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Professor Daniel Slocombe
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Teams and roles for Daniel Slocombe
Deputy Head of School, Research, Innovation and Enterprise
Overview
Professor Daniel R. Slocombe (BEng, PhD, FHEA) is Deputy Head of School at Cardiff University’s School of Engineering, with responsibility for Research, Innovation and Enterprise. He is a microwave scientist specialising in high-frequency electromagnetic technologies for decarbonisation, sustainable energy systems, and advanced materials. He collaborates extensively with industry, academia, and government across the UK and worldwide.
He began his career in the Royal Air Force, working on guidance, navigation, and communication systems, before moving into academia. He subsequently held a Research Fellowship in the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Oxford and was a Visiting Scholar at Merton College, Oxford. He joined Cardiff University in 2015, where he has taken on a number of senior leadership roles.
He was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Engineering (2022) for “pioneering research demonstrating the use of microwave fields in innovative applications related to decarbonisation, energy, and environmental science.”
His work spans electromagnetism, semiconductor synthesis and characterisation, and microwave-driven chemical process intensification. He focuses on applying high-frequency electromagnetic fields to challenges in decarbonisation, energy technologies, and environmental science, integrating engineering, chemistry, and materials science to develop scalable, low-carbon processes. His research has been featured in The Times, BBC, Nature Catalysis, and as a ‘Research Highlight’ in Science.
He is currently Principal Investigator on major research programmes funded by the Leverhulme Trust, EPSRC, and BBSRC. These projects span the synthesis of semiconductor and next-generation battery materials, the upcycling of waste plastics to monomers, and the development of advanced electromagnetic platforms for chemical and materials manufacturing. His work has led to patents and the formation of technology spin-out companies, including ventures at the University of Oxford developing advanced semiconductor materials for solar cells and display technologies, and at Cardiff producing clean hydrogen fuels using next-generation electromagnetic processes.
At Cardiff University, he has served as Director of the Centre for High Frequency Engineering and Head of Teaching for Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He currently leads research strategy for the School of Engineering and contributes to institutional governance through roles on the University Research Committee, and as Chair of both the Trusted Research Oversight Group and the Defence and Security Group.
He plays an active role in international scientific leadership. He recently chaired the AMPERE International Scientific Conference, bringing together over 170 participants from more than 25 countries, and serves on the scientific committees of major global conferences, including IMPI (USA) and GCMEA (most recently hosted in Japan). He also chaired a Royal Society Scientific Meeting on emerging sustainability technologies in London and is regularly invited to speak at scientific events worldwide.
Publication
2026
- Filipini Ferreira, G. et al. 2026. Optimised pyrolysis strategies for energy-dense bio-oil from Chlorella sp. Bioresource Technology 441 133628. (10.1016/j.biortech.2025.133628)
2025
- Tsubaki, S. et al., 2025. Radiofrequency and microwave 3D bioprinting of emulsion gel for dysphagia diets. Scientific Reports 15 (1) 25023. (10.1038/s41598-025-06804-1)
- Sun, J. et al., 2025. Microwave-assisted selective oxidation of propene over bismuth molybdate catalysts: the importance of catalyst synthesis methodology. Discover Catalysis 2 (1) 11. (10.1007/s44344-025-00014-7)
- Hefford, S. et al. 2025. Microwaves in clean energy technologies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 383 (2297) 20240394. (10.1098/rsta.2024.0394)
- Jie, X. et al., 2025. Low to near-zero CO 2 production of hydrogen from fossil fuels: critical role of microwave-initiated catalysis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 383 (2297) 20240061. (10.1098/rsta.2024.0061)
- Slocombe, D. R. and Porch, A. 2025. Preface to ‘Microwave science in sustainability’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 383 (2297) 20240075. (10.1098/rsta.2024.0075)
- Edwards, P. P. et al., 2025. Fossil fuel decarbonization and plastics-waste conversion to hydrogen and high-value carbons: pure science behind two emerging disruptive technologies. In: Jameel, S. and Clary, D. C. eds. Disruptive Technologies and Muslim Societies. World Scientific. , pp.97-130. (10.1142/9781800616295_0005)
- Singh, B. et al., 2025. A novel method for fast and efficient numerical simulation of microwave heating in liquids during mixing. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 237 , pp.126425. (10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2024.126425)
2024
- Sun, J. et al. 2024. Designing heterogeneous catalysts for microwave assisted selective oxygenation. ChemCatChem 16 (19) e202301586. (10.1002/cctc.202301586)
- Slocombe, D. 2024. Editorial. European Journal of Microwave Energy 1 , pp.1-1. (10.18573/ejme.17)
2023
- Edwards, P. P. et al., 2023. Orbital-selective hole and hole-pair formation and Bose condensation in high-temperature superconductors. Journal of Solid State Chemistry 317 (Part A) 123529. (10.1016/j.jssc.2022.123529)
- Magri, G. et al. 2023. An in-situ study of the thermal decomposition of 2,2'-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) radical chemistry using a dual-mode EPR resonator. Research on Chemical Intermediates 49 , pp.289-305. (10.1007/s11164-022-04861-z)
2022
- Barter, M. et al. 2022. Design considerations of a dual mode X-band EPR resonator for rapid in-situ microwave heating. Applied Magnetic Resonance 53 , pp.861-874. (10.1007/s00723-022-01463-1)
- Jie, X. et al., 2022. Size-dependent microwave heating and catalytic activity of fine iron particles in the deep dehydrogenation of hexadecane. Chemistry of Materials 34 (10), pp.4682-4693. (10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c00630)
- Siddique, F. et al., 2022. Sustainable chemical processing of flowing wastewater through microwave energy. Chemosphere 287 (1) 132035. (10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132035)
2021
- Slocombe, D. R. and Porch, A. 2021. Microwaves in chemistry. IEEE Journal of Microwaves 1 (1), pp.32-42. (10.1109/JMW.2020.3029337)
2020
- Jie, X. et al., 2020. Microwave-initiated catalytic deconstruction of plastic waste into hydrogen and high-value carbons. Nature Catalysis 3 , pp.902-912. (10.1038/s41929-020-00518-5)
- Slocombe, D. 2020. Cool water splitting by microwaves. Nature Energy 5 , pp.830-831. (10.1038/s41560-020-00726-0)
- Yao, B. et al., 2020. Metals and non-metals in the periodic table. Philosophical Transactions A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 378 (2180) 20200213. (10.1098/rsta.2020.0213)
- Yan, Y. et al., 2020. The decarbonization of coal tar via microwave-initiated catalytic deep dehydrogenation. Fuel 268 117332. (10.1016/j.fuel.2020.117332)
- Folli, A. et al. 2020. A novel dual mode X-band EPR resonator for rapid in situ microwave heating. Journal of Magnetic Resonance 310 106644. (10.1016/j.jmr.2019.106644)
2019
- Barter, M. et al. 2019. Temperature correction using degenerate modes for cylindrical cavity perturbation measurements. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 67 (2), pp.800-805. (10.1109/TMTT.2018.2882480)
- Jie, X. et al., 2019. The decarbonisation of petroleum and other fossil hydrocarbon fuels for the facile production and safe storage of hydrogen. Energy and Environmental Science 12 (1), pp.238-249. (10.1039/C8EE02444H)
2018
- Yan, Y. et al., 2018. Rapid, non-invasive characterization of the dispersity of emulsions via microwaves. Chemical Science 9 (34), pp.6975-6980. (10.1039/C8SC00406D)
- Partridge, S. et al. 2018. Measuring the electromagnetic properties of pigments during exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Abstracts of Papers of The American Chemical Society 255
2017
- Cuenca, J. A. , Slocombe, D. R. and Porch, A. 2017. Corrections to 'temperature correction for cylindrical cavity perturbation measurements'. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 65 (12), pp.5078. (10.1109/TMTT.2017.2751550)
- Momot, A. et al., 2017. A novel explanation for the increased conductivity in annealed Al-doped ZnO: an insight into migration of aluminum and displacement of zinc. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 19 , pp.27866-27877. (10.1039/C7CP02936E)
- Liu, B. et al., 2017. Microwaves effectively examine the extent and type of coking over acid zeolite catalysts. Nature Communications 8 514. (10.1038/s41467-017-00602-8)
- Edwards, P. et al., 2017. Decarbonisation of fossil fuels: Microwave-promoted deep catalytic dehydrogenation of liquid alkanes. Presented at: 254th ACS National Meeting & Exposition Washington, DC, USA 20-24 Aug 2017.
- Jie, X. et al., 2017. Rapid production of high-purity hydrogen fuel through microwave-promoted deep catalytic dehydrogenation of liquid alkanes with abundant metals. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 56 (34), pp.10170-10173. (10.1002/anie.201703489)
- Cuenca, J. A. , Slocombe, D. R. and Porch, A. 2017. Temperature correction for cylindrical cavity perturbation measurements. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 65 (6), pp.2153-2161. (10.1109/TMTT.2017.2652462)
- Parker, N. et al. 2017. Simulation of RF fields for wood gluing applications. Presented at: 16th International Conference on Microwave and High Frequency Heating AMPERE 2017 Delft, Netherlands 18-21 September 2017.
2016
- Gonzalez-Cortes, S. et al., 2016. Wax: A benign hydrogen-storage material that rapidly releases H2-rich gases through microwave-assisted catalytic decomposition. Scientific Reports 6 35315. (10.1038/srep35315)
- Liu, B. et al., 2016. Advances in the study of coke formation over zeolite catalysts in the methanol-to-hydrocarbon process. Applied Petrochemical Research 6 (3), pp.209-215. (10.1007/s13203-016-0156-z)
- Shepherd, C. et al., 2016. New routes to functionalize carbon black for polypropylene nanocomposites. Langmuir 32 (31), pp.7917-7928. (10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b02013)
2015
- Hensel, F. , Slocombe, D. R. and Edwards, P. P. 2015. On the occurrence of metallic character in the periodic table of the chemical elements. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 373 (2037) 20140477. (10.1098/rsta.2014.0477)
- Slocombe, D. R. et al. 2015. Superconductivity in transition metals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 373 (2037) 20140476. (10.1098/rsta.2014.0476)
- Kelchtermans, A. et al., 2015. Increasing the solubility limit for tetrahedral aluminium in ZnO:Al nanorods by variation in synthesis parameters. Journal of Nanomaterials 2015 546041. (10.1155/2015/546041)
2014
- Vai, A. T. et al., 2014. The Transition to the metallic state in polycrystalline n-type doped ZnO thin films. Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie (Journal of Inorganic and General Chemistry) 640 (6), pp.1054-1062. (10.1002/zaac.201400042)
2013
- Porch, A. , Slocombe, D. R. and Edwards, P. P. 2013. Microwave absorption in powders of small conducting particles for heating applications. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 15 (8), pp.2757-2763. (10.1039/c2cp43310a)
- Edwards, P. et al., 2013. The electronic structure and properties of solids. In: Reedikj, J. and Poeppelmeier, K. eds. Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry II. Elsevier
- Li, J. et al. 2013. On the universality of mesoscience: Science of 'the in-between'. arXiv 1302.5861v1.
- Slocombe, D. et al. 2013. Microwave properties of nanodiamond particles. Applied Physics Letters 102 (24) 244102. (10.1063/1.4809823)
2012
- Porch, A. et al. 2012. Microwave treatment in oil refining. Applied Petrochemical Research 2 (1-2), pp.37-44. (10.1007/s13203-012-0016-4)
- Slocombe, D. et al. 2012. The Mott transition and optimal performance of transparent conducting oxides in thin-film solar cells. Energy & Environmental Science 5 (1), pp.5387-5391. (10.1039/c1ee02585f)
Articles
- Filipini Ferreira, G. et al. 2026. Optimised pyrolysis strategies for energy-dense bio-oil from Chlorella sp. Bioresource Technology 441 133628. (10.1016/j.biortech.2025.133628)
- Tsubaki, S. et al., 2025. Radiofrequency and microwave 3D bioprinting of emulsion gel for dysphagia diets. Scientific Reports 15 (1) 25023. (10.1038/s41598-025-06804-1)
- Sun, J. et al., 2025. Microwave-assisted selective oxidation of propene over bismuth molybdate catalysts: the importance of catalyst synthesis methodology. Discover Catalysis 2 (1) 11. (10.1007/s44344-025-00014-7)
- Hefford, S. et al. 2025. Microwaves in clean energy technologies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 383 (2297) 20240394. (10.1098/rsta.2024.0394)
- Jie, X. et al., 2025. Low to near-zero CO 2 production of hydrogen from fossil fuels: critical role of microwave-initiated catalysis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 383 (2297) 20240061. (10.1098/rsta.2024.0061)
- Slocombe, D. R. and Porch, A. 2025. Preface to ‘Microwave science in sustainability’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 383 (2297) 20240075. (10.1098/rsta.2024.0075)
- Singh, B. et al., 2025. A novel method for fast and efficient numerical simulation of microwave heating in liquids during mixing. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 237 , pp.126425. (10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2024.126425)
- Sun, J. et al. 2024. Designing heterogeneous catalysts for microwave assisted selective oxygenation. ChemCatChem 16 (19) e202301586. (10.1002/cctc.202301586)
- Slocombe, D. 2024. Editorial. European Journal of Microwave Energy 1 , pp.1-1. (10.18573/ejme.17)
- Edwards, P. P. et al., 2023. Orbital-selective hole and hole-pair formation and Bose condensation in high-temperature superconductors. Journal of Solid State Chemistry 317 (Part A) 123529. (10.1016/j.jssc.2022.123529)
- Magri, G. et al. 2023. An in-situ study of the thermal decomposition of 2,2'-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) radical chemistry using a dual-mode EPR resonator. Research on Chemical Intermediates 49 , pp.289-305. (10.1007/s11164-022-04861-z)
- Barter, M. et al. 2022. Design considerations of a dual mode X-band EPR resonator for rapid in-situ microwave heating. Applied Magnetic Resonance 53 , pp.861-874. (10.1007/s00723-022-01463-1)
- Jie, X. et al., 2022. Size-dependent microwave heating and catalytic activity of fine iron particles in the deep dehydrogenation of hexadecane. Chemistry of Materials 34 (10), pp.4682-4693. (10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c00630)
- Siddique, F. et al., 2022. Sustainable chemical processing of flowing wastewater through microwave energy. Chemosphere 287 (1) 132035. (10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132035)
- Slocombe, D. R. and Porch, A. 2021. Microwaves in chemistry. IEEE Journal of Microwaves 1 (1), pp.32-42. (10.1109/JMW.2020.3029337)
- Jie, X. et al., 2020. Microwave-initiated catalytic deconstruction of plastic waste into hydrogen and high-value carbons. Nature Catalysis 3 , pp.902-912. (10.1038/s41929-020-00518-5)
- Slocombe, D. 2020. Cool water splitting by microwaves. Nature Energy 5 , pp.830-831. (10.1038/s41560-020-00726-0)
- Yao, B. et al., 2020. Metals and non-metals in the periodic table. Philosophical Transactions A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 378 (2180) 20200213. (10.1098/rsta.2020.0213)
- Yan, Y. et al., 2020. The decarbonization of coal tar via microwave-initiated catalytic deep dehydrogenation. Fuel 268 117332. (10.1016/j.fuel.2020.117332)
- Folli, A. et al. 2020. A novel dual mode X-band EPR resonator for rapid in situ microwave heating. Journal of Magnetic Resonance 310 106644. (10.1016/j.jmr.2019.106644)
- Barter, M. et al. 2019. Temperature correction using degenerate modes for cylindrical cavity perturbation measurements. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 67 (2), pp.800-805. (10.1109/TMTT.2018.2882480)
- Jie, X. et al., 2019. The decarbonisation of petroleum and other fossil hydrocarbon fuels for the facile production and safe storage of hydrogen. Energy and Environmental Science 12 (1), pp.238-249. (10.1039/C8EE02444H)
- Yan, Y. et al., 2018. Rapid, non-invasive characterization of the dispersity of emulsions via microwaves. Chemical Science 9 (34), pp.6975-6980. (10.1039/C8SC00406D)
- Partridge, S. et al. 2018. Measuring the electromagnetic properties of pigments during exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Abstracts of Papers of The American Chemical Society 255
- Cuenca, J. A. , Slocombe, D. R. and Porch, A. 2017. Corrections to 'temperature correction for cylindrical cavity perturbation measurements'. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 65 (12), pp.5078. (10.1109/TMTT.2017.2751550)
- Momot, A. et al., 2017. A novel explanation for the increased conductivity in annealed Al-doped ZnO: an insight into migration of aluminum and displacement of zinc. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 19 , pp.27866-27877. (10.1039/C7CP02936E)
- Liu, B. et al., 2017. Microwaves effectively examine the extent and type of coking over acid zeolite catalysts. Nature Communications 8 514. (10.1038/s41467-017-00602-8)
- Jie, X. et al., 2017. Rapid production of high-purity hydrogen fuel through microwave-promoted deep catalytic dehydrogenation of liquid alkanes with abundant metals. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 56 (34), pp.10170-10173. (10.1002/anie.201703489)
- Cuenca, J. A. , Slocombe, D. R. and Porch, A. 2017. Temperature correction for cylindrical cavity perturbation measurements. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 65 (6), pp.2153-2161. (10.1109/TMTT.2017.2652462)
- Gonzalez-Cortes, S. et al., 2016. Wax: A benign hydrogen-storage material that rapidly releases H2-rich gases through microwave-assisted catalytic decomposition. Scientific Reports 6 35315. (10.1038/srep35315)
- Liu, B. et al., 2016. Advances in the study of coke formation over zeolite catalysts in the methanol-to-hydrocarbon process. Applied Petrochemical Research 6 (3), pp.209-215. (10.1007/s13203-016-0156-z)
- Shepherd, C. et al., 2016. New routes to functionalize carbon black for polypropylene nanocomposites. Langmuir 32 (31), pp.7917-7928. (10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b02013)
- Hensel, F. , Slocombe, D. R. and Edwards, P. P. 2015. On the occurrence of metallic character in the periodic table of the chemical elements. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 373 (2037) 20140477. (10.1098/rsta.2014.0477)
- Slocombe, D. R. et al. 2015. Superconductivity in transition metals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 373 (2037) 20140476. (10.1098/rsta.2014.0476)
- Kelchtermans, A. et al., 2015. Increasing the solubility limit for tetrahedral aluminium in ZnO:Al nanorods by variation in synthesis parameters. Journal of Nanomaterials 2015 546041. (10.1155/2015/546041)
- Vai, A. T. et al., 2014. The Transition to the metallic state in polycrystalline n-type doped ZnO thin films. Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie (Journal of Inorganic and General Chemistry) 640 (6), pp.1054-1062. (10.1002/zaac.201400042)
- Porch, A. , Slocombe, D. R. and Edwards, P. P. 2013. Microwave absorption in powders of small conducting particles for heating applications. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 15 (8), pp.2757-2763. (10.1039/c2cp43310a)
- Li, J. et al. 2013. On the universality of mesoscience: Science of 'the in-between'. arXiv 1302.5861v1.
- Slocombe, D. et al. 2013. Microwave properties of nanodiamond particles. Applied Physics Letters 102 (24) 244102. (10.1063/1.4809823)
- Porch, A. et al. 2012. Microwave treatment in oil refining. Applied Petrochemical Research 2 (1-2), pp.37-44. (10.1007/s13203-012-0016-4)
- Slocombe, D. et al. 2012. The Mott transition and optimal performance of transparent conducting oxides in thin-film solar cells. Energy & Environmental Science 5 (1), pp.5387-5391. (10.1039/c1ee02585f)
Book sections
- Edwards, P. P. et al., 2025. Fossil fuel decarbonization and plastics-waste conversion to hydrogen and high-value carbons: pure science behind two emerging disruptive technologies. In: Jameel, S. and Clary, D. C. eds. Disruptive Technologies and Muslim Societies. World Scientific. , pp.97-130. (10.1142/9781800616295_0005)
- Edwards, P. et al., 2013. The electronic structure and properties of solids. In: Reedikj, J. and Poeppelmeier, K. eds. Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry II. Elsevier
Conferences
- Edwards, P. et al., 2017. Decarbonisation of fossil fuels: Microwave-promoted deep catalytic dehydrogenation of liquid alkanes. Presented at: 254th ACS National Meeting & Exposition Washington, DC, USA 20-24 Aug 2017.
- Parker, N. et al. 2017. Simulation of RF fields for wood gluing applications. Presented at: 16th International Conference on Microwave and High Frequency Heating AMPERE 2017 Delft, Netherlands 18-21 September 2017.
Teaching
EN3082/ENT782 - HF and RF Engineering (Module leader)
EN4806/ENT776 - High Frequency Electronic Materials (Module leader)
Supervisions
Supervised Students
| Title | Student | Status | Degree |
|---|---|---|---|
ELECTROMAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF SEMICONDUCTING METAL OXIDES UNDER EXTERNAL STIMULATION. | PARTRIDGE Samuel Lee | Graduate | Phd |
RF techniques applied to additive manufacturing | PARKER Nyle | Graduate | Phd |
RADIATION-BASED TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCED MICROBICIDAL ACTIVITY OF BIOCIDES | PASCOE Michael | Graduate | Phd |
MICROWAVE CHARACTERISATION OF AMMINES FOR ENERGY STORAGE APPLICATIONS | BARTER Michael | Graduate | Phd |
Biomedical Applications of Microwave Engineering | SHKAL Fatma Ahmed | Graduate | Phd |
Diamond-Based Optical Field Devices for Functional Ion Channel Imaging | MASON Andrew | Current | Phd |
Enhanced Epr Spectroscopy Of Inorganic Materials | HARARI Jaafar | Current | Phd |