Cédric Carteret is Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Lorraine (France). He teaches at the Faculty of Sciences and Technologies. His PhD was obtained in 1999 at the University Henri Poincaré – Nancy 1 and concerned the quantum modelling of silanol group and the study by near-infrared spectroscopy of surface groups and hydration of amorphous silicas. After postdoctoral training, performed in the team of Dr Eric Masson at the ONERA Center at Palaiseau, he took an Assistant Professor position at the University of Lorraine in 2000 and began his research activity concerning vibrational spectroscopy and porous/layered materials at the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry for Materials and the Environment (LCPME-UMR 7564 CNRS-UL). He is currently head of the Chemistry and Spectrochemistry of Interfaces group at LCPME and since 2013 coordinator of the Thematic Axis “Molecular and Hybrid Materials” at the Institute Jean Barriol “Biomolecular and Molecular Chemistry and Physics.

Professor Carteret’s research expertise is on the synthesis, the description at the molecular scale and the understanding of the structure – physicochemical properties relationships of porous or lamellar oxides and hydroxides. The chemical reactivity is studied at the solid/solution and solid/gas interfaces. Interfacial processes such as hydration, adsorption of organic and inorganic anions, and surface functionalization of materials are more specifically studied. His work is largely based on vibrational spectroscopy, bridging across instrumental development, experimental study, quantum simulation and chemometrics analyses. Attention is also paid to societal challenges through applied research projects such as the on line control of defects and waste sorting by optical spectroscopy, the corrosion of steels, the elaboration of new catalysts for water purification and the remediation of polluted soils. His investigations are often conducted in collaboration with academic and/or industrial partners. Professor Carteret is the co-author of more than 80 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Concomitantly to his research activity, Professor Carteret is involved in teaching and education. He was head of the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences and Technologies, Nancy (2008-2011). He was head of studies of the B.Sc. in Physics and Chemistry of the University of Lorraine (2011-2018). He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in optical spectroscopy and chemometrics.

Layered minerals are critical in soils, oil reservoirs, new materials, pigments in fine art, coatings on paper, pottery, amongst others. The IAS fellowship will afford the opportunity to initiate a research network on layered inorganic and hybrid materials, and vibrational spectroscopies, with colleagues from several departments at Durham University. As an IAS Fellow, Professor Carteret will work more specifically with Professor Andrew Beeby in the Department of Chemistry and Professor Chris Greenwell from the Department of Earth Sciences