Atomic charges of sulfur in ionic liquids: experiments and calculations. Faraday Discussions , 206 pp. 183-201. ISSN: 1364-5498 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c7fd00155j
- Men, S. , Lovelock, K. , Licence, P. (2017) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of trihalide ionic liquids: comparison to halide-based analogues, anion basicity and beam damage. Chemical Physics Letters , 679 pp. 207-211. ISSN: 0009-2614 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2017.05.010
- Lovelock, K. (2017) Quantifying intermolecular interactions of ionic liquids using cohesive energy densities. Royal Society Open Science , 4 (12). ISSN: 2054-5703 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171223
- Stoppiello, C. , Biskupek, J. , Li, Z. , Rance, G. , Botos, A. , Fogarty, R. , Bourne, R. , Yuan, J. , Lovelock, K. , Thompson, P. , Fay, M. , Kaiser, U. , Chamberlain, T. , Khlobystov, A. (2017) A one-pot-one-reactant synthesis of platinum compounds at the nanoscale. Nanoscale , 9 (38). pp. 14385-14394. ISSN: 2040-3364 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7NR05976K
- Fogarty, R. , Matthews, R. , Clough, M. , Ashworth, C. , Brandt-Talbot, A. , Corbett, P. , Palgrave, R. , Bourne, R. , Chamberlain, T. , Vander Hoogerstraete, T. , Thompson, P. , Hunt, P. , Besley, N. , Lovelock, K. (2017) NEXAFS spectroscopy of ionic liquids: experiments versus calculations. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics , 19 (46). pp. 31156-31167. ISSN: 1463-9076 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7CP07143D
- Men, S. , Lovelock, K. , Licence, P. (2016) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy as a probe of rhodium-ligand interaction in ionic liquids. Chemical Physics Letters , 645 pp. 53-58. ISSN: 0009-2614 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2015.12.017
- Men, S. , Lovelock, K. , Licence, P. (2015) Directly probing the effect of the solvent on a catalyst electronic environment using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. RSC Advances , 5 (45). pp. 35958-35965. ISSN: 2046-2069 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c5ra04662a
- Men, S. , Mitchell, D. , Lovelock, K. , Licence, P. (2015) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of pyridinium-based tonic liquids: comparison to imidazolium- and pyrrolidinium-based analogues. ChemPhysChem , 16 (10). pp. 2211-2218. ISSN: 1439-7641 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201500227
- Thompson, P. , Nguyen, B. , Nicholls, R. , Bourne, R. , Brazier, J. , Lovelock, K. , Brown, S. , Wermeille, D. , Bikondoa, O. , Lucas, C. , Hase, T. , Newton, M. (2015) X-ray spectroscopy for chemistry in the 2-4 keV energy regime at the XMaS beamline: ionic liquids, Rh and Pd catalysts in gas and liquid environments, and Cl contamination in γ-Al2O3. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation , 22 (6). pp. 1426-1439. ISSN: 0909-0495 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1107/s1600577515016148
- Villar-Garcia, I. , Fearn, S. , Ismail, N. , McIntosh, A. , Lovelock, K. (2015) Fine tuning the ionic liquid–vacuum outer atomic surface using ion mixtures. Chemical Communications , 51 (25). pp. 5367-5370. ISSN: 1359-7345 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c4cc06307d
- Woodruff, D. , Ledieu, J. , Lovelock, K. , Jones, R. , Deyko, A. , Wearing, L. , McGrath, R. , Chaudhuri, A. , Li, H. , Su, S. , Mayer, A. , Stanisha, N. , Diehl, R. (2015) X-ray standing wave study of Si clusters on a decagonal Al-Co-Ni quasicrystal surface. Physical Review B , 91 (11). ISSN: 1098-0121 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.115418
- Cousens, N. , Taylor Kearney, L. , Clough, M. , Lovelock, K. , Palgrave, R. , Perkin, S. (2014) Preparation and characterisation of high-density ionic liquids incorporating halobismuthate anions. Dalton Transactions , 43 (28). pp. 10910-10919. ISSN: 1364-5447 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c4dt00755g
- Diehl, R. , Li, H. , Su, S. , Mayer, A. , Stanisha, N. , Ledieu, J. , Lovelock, K. , Jones, R. , Deyko, A. , Wearing, L. , McGrath, R. , Chaudhuri, A. , Woodruff, D. (2014) Quantitative aAdsorbate structure determination for quasicrystals using X-Ray standing waves. Physical Review Letters , 113 (10). ISSN: 0031-9007 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.106101
- Kolbeck, C. , Niedermaier, I. , Deyko, A. , Lovelock, K. , Taccardi, N. , Wei, W. , Wasserscheid, P. , Maier, F. , Steinrück, H. (2014) Influence of substituents and functional groups on the surface composition of ionic liquids. Chemistry- A European Journal , 20 (14). pp. 3954-3965. ISSN: 1521-3765 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201304549
- Lovelock, K. , Armstrong, J. , Licence, P. , Jones, R. (2014) Vaporisation and thermal decomposition of dialkylimidazolium halide ion ionic liquids. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics , 16 (4). pp. 1339-1353. ISSN: 1463-9076 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c3cp52950a
- Villar-Garcia, I. , Fearn, S. , De Gregorio, G. , Ismail, N. , Gschwend, F. , McIntosh, A. , Lovelock, K. (2014) The ionic liquid–vacuum outer atomic surface: a low-energy ion scattering study. Chemical Science , 5 (11). pp. 4404-4418. ISSN: 1478-6524 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c4sc00640b
- Villar-Garcia, I. , Lovelock, K. , Men, S. , Licence, P. (2014) Tuning the electronic environment of cations and anions using ionic liquid mixtures. Chemical Science , 5 (6). pp. 2573-2579. ISSN: 1478-6524 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c4sc00106k