The PhD in question has strong ties to sustainable and green chemistry, given that these types of catalytic processes offer an affordable way to utilize the CO2 produced when fossil fuels are burned, CO2 is a key greenhouse gas that directly contributes to climate change . A number of possible reduction targets have already been identified in CO, formic acid and methanol. CO is an important feedstock for the Fischer-Tropsch process, while both methanol and formic acid are key components in new fuel cells that could one day be used in the auto-motive industry. We will be studying the synthesis of novel and affordable catalysts based on Group 6 and 7 metal centres which bear a diverse range of ligands, these catalysts can also, in principle, be coupled to a photo-anode; allowing light-driven CO2 reduction to occur. Also studied will be the behaviour of these catalysts in ionic liquids which can be vastly different to their behaviour in normal solutions. Of equal interest is the surface/interface chemistry of the catalysts when bound by phosphate anchors to solid TiO2 and the co-operative effects of having a molecular catalyst and redox-active nanoparticles of copper in the same system. Of course, the PhD will have a strong foundation in molecular scale analytical techniques, particularly with regard to spectroelectrochemistry which can offer real insight into the processes that are occurring during the reduction of CO2. Infrared, UV-Vis, NMR and EPR spectroscopy will all play a critical role in structure determination.