David Mills | |
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Born | David Paul Mills |
Alma mater | Cardiff University [1] (MChem, PhD) |
Known for | f-element compounds Inorganic Synthesis |
Awards |
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Scientific career | |
Fields | Inorganic chemistry Lanthanide chemistry Actinide chemistry Organometallic chemistry |
Institutions | The University of Manchester |
Thesis | Investigations into the Reactivity of an Anionic Gallium(I) N-Heterocyclic Carbene Analogue (2007) |
Doctoral advisor | Prof. Cameron Jones |
Website | millsgroup |
David Paul Mills is a British chemist and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Manchester. [1] His research typically investigates the chemistry of the lanthanide and actinide f-block elements. This is generally based on the synthesis of new f-block complexes, structural and bonding properties and their uses in different fields including in nuclear fuel cycles, energy and single molecule magnets. [6]
Mills completed his MChem in 2004 at Cardiff University where he finished his masters project with Prof. Cameron Jones. [1] Upon graduation, he continued to read for his Doctor of Philosophy degree with Prof. Jones on Investigations into the Reactivity of an Anionic Gallium(I) N-Heterocyclic Carbene Analogue and successfully gained his PhD in 2007. [7]
Mills completed his postdoctoral research with Prof. Stephen Liddle at the University of Nottingham before moving to the University of Manchester in 2012 as a Lecturer. [1] [8] In 2017, he was promoted to the Senior Lecturer position and in 2019 was promoted to Reader in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester. [1] He was promoted to the position of Professor in June 2021. [1]
Mill's research is generally on lanthanide and Actinide chemistry and is specifically based on the synthesis of new f-block complexes, structural and bonding properties and their uses in different fields including in nuclear fuel cycles, energy and single molecule magnets. [6]
Apart from research and lecturing, Mills has also worked at the Royal Society of Chemistry, Manchester as the District Local Section Science Secretary and the University of Manchester Royal Society of Chemistry representative from (2013-2017), the Nuclear Materials Control Officer for the Centre for Radiochemical Research (2014-2019) and also as the co-organiser of Royal Society of Chemistry Manchester Dalton Northern (2015), Dial-a-Molecule Conference (2015) and Royal Society of Chemistry Manchester Northwest Organic and Dalton Division Awards Symposium (2013). [1] [9] [10]
In 2017, Mills and Nicholas F. Chilton led a research on the magnetic hysteresis at 60 Kelvin in dysprosocenium. [11] This was the first time a higher temperature magnetic hysteresis has been observed, with the previously record being 30 K. [12] The research introduced the ability to use liquid nitrogen instead of more expensive liquid helium during the magnetic hysteresis phenomenon which led to the attention of data storage server companies as the research introduced the potential of reducing both costs and energy requirements of data servers. [13]
In 2016, Mills also confirmed the capability to use pulsed EPR spectroscopy to measure the covalency of actinide complexes in research in collaboration with Floriana Tuna and Professor Eric Mcinnes at the University of Manchester. [14] Prior to this research, the extent of covalency in actinide complexes was less understood as this nature of bonding was not studied due to limited technology and methods of experimentation at the time. The use of pulsed EPR spectroscopy was able to determine the covalency of thorium(III) and Uranium(III) complexes for the first time and this paved the way to further research on the use of these complexes in the separation and recycling of nuclear waste. [15]
The following research and review papers by David Mills has been classified as "hot papers" from the journals in which the paper is published.
1. Reviews
2. Research Publications
Curium is a transuranic, radioactive chemical element with the symbol Cm and atomic number 96. This actinide element was named after eminent scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, both known for their research on radioactivity. Curium was first intentionally made by the team of Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso in 1944, using the cyclotron at Berkeley. They bombarded the newly discovered element plutonium with alpha particles. This was then sent to the Metallurgical Laboratory at University of Chicago where a tiny sample of curium was eventually separated and identified. The discovery was kept secret until after the end of World War II. The news was released to the public in November 1947. Most curium is produced by bombarding uranium or plutonium with neutrons in nuclear reactors – one tonne of spent nuclear fuel contains ~20 grams of curium.
Holmium is a chemical element with the symbol Ho and atomic number 67. It is a rare-earth element and the eleventh member of the lanthanide series. It is a relatively soft, silvery, fairly corrosion-resistant and malleable metal. Like many other lanthanides, holmium is too reactive to be found in native form, as pure holmium slowly forms a yellowish oxide coating when exposed to air. When isolated, holmium is relatively stable in dry air at room temperature. However, it reacts with water and corrodes readily, and also burns in air when heated.
The lanthanide or lanthanoid series of chemical elements comprises the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers 57–71, from lanthanum through lutetium. These elements, along with the chemically similar elements scandium and yttrium, are often collectively known as the rare-earth elements or rare-earth metals.
A single-molecule magnet (SMM) is a metal-organic compound that has superparamagnetic behavior below a certain blocking temperature at the molecular scale. In this temperature range, a SMM exhibits magnetic hysteresis of purely molecular origin. In contrast to conventional bulk magnets and molecule-based magnets, collective long-range magnetic ordering of magnetic moments is not necessary.
In nuclear chemistry, the actinide concept proposed that the actinides form a second inner transition series homologous to the lanthanides. Its origins stem from observation of lanthanide-like properties in transuranic elements in contrast to the distinct complex chemistry of previously known actinides. Glenn Theodore Seaborg, one of the researchers who synthesized transuranic elements, proposed the actinide concept in 1944 as an explanation for observed deviations and a hypothesis to guide future experiments. It was accepted shortly thereafter, resulting in the placement of a new actinide series comprising elements 89 (actinium) to 103 (lawrencium) below the lanthanides in Dmitri Mendeleev's periodic table of the elements.
Organoactinide chemistry is the science exploring the properties, structure, and reactivity of organoactinide compounds, which are organometallic compounds containing a carbon to actinide chemical bond.
Stephen T. Liddle FRSE FRSC is a British professor of inorganic chemistry at the University of Manchester. He is Head of Inorganic Chemistry and Co-Director of the Centre for Radiochemistry Research at the University of Manchester since 2015.
Actinocenes are a family of organoactinide compounds consisting of metallocenes containing elements from the actinide series. They typically have a sandwich structure with two dianionic cyclooctatetraenyl ligands (COT2-, which is C
8H2−
8) bound to an actinide-metal center (An) in the oxidation state IV, resulting in the general formula An(C8H8)2.
Plutonocene, Pu(C8H8)2, is an organoplutonium compound composed of a plutonium atom sandwiched between two cyclooctatetraenide (COT2-) rings. It is a dark red, very air-sensitive solid that is sparingly soluble in toluene and chlorocarbons. Plutonocene is a member of the actinocene family of metallocenes incorporating actinide elements in the +4 oxidation state.
William J. Evans is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in the inorganic and organometallic chemistry of heavy metals, specifically the rare earth metals, actinides, and bismuth. He has published over 500 peer-reviewed research papers on these topics.
Sally Anne Brooker is a New Zealand inorganic chemist. She has been a full professor at the University of Otago since 2006.
Nicholas Frederick Chilton is an Australian chemist and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester. His research is in the areas of magnetochemistry and computational chemistry, and includes the design of high-temperature single molecule magnets, molecular spin qubits for quantum information science, methods and tools for modelling magnetic calculations.
Louise Sarah Natrajan is a British chemist and a reader in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Manchester. Her research typically is based on actinide chemistry and luminescence spectroscopy, though some of her published research has extended to lanthanide chemistry, transition metal complexes and organic chemistry.
Richard Eric Parry Winpenny FRSC FLSW is a British chemist and a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester. Winpenny's research is within the fields of inorganic chemistry and magnetochemistry, specifically the areas of single-molecule magnetism, inorganic synthesis, supramolecular chemistry and polymetallic caged complexes.
David Collison is a British chemist and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Manchester. His research in general is based on inorganic chemistry and magnetochemistry, specifically on coordination chemistry, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and f-block chemistry.
Eric John Logan McInnes is a British chemist and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Manchester. His research in general is based on inorganic chemistry and magnetochemistry, specifically on molecular magnetism, EPR spectroscopy and coordination chemistry.
Floriana Tuna is a Romanian chemist and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Manchester. Her research in general is based on inorganic chemistry and magnetochemistry, specifically on molecular magnetism, EPR spectroscopy and quantum computing.
Marinella Mazzanti is an Italian inorganic chemist specialized in coordination chemistry. She is a professor at EPFL and the head of the group of Coordination Chemistry at EPFL's School of Basic Sciences.
Praseodymium(V) oxide nitride is a compound of praseodymium in the oxidation state of +5 with the formula PrNO, which was first reported in 2000, however, the compound wasn't verified to have an oxidation state of +5 until 2017. This compound is produced by the reaction of praseodymium metal and nitric oxide in 4K and solid neon. The crystal structure is linear with the praseodymium forming a triple bond with the nitrogen and a double bond with the oxygen. Calculation shows a significant level of f-orbital covalence of Pr-X bonds.
Lanthanum(III) iodide is an inorganic compound containing lanthanum and iodine with the chemical formula LaI
3.