Biography

Peter McDonald is  Head of The Physics Department at Surrey University having previously joined the Department in 1985. He was awarded The Royal Society Brian Mercer Senior Award for Innovation in 2003. He was the inaugural Director of the Surrey Materials Institute. He is a past chairman of BRSG: The Magnetic Resonance Group of the IoP and of The Magnetic Resonance in Porous Media Division within the Groupement Ampere. He has completed two periods of sabbatical leave; one a Department of Trade and Industry sponsored secondment to Unilever Research Port Sunlight Laboratory and the other as a Humboldt Fellow in the Department of Physics, University of Ulm.

Research Interests

Peter McDonald's research interests focus on the development and application of broad line magnetic resonance imaging and relaxation analysis of molecular dynamics. Since 1985, he and his students have developed a variety of solid state imaging techniques which complement the liquid state methods now widely used for medical imaging. In recent years his interests have tended towards applications to porous media including water transport in cement based systems, solvent ingress into polymers for engineering and biomedical applications and on coatings systems. He coordinates the stray field imaging facility and a range of low-field, permanent bench-top and portable systems at the University of Surrey used in collaboration with a large group of academic and industrial researchers.

Research Collaborations

Recent and current active industrial collaborators include researchers from Unilever, ICI Paints, National Starch, Laplacian, Dipserse Technologies, Napp Pharmaceuticals and, overseas, Traetek (Sweden), Nippon Steel (Japan) and the Nanocem Consortium (Europe wide cement industries).

Publications

ON STRAFI and GARFIELD
Glover P. M., Aptaker, P.S., Bowler J.R. Ciampi, E. and McDonald P.J., 'A novel high gradient permanent magnet for the imaging of planar thin films', J. Magn. Reson. 139, 90 (1999).
Godward J., Ciampi E., Cifelli, M. and McDonald P. J. 'Multidimensional imaging using combined stray field and pulsed gradients' J. Magn. Reson. 155, 92, (2002)
McDonald PJ, Aptaker PS., Mitchell J, and Mulheron M “A Unilateral NMR Magnet for Sub-Structure Analysis in the Built Environment: The Surface GARField” J. Magn. Reson. 185, 1-11, (2007)

ON CEMENTSChowdhury A., Gillies A., McDonald P. J. and Mulheron M., ‘Vapour phase application of hydrophobic coatings to cement-based materials’ Magazine of Concrete Research, 53, 347, (2001)
McDonald PJ, Korb J-P, Mitchell J, Monteilhet L, 'Surface relaxation and chemical exchange in hydrating cement pastes: A two-dimensional NMR relaxation study' Phys Rev E 72 art. no. 011409 (2005)
Monteilhet L, Korb J-P., Mitchell J, and McDonald  PJ  “A NMR T2-store-T2 2-dimensional correlation relaxation study of cement pastes” Phys Rev E 74 art. no. 061404 (2006)

ON DISPERSION COATINGS
Salamanca JM, Ciampi E, Faux DA, Glover PM, McDonald PJ, Routh AF, Peters ACIA, Satguru R, Keddie JL 'Lateral drying in thick films of waterborne colloidal particles' Langmuir, 17 3202, (2001)
Gorce J. P., Bovey D., McDonald P. J., Palasz P., Taylor D., and Keddie J. L. , 'Vertical water distribution during the drying of polymer films cast from aqueous emulsions', Euro. Phys. J. E. 8, 421, (2002)

ON POLYMERS:Goerke, U., Chamberlain, A.H.L., Crilly, E.A., McDonald, P.J., 'Model for water transport into powdered xanthan combining gel swelling and vapor diffusion' Phys. Rev. E, 62 5353 (2000).
McDonald, P.J., Godward, J., Sackin, R., Sear, R.P., 'Surface flux limited diffusion of solvent into polymer' Macromolecules, 34, 1048, (2001).
Sackin, R., Ciampi, E., Godward, J., Keddie, J.L. and McDonald, P.J., 'Fickian ingress of binary solvent mixtures into glassy polymer', Macromolecules, 34, 890, (2001).
Ciampi E. and McDonald P.J., 'Skin formation and water distribution in semi-crystalline polymer layers cast from solution: a magnetic resonance imaging study' Macromolecules. 36 8398-8405, (2003)

ON DISSOLUTION:Ciampi E., Goerke U., McDonald P. J., Chambers J. G., and Newling B., 'Spatially resolved magnetic resonance study of the dissolution interface between soaps and water' J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., 35, 1271, (2002).
Karakosta E, Jenneson PM, Sear RP and McDonald PJ, “Observations of Ostwald ripening of air voids in a polymer/highly-soluble crystalline matrix during dissolution” Physical Review E 74 011504 (2006)

ON HUMAN SKIN:
McDonald P.J., Akhmerov A., Backhouse L.J., Pitts S. “Magnetic Resonance Profiling of Human Skin in vivo using Garfield Magnets”. J. Pharm. Sci., 94 1850-1860 (2005)