Claire Pizzey

Claire Pizzey is Deputy Head of the Industrial Liaison group, taking specific responsibility for X-ray scattering experiments with or on behalf of industrial partners at Diamond. She works closely with the other members of Industrial Liaison team to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to solving real-world problems.

Prior to joining the Industrial Liaison Group in 2010, Claire was a senior beamline support scientist for the Non Crystalline Diffraction beamline. A physical chemist by training, Claire was previously a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Her work with clients often focuses on microstructure and self-assembly in solutions, gels and soft solids, typically addressing formulation issues. 

Claire was Treasurer of the SCI's Colloid and Surface Chemistry Group and also a member of the committee for the Joint Colloids Group of the RSC and SCI.

My work covers the techniques of small and wide angle X-ray scattering, reflectivity and grazing incidence diffraction. These techniques allow structural investigation of a wide range of industrially relevant systems, in bulk samples and thin films, in the atomic to micron size regime. 

My research to date has involved the use of small angle scattering and related techniques to investigate the microstructures of systems ranging from polymer-based photovoltaic solar cell materials to non-aqueous colloidal suspensions and biologically relevant complexes of lipids with DNA. 

Ordering and self-assembly are very important in the fields of colloid and polymer science and liquid crystal research. Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) gives us access to information about these self-assembly processes and allows us to probe the nanoscale structure and ordering of the materials in bulk samples and thin films, particularly of relevance to the formulation and consumer products industries. My work in this area has included the preparation and characterisation of liquid crystal colloids and the swelling and exfoliation behaviour of organoclays over a wide range of conditions.   

I am also interested in bionanomaterials; biomimetic or biologically inspired complex materials with a nanoscale structure. A good understanding of the nanoscale structure of a material can give insights into its macroscopic properties. This information can, in turn, be used to develop effective design rules. My research in this area included the self-assembly and liquid crystalline behaviour of designed beta-peptide oligomers and the formation of highly ordered complexes of a redox-active lipid and DNA. Applications include novel therapies and drug delivery formulations. 

Catalytic chemistry is another hugely important industrial science area and I am a co-investigator in a European consortium consisting of 18 organisations from 8 countries (CARENA) dedicated to the study of novel membrane catalysts which are expected to provide direct benefit to the European chemical industry. Using a combination of X-ray diffraction and X-ray spectroscopy, the new membrane catalysts will be analysed in situ to gain a full understanding of their structural properties.

I am Treasurer of the SCI Colloid and Surface Chemistry Group and a committee member of the Joint Colloids Group (the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of the Chemical Industry).
 

J. M. Bulpett, T. Snow, B. Quignon, C. M. Beddoes, T.-Y. D. Tang, S. Mann, O. Shebanova, C. L. Pizzey, N. J. Terrill, S. A. Davis and W. H. Briscoe, Hydrophobic Nanoparticles Promote Lamellar to Inverted Hexagonal Transition in Phospholipid Mesophases, Soft Matter (2015) 11, 8789-8800, DOI: 10.1039/C5SM01705J

D. Gervais, D. King, P. Kanda, N. Foote, L. Elliott, P. Brown, N. O. Lee, K. Thalassinos, C. Pizzey, R. Rambo, T. C. Minshull, M. J. Dickman, S. Smith, Structural Characterisation of Non-Deamidated Acidic Variants of Erwinia chrysanthemi L-asparaginase Using Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Ion-Mobility Mass Spectrometry, Pharmaceutical Research (2015) 32, 3636, DOI: 10.1007/s11095-015-1722-2

D.W. Hayward, J.B. Gilroy, P.A. Rupar, L. Chabanne, C. Pizzey, M.A. Winnik, G.R. Whittell, I. Manners, R.M. Richardson, Liquid Crystalline Phase Behavior of Well-Defined Cylindrical Block Copolymer Micelles Using Synchrotron Small-Angle X-ray Scatttering, Macromolecules (2015) 48, 1579-1591, DOI: 10.1021/ma502222f

E.J. Shotton, L.D. Connor, A.Dias, A.B. Kroner, C. Pizzey, T. Richter, J. Waterman, Industrial Applications at Diamond, Synchrotron Radiation News (2014) 27(3), 7-10, DOI: 10.1080/08940886.2014.908698 

R. Greasty, R.M. Richardson, S. Klein, D. Cherns, M. R. Thomas, C. Pizzey, N. Terrill, C. Rochas, Electro-induced Orientational Ordering of Anisotropic Pigment Nanoparticles, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. (2013), 371, 20120257

Y. Cui, C. L. Pizzey, J.S. van Duijneveldt, Modifying the Structure and Flow Properties of Aqueous Montmorillonite Suspensions with Surfactant, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. (2013), 371, 20120262

R.M. Richardson, S. Hanna, N.J. Brooks, B.L.L.E. Gauthe, C. Pizzey, E. Agina, N. Boiko, V.P. Shibaev, Columnar Phases in Liquid Crystal Dendrimers; Variable Pressure X-ray Diffraction, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. (2011), 541 (1)177[415]-187[425]

R. Greasty, J. Heuer, S. Klein, C. Pizzey and R. Richardson, Electric Field Induced Orientational Order in Suspensions of Anisotropic Nanoparticles,Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. (2011), 545 (1) 133[1357]-145[1369]

E.J. Shotton, A. Dias, A.B. Kroner, C. Pizzey, J. Waterman, Diamond: Open for Business, Synchrotron Radiation News (2011) 24(6), 30-33, DOI: 10.1080/08940886.2011.634316

T. Wang, A.D.F. Dunbar, P.A. Staniec, A.J. Pearson, P.E. Hopkinson, J.E. MacDonald, S. Lilliu, C. Pizzey, N.J. Terrill, A.M. Donald, A.J. Ryan, R.A.L. Jones, D.G. Lidzey, The Development of Nanoscale Morphology in Polymer:Fullerene Photovoltaic Blends during Solvent Casting, Soft Matt. (2010), 6 (17) 4128-4134

W.C. Pomerantz, V.M. Yuwono, C.L. Pizzey, J. D. Hartgerink, N.L. Abbott, S.H. Gellman, Nanofibers and Lyotropic Liquid Crystals from a New Class of Self- Assembling β-Peptides, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2008), 47 (7) 1241-1244

C.L. Pizzey, W.C. Pomerantz, B.-J. Sung, V.M Yuwono, S.H. Gellman, J.D. Hartgerink, A. Yethiraj, N.L. Abbott, Characterization of Nanofibers formed by Self-assembly of β-Peptide Oligomers using Small Angle X-ray Scattering, J. Chem. Phys. (2008), 129,
095103

C.L. Pizzey, C.M. Jewell, M.E. Hays, D.M. Lynn, Y. Kondo, S. Golan, Y. Talmon, N.L. Abbott, Characterization of the Microstructures of Complexes formed by a Redox-Active Cationic Lipid and DNA, J. Phys. Chem. B (2008), 112 (18) 5849-5857

J. Connolly, J.S. van Duijneveldt, S. Klein, C. Pizzey, R.M. Richardson, Manipulation of Modified Clay Particles in a Nematic Solvent by a Magnetic Field, J. Phys.: Cond. Matt., (2007) 19, 156103

J. Connolly, J.S. van Duijneveldt, S. Klein, C. Pizzey, R.M. Richardson, Effect of Surfactant and Solvent Properties on the Stacking Behavior of Non-aqueous Suspensions of Organically Modified Clay, Langmuir, (2006) 22 (15) 6531-6538

J.S. van Duijneveldt, S. Klein, E. Leach, C. Pizzey, R.M. Richardson, Large Scale Structures in Liquid Crystal / Clay Colloids, J. Phys.: Cond. Matt., (2005) 17, 2255-2267

C. Pizzey, S. Klein, E. Leach, J.S. van Duijneveldt and R.M. Richardson, Suspensions of Colloidal Plates in a Nematic Liquid Crystal: a Small Angle X-ray Scattering Study,
J. Phys.: Cond. Matt., (2004) 16, 2479-2495

C. Pizzey, S. Klein and J.S. van Duijneveldt, Liquid Crystal Clay Composites, Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., (2002) 409, 51-57

Find out more about Claire by reading our profile article.