Teaching

I teach inorganic chemistry at St Catherine’s.

About me

I was an undergraduate student at the University of Bristol before coming to Oxford in 1976 to work as a graduate student with Tony Cheetham, himself an alumnus of the College. I then spent four years as a CEGB Research Fellow at St. Catherine’s before taking up a lecturership at Leeds University in 1984. I returned to the College as a Tutorial Fellow in 1989. I was given the title of Professor of Chemistry in 2002; I had previously held visiting professorships in France at Caen (1988) and Bordeaux (1995).

Research and graduate supervision

My research, undertaken with the help of graduate students, lies in the field of solid-state chemistry, with an emphasis on the relationship between the crystal structure and the electrical and magnetic properties of mixed-metal oxides and nitrides, for example La18Li8 Fe5O39 and Fe1.25Pt0.75Mo3N.

Recent Publications

Structural chemistry and spin-glass behaviour of Nd18Li 8Fe4TiO39. N. Thammajak, P. D. Battle, F. Grandjean, G. J. Long, and S. Ramos, J. Solid State Chemistry 187, 75 (2012)

High-temperature redox chemistry of Pr 0.5Sr1.5Cr0.5Mn 0.5O4-δ investigated in situ by neutron diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy under reducing and oxidizing gas flows. M. Bahout, F. Tonus, C. Prestipino, D. Pelloquin, T. Hansen, E. Fonda and P. D. Battle J. Mater. Chem. 22, 10560 (2012)

Magnetic properties of Fe2GeMo3N; an experimental and computational study. P. D. Battle, L. A. Sviridov, R. J. Woolley, F. Grandjean, G. J. Long, C. R. A. Catlow, A. A. Sokol, A. Walsh and S. M. Woodley J. Mater. Chem. 22, 15606 (2012)

La3Ni2SbO9 – a relaxor ferromagnet. P. D. Battle, S. I. Evers, E. C. Hunter and M. Westwood Inorganic Chemistry 52, 6648 (2013)

Departmental webpage