Frank Marken has in September 2004 been appointed to a Senior Lecturer position at the University of Bath and promoted to Reader in 2008 and to Professor in 2011. General research interests are linked to electrochemistry in the context of water, solar energy, and sensing. This includes the development of novel electrochemical technologies including oxide nano-structures for electro-catalysis for CO₂ reduction, liquid-liquid triple phase junction processes, bio-electrochemical processes, ultrasound and microwave and sunlight-enhanced electrochemistry, solid state electrochemical processing, iontronics and ionic diodes in desalination, paired and self-supported organic syntheses, membranes for water harvesting, and industrially relevant electrode reactions (more than 530 publications). In 2009 Frank Marken was awarded the Theophilus Redwood lectureship by the Analytical Division of the RSC and in 2018 he was awarded the RSC Geoffrey Barker medal for electrochemistry. In 2019 he was awarded a Fellowship of the International Society of Electrochemistry. 

Research

Electrochemical reactions occur when charges move across interfaces (e.g. electrode | liquid or liquid | liquid interfaces or more complicated interfacial structures). The potential applied to the electrode or membrane and the materials and interfacial design allow processes to be controlled or selected. I am interested in both fundamental and applied aspects of electrochemistry linked to water and to energy technologies, and in particular in (i) how energy (light, microwave, ultrasound, etc.) can be used to beneficially modify (or couple into) interfacial processes, (ii) triple-junction processes (electro-insertion, emulsion processes, gas-diffusion cells for CO₂), novel electrode designs and materials (e.g. diamond, junctions, and nanoparticle assemblies, polymers of intrinsic microporosity), (iii) catalytic processes, (iv) bioelectrochemical processes, and (v) transport processes at interfaces on micro- and macroscopic level including water transport in membranes.

Research interests

1. Electrochemistry at Carbon Nanofiber Electrodes
2. Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity at Electrode Surfaces to Stabilise Catalysts
3. Ultrasound and Microwave Enhanced Electrochemical Processes in Mono- and Biphasic Media
4. Photochemical Processes and Electrochemical Energy Conversion
5. Electroinsertion Processes and Electrochemically Driven Solid State Conversions
6. Liquid - Liquid Ion Insertion and Expulsion Processes - Reactions at Triple Interfaces
7. Applications of Boron-Doped Diamond Electrodes in Electroanalysis and Electrosynthesis
8. Reaction Mechanisms, New Methods in Electrosynthesis, and Electrocatalysis
9. Electrochemistry of Cellulose, Textile Materials, and Dyes
10. Membrane Electrochemistry and Ionic Diodes in Desalination and Water Harvesting

Activities

• A joint CO₂ reduction project (Univeristy of Bath, Bristol University, UWE) funded by the EPSRC Grand Challenge Call (EP/H046305/1: Nano-Integration of Metal-Organic Frameworks and Catalysis for the Uptake and Utilisation of CO₂).
  
• Find out more about the Bath Electrochemical Impedance Summer School and Bath Electrochemistry Winter School.
• Find out more about the Electrochemistry Newsletter. 
• Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide: Overcoming the Limitations of Photosynthesis
  Editors: Frank Marken, David Fermin, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/9781782623809
• Modern Electrosynthetic Methods in Organic Chemistry

  Editors: ByFrank Marken, Mahito Atobe, https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429434051