Dr Karen Johnston
Senior Lecturer
Chemical and Process Engineering
Personal statement
My research focuses on (but is not limited to) soft-hard matter interfaces, including polymer composites and heterogeneous nucleation. I use multiscale simulations to provide insight into material properties and I enjoy collaborating closely with experimentalists. I am driven by curiosity and I am interested in a variety of systems, such as phase behaviour of soy milk coffee mixtures. For more information please visit my personal webpage:
http://personal.strath.ac.uk/karen.johnston/
Area of Expertise
- Density functional theory (DFT): electronic structure, adsorption and surface energies, vibrational frequencies etc.
- Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations: structure and dynamics of thin films, liquids, solutions, solids etc.
Prize And Awards
- Strathclyde Team Award
- Recipient
- 2019
Qualifications
Member of the Institute of Physics
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Publications
- Assessment of GAFF and OPLS force fields for urea : crystal and aqueous solution properties
- Anker Samira, McKechnie David, Mulheran Paul, Sefcik Jan, Johnston Karen
- Crystal Growth and Design Vol 24, pp. 143–158 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.3c00785
- Crystallisation of sodium sulfate
- Muhammad Abdullah, Sefcik Jan, Hamilton Andrea, Johnston Karen
- ISIC 2023 (2023)
- Investigation of vibrational changes due to adsorption of glycine on gold
- Mohammadpour Mozhdeh, Johnston Karen
- Computational and Theoretical Chemistry Vol 1227 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comptc.2023.114224
- Filler-induced heterogeneous nucleation of polymer crystals investigated by molecular dynamics simulations
- Wadkin-Snaith Dominic, Mulheran Paul, Johnston Karen
- Polymer Vol 281 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2023.126113
- Chitin and chitosan binding to the α-chitin crystal; a molecular dynamics study
- Hudek Magdalena, Kubiak-Ossowska Karina, Johnston Karen, Ferro Valerie A, Mulheran Paul A
- ACS Omega Vol 8, pp. 3470-3477 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c07495
- Polyhydroxybutyrate : a review of experimental and simulation studies of the effect of fillers on crystallinity and mechanical properties
- Majerczak Katarzyna, Wadkin-Snaith Dominic, Magueijo Vitor, Mulheran Paul, Liggat John, Johnston Karen
- Polymer International Vol 71, pp. 1398-1408 (2022)
- https://doi.org/10.1002/pi.6402
Teaching
My teaching philosophy is to provide the best learning environment by challenging students through providing questions related to everyday exampes, that develop student's understanding and problem solving skills.
I am the course organiser and lecturer for CP102 Introduction to Chemical Engineering: Fundamentals, Techniques and Tools, and I supervise CP407 design projects, 18350 MEng projects, and Distance Learning MSc projects.
Research Interests
Polymer composites are widely used in industry due to their strength, flexibility and light weight. Although generic properties of polymers at surfaces are well understood the interaction between a particular polymer and filler particle is not. The main challenge in simulating polymer-solid interfaces is the different length and time scales involved. This research bridges the gap between the micro- and mesoscale properties using a hierarchical multiscale approach. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used to obtain the detailed quantum interactions at the interface and this information is used to build surface potentials for atomistic and coarse-grained (CG) molecular dynamics simulations.
Professional Activities
- Optimising the Performance of Biodegradable Polymers: Design of Fillers and Plasticisers to Tune Polymer Crystallization
- Speaker
- 5/3/2024
- SSPP: Shaping the Future of Plastics Research
- Organiser
- 25/1/2024
- CCP5 network
- Visiting researcher
- 9/1/2024
- Seminar at Astra Zeneca, Macclesfield
- Speaker
- 18/9/2023
- CCP5 AGM 2023
- Participant
- 11/9/2023
- ISIC 2023
- Participant
- 5/9/2023
Projects
- Sustainable plastics for bathroom products
- Zhang, Xiaolei (Principal Investigator) Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2022 - 30-Jan-2022
- IBioIC CTP PhD studentship Optimisation of alginate films for sustainable food packaging applications
- Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator) Mulheran, Paul (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2021 - 30-Jan-2025
- ISCF - Biocomposite design for food packaging
- Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator) Liggat, John (Co-investigator) Mulheran, Paul (Co-investigator) Magueijo, Vitor (Researcher)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2024
- Design of functional chitosan films: antimicrobial and heavy metal capture applications
- Mulheran, Paul (Principal Investigator) Ferro, Valerie (Co-investigator) Johnston, Karen (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2024
- Doctoral Training Partnership 2020-2021 University of Strathclyde | Anker, Samira
- Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator) Sefcik, Jan (Co-investigator) Anker, Samira (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 01-Jan-2024
- Catching nucleation in action using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy
- Johnston, Karen (Principal Investigator) Faulds, Karen (Co-investigator) Sefcik, Jan (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2023
Contact
Dr
Karen
Johnston
Senior Lecturer
Chemical and Process Engineering
Email: karen.johnston@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 4084