Dr Christian Pfrang DPhil(Oxon) EurChem CSciTeach CSci CChem FHEA

Dr Christian Pfrang

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 5519
Email
c.pfrang@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@chpfrang
View my research portal

Dr Pfrang’s research is in the area of gas-phase and heterogeneous atmospheric chemistry currently focusing on the fate of atmospheric aerosols and their impacts on air quality and climate change.  He is also studying reactions of initiators of atmospheric oxidation (in particular ozone and nitrate radicals) with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), e.g. stress-induced plant emissions.  Experimental studies mainly using levitation, monolayer, X-ray & neutron scattering techniques are complemented by computational work predicting the kinetic behaviour of species of atmospheric importance (e.g. co-developing the aerosol models K2-SUB, KM-SUB and KM-GAP).  Dr Pfrang is also aiming to link atmospheric chemistry to related research topics in meteorology, environmental & plant sciences to advance the understanding of the urban environment.

Qualifications

DPhil in Physical & Atmospheric Chemistry (University of Oxford); BSc in Chemistry (FU Berlin); Vordiplom in Chemistry (TU Munich); Post-Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (University of Reading)

Teaching

LM Air Pollution Control Technology, LM Carbon Management, Air Pollution Chemistry

Postgraduate supervision

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Aerosol Studies, Gas-phase Kinetics and Reaction Products.

Other activities

  • Journal Advisory Board: Sci
  • Journal Editor: Atmosphere (Section: Aerosols)
  • Member: NERC Peer Review College
  • Royal Society of Chemistry: CChem
  • Science Council: CSciTeach, CSci
  • European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS): EurChem
  • Previous consultancy work for Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), Department for Transport (DfT), STS Instruments & Johnson Matthey
  • Member: alumni associations of St. Hugh’s College (University of Oxford), Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, Carlo-Schmid Programme (csp-network) & Bavarian Elite Academy

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Woden, B, Skoda, MWA, Milsom, A, Gubb, C, Maestro, A, Tellam, J & Pfrang, C 2021, 'Ozonolysis of fatty acid monolayers at the air–water interface: organic films may persist at the surface of atmospheric aerosols', Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 1325-1340. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1325-2021

Gubb, C, Blanusa, T, Griffiths, A & Pfrang, C 2020, 'Can plants be considered a building service?', Building Services Engineering Research and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143624419899519

Alam, MS, Crilley, LR, Lee, JD, Kramer, LJ, Pfrang, C, Vázquez-Moreno, M, Ródenas, M, Muñoz, A & Bloss, WJ 2020, 'Interference from alkenes in chemiluminescent NOx measurements', Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 5977-5991. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5977-2020

Milsom, A, Squires, A, Woden, B, Terrill, N, Ward, A & Pfrang, C 2020, 'The persistence of a proxy for cooking emissions in megacities: a kinetic study of the ozonolysis of self-assembled films by simultaneous Small & Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS/WAXS) and Raman microscopy.', Faraday Discussions. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0FD00088D

King, MD, Jones, SH, Lucas, COM, Thompson, KC, Rennie, AR, Ward, A, Marks, AA, Fisher, FN, Pfrang, C, Hughes, AV & Campbell, RA 2020, 'The reaction of oleic acid monolayers with gas-phase ozone at the air water interface: the effect of sub-phase viscosity, and inert secondary components', Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol. 22, pp. 28032-28044 . https://doi.org/10.1039/d0cp03934a

Gubb, C, Blanusa, T, Griffiths, A & Pfrang, C 2019, 'Interaction between plant species and substrate type in the removal of CO2 indoors', Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 1197-1206. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-019-00736-2

Gubb, C, Blanusa, T, Griffiths, A & Pfrang, C 2018, 'Can houseplants improve indoor air quality by removing CO2 and increasing relative humidity?', Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-018-0618-9

Woden, B, Skoda, M, Hagreen, M & Pfrang, C 2018, 'Night-time oxidation of a monolayer model for the air–water interface of marine aerosols—a study by simultaneous neutron reflectometry and in situ infra-red reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS)', ATMOSPHERE, vol. 9, no. 12, 471. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9120471

Sebastiani, F, Campbell, RA, Rastogi, K & Pfrang, C 2018, 'Nighttime oxidation of surfactants at the air–water interface: effects of chain length, head group and saturation', Atmos. Chem. Phys, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 3249-3268. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-3249-2018

Comment/debate

Rami Alfarra, M, Bloss, WJ, Chan, C, Chen, Y, Gani, S, Han, Y, Harrison, RM, Khan, MAH, Kim, S, Lee, J, Pfrang, C, Poschl, U, Shi, Z, Styring, P, Van Pinxteren, D, Wallington, TJ & Zhu, T 2021, 'General discussion: sources, sinks and mitigation methods; Evaluation of health impacts', Faraday Discussions, vol. 226, pp. 607-616. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1FD90012A

Alam, MS, Bloss, W, Brean, J, Brimblecombe, P, Chan, C, Chen, Y, Coe, H, Fu, P, Gani, S, Hamilton, J, Harrison, R, Jiang, J, Kulmala, M, Lugon, L, McFiggans, G, Mehra, A, Milsom, A, Nelson, B, Pfrang, C, Sartelet, K, Shi, Z, Srivastava, D, Stewart, G, Styring, P, Su, H, Van Pinxteren, D, Velasco, E & Yu, JZ 2021, 'General discussion: Aerosol formation and growth; VOC sources and secondary organic aerosols', Faraday Discussions, vol. 226, pp. 479-501. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1FD90011K

Bloss, W, Brimblecombe, P, Chen, Y, Coe, H, Gani, S, Gen, M, Grimmond, S, Harrison, R, McFiggans, G, Mihaylova, L, Pfrang, C, Shi, Z, Slater, J, Srivastava, D, Styring, P, Velasco, E, Wang, P & Yu, JZ 2021, 'General discussion: Urban air quality; meteorological influences and air quality trends', Faraday Discussions, vol. 226, pp. 191-206. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1FD90014E

Alshammari, D, Bloss, W, Chen, Y, Chow, JC, Gani, S, Harrison, R, Hu, D, Li, G, McFiggans, G, Milsom, A, Oyarzun Aravena, AM, Pfrang, C, Shi, Z, Srivastava, D, Styring, P, Su, H, Watson, JG & Xu, J 2021, 'General discussion: Multiphase atmospheric chemistry, and source apportionment', Faraday Discussions, vol. 226, pp. 314-333. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1FD90015C

Discussion paper

Woden, B, Skoda, M, Milsom, A, Maestro, A, Tellam, J & Pfrang, C 2020 'Ozonolysis of fatty acid monolayers at the air–water interface: organic films may persist at the surface of atmospheric aerosols' Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, European Geosciences Union. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-717

Other contribution

Pfrang, DC, Skoda, DM & Thomas, MB 2017, 1620451.. https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.84424054

View all publications in research portal