Profile image of Professor Pete Kelly

Professor Peter Kelly

Head of Surface Engineering Group, Director of the Advanced Materials and Surface Engineering Research Centre

My profile

Biography

Joined MMU from Salford University in 2005 as Professor of Materials Science.

Head of Surface Engineering Group

Academic and professional qualifications

PhD in Surface Engineering, awarded 1997 University of Salford

Other academic service (administration and management)

  • Head of Research Development, School of Research, Enterprise and Innovation
  • Former Director of Dalton Research Institute
  • Head of Surface Engineering Group

Practioner roles

  • Member of the EPSRC College.
  • UK representative on the EU COST action MP0804 Highly Ionised Pulsed Plasma Processes and Financial Rapporteur.
  • Member of the British Standards Committee for Advanced Technical Ceramics.
  • Member of the Steering Committee for the GM Hydrogen Partnership.
  • Appointed to the Science Board of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cells SUPERGEN Hub.
  • Regular session chair at major international conferences, including ICMCTF, ISSP, SVC, PSE and RSD.
  • Current Chair of ‘Fundamentals and Technology of Multifunctional Materials and Devices’ Symposium at ICMCTF – the major annual international conference on surface coatings.
  • Guest editor for Catalysis Today (5yr IF = 4.23; SNIP = 1.363).
  • Regular paper referee for major surface engineering and materials journals.
  • Regular external PhD examiner in the UK and worldwide – I have examined Masters and PhD theses from Germany, France, Finland, Belgium, Australia, South Africa, Iceland and Denmark.
  • Regular referee for project proposals, including proposals from Denmark, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic.
  • Presented guest seminars at many universities and institutes, including Manchester, Surrey, Aarhus, RWTH (Aachen), Fraunhofer IST, Hubei University (Wuhan), NUAA (Nanjing), USTL (Anshan), Colorado School of Mines, Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), Southwestern Research Institute (San Antonio), Federal University of Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte), Università degli Studi di Milano (Milan).
  • Member of the International Advisory Panel to the Plasma Surface Engineering conference series (2000-present).
  • Former Honorary Secretary to the Ion and Plasma Surface Interactions Group at the Institute of Physics.
  • Former member of the Surface Engineering Committee of the IoM3 (formerly held the position of FIMMM).
  • Former member of the Technical Advisory Committee to the SVC conference series (2005-2013).

Interests and expertise

I am the Head of the Surface Engineering Group (SEG), which was originally based at the University of Salford, but transferred to MMU on my appointment in Jan 2005. I joined the Group in November 1989 and took over the leadership from Prof Derek Arnell on his retirement in 2002. Over the past two decades the SEG has achieved an international reputation for being at the forefront of the development and applications of the magnetron sputtering process. We have concentrated, in particular, on developments and applications of the pulsed magnetron sputtering process, including HIPIMS (high power impulse magnetron sputtering). Indeed, I am amongst the leading academic exponents of this technique in the UK, with many publications and presentations, several of which were invited, at international conferences to support this. More recently, we have extended the range of surface engineering techniques that we utilise to include reactive evaporation, plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition and atmospheric pressure plasma processing. The highly applied nature of our research means we have always had strong links with industry and the majority of our research projects are industrially supported or sponsored. Following a recent review, the group was included in the list of elite research groups at Manchester Met.

Some recent research ‘highlights’:

i. A new variant of pulsed sputtering, high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) has attracted worldwide interest recently. My work was the first to show that this technique can be used to deposit functional films (e.g. photocatalytic coatings) directly onto polymeric substrates in a single stage process. These coatings have demonstrated their effectiveness at breaking down ‘contaminants of emerging concern’ in water in solar field trials in Brazil. This work was initially supported through EP/F003951/1 ‘A New Route to High-Performance Functional Films on Polymeric Web’ and also through the Newton Fund. The link with UFMG in Brazil has led to exchanges of staff and students and several publications.

Rafaela BP Marcelino, Camila C Amorim, Marina Ratova, Brice Delfour-Peyrethon, Peter Kelly, ‘Novel and versatile TiO2 thin films on PET for photocatalytic removal of contaminants of emerging concern from water, Chemical Engineering Journal 370 (2019) 1251–1261 10.1016/j.cej.2019.03.284

M Ratova, G West, P Kelly, ‘Optimization of HiPIMS Photocatalytic Titania Coatings for Low Temperature Deposition,’ Surf. Coat. Technol., 250 (2014) 7-13.

PJ Kelly, PM Barker, S Ostovarpour, M Ratova, GT West, I Iordanova, JW Bradley, Rapid Communication ‘Deposition of photocatalytic titania coatings on polymeric substrates by HiPIMS,’ Vacuum, 86 (2012) 1880-1882.

ii. Detailed studies of the interactions between microorganisms and surfaces with specific chemistries and topographies, including antimicrobial TiN/Ag coatings and doped-TiO2 photocatalytic coatings. The strength of this work lies in the multi-disciplinary partnership between experts in microbiology and surface engineering. This work was initially supported through EP/F014325/1 ‘Production and Characterisation of Wear-Resistant and Anti-Microbial TiN/Ag Nanocomposite Coatings’ and through DTI project MATERA/ESM-1855: ‘DISCONNECTING microbes from food and beverage process surfaces’ (PI – J Verran). Photocatalytic coatings are now an important theme in our work. We have developed new visible light active photocatalytic materials, suitable for the degradation of organic pollutants or treatment of contaminated water. This work also included the development of a novel means of coating fine particulates, which is not usually possible by sputtering techniques.

PJ Kelly, H Li, KA Whitehead, J Verran, RD Arnell and I Iordanova, ‘A Study of the Anti-Microbial and Tribological Properties of TiN/Ag Nanocomposite Coatings’, Surf. Coat. Technol., 204 (2009) 1137-1140

PJ Kelly, H Li, PS Benson, KA Whitehead, J Verran, RD Arnell and I Iordanova, ‘Comparison of Tribological and Anti-Microbial Properties of CrN/Ag, ZrN/Ag, TiN/Ag, and TiN/Cu Nanocomposite Coatings,’ Surf. Coat. Technol., 205 (2010) 1606-1610

O Priha, M Raulio, K Cooke, L Fisher, C Hill, S Hylkinen , P Kelly, P Navabpour, S Ostovarpour, K Tapani, C Tattershall, A-K Vehviläinen, J Verran and E Storgårds, ‘Microbial populations on brewery filling hall surfaces - Progress towards functional coatings,’ Food Control, 55 (2015) 1-11

J Redfern, M Ratova, AP Dean, J Pritchett, M Grao, J Verran, P Kelly, ‘Photocatalytic bismuth oxide coatings are effective at supressing aquatic cyanobacteria and degrading free-floating genomic DNA’, J Environ Sci, 104 (2021) 128-136 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2020.11.024

M Ratova, L Tosheva, PJ  Kelly, B Ohtani, ‘Characterisation and properties of visible light-active bismuth oxide-titania composite photocatalysts.’ Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 17 (2019) e00112

M Ratova, PJ Kelly, GT West and L Tosheva, ‘A novel technique for the deposition of bismuth tungstate onto titania nanoparticulates for enhancing the visible light photocatalytic activity,’ Coatings, 2016, 6, 29

iii. Development and characterisation of alumina (AlOx) coatings onto polymeric web for food packaging. With our industrial partners, Bobst Manchester Ltd., we showed that a 10nm layer of AlOx can significantly improve the barrier properties of commercial grade packaging polymers to water and oxygen permeation. This work was initially undertaking during a Faculty matched funded PhD project with Bobst, followed by two KTP projects: KTP009328 ‘Conversion Processes for AlOx Coated Polymer Packaging’ (rated as ‘outstanding’ by Innovate UK); KTP010748 ‘ClearPro Technology – Plasma Assisted Process Enhancement’ (also rated as ‘outstanding’). We submitted an impact case study based on this work to REF2021.

C Struller, PJ Kelly, N Copeland, ‘Conversion of aluminium oxide coated films for food packaging applications – From a single layer material to a complete pouch,’ Food Packaging and Shelf Life, 20 (2019) 100309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fpsl.2019.100309

CF Struller, PJ Kelly, NJ Copeland, V Tobin, HE Assender, CW Holliday, SJ Read, ‘Aluminium oxide barrier films on polymeric web and their conversion for packaging applications,’ Thin Solid Films 553 (2014) 153-156.

CF Struller, PJ Kelly, NJ Copeland, ‘Aluminium oxide barrier coatings on polymer films for food packaging applications,’ Surf. Coat. Technol. 241 (2014) 130-137.

Get in touch

0161 247 4643
E306 John Dalton Building

Impact

Two impact case studies were submitted to REF2021 in the Engineering Unit of Assessment:

  • My group has been collaborating with the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) for over 4 years to provide a surface engineering solution, which can be productionised, for a component in the Trident nuclear deterrent system. This work is on the critical pathway for maintaining the UK nuclear deterrent. The significance of our work is evidenced by the successive extensions to the original project, which has now attracted funding of over £2M to MMU in the REF period and has drawn in new partners, including the Manufacturing Technology Centre and Teer Coatings Ltd. The impact of the work lies around the very extensive cost savings to the MOD  and in influencing strategic planning to enable assets to remain at sea for longer deployments.
  • Working with our industrial partners, Bobst Manchester Ltd., we have contributed to the development of new types of food packaging materials that improve the level of protection of the foodstuffs, reduce the amount of materials used and, in the current project, will allow monolithic polymers to be used for the storage of foodstuffs, and other products including medical and pharmaceutical goods. Such polymers are not currently capable of providing the barrier required, but will be essential to allow packaging to be recyclable, which is a major goal of the food packaging industry with huge potential societal benefits. This work was initially undertaking during a Faculty matched funded PhD project with Bobst, followed by two KTP projects. The impact of this work has enabled Bobst to stay ahead of the global competition in a highly competitive market, resulting in direct sales of systems using technology developed with Manchester Met.

Teaching

Supervision

Over 30 PhD completions as Director of Studies or Co-supervisor

Research outputs

The development and applications of magnetron sputtering processes, particularly pulsed sputtering; deposition and characterisation of thin films; tribology