Petra J. Cameron is a British chemist and professor at the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

. Her research considers energy materials and photovoltaics. She was awarded the 2009 Harrison–Meldola Memorial Prize for her work on solar cells.

Early life and education

Cameron studied chemistry at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. She moved to the

, where she worked on

dye-sensitized solar cells A dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC, DSC, DYSC or Grätzel cell) is a low-cost solar cell belonging to the group of thin film solar cells. It is based on a semiconductor formed between a photo-sensitized anode and an electrolyte, a ''Photoelectro ...

for her doctoral research. She spent two years at the

Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research The Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research () is a scientific center in the field of polymer science located in Mainz, Germany. The institute was founded in 1983 by Erhard W. Fischer and Gerhard Wegner. Belonging to the Chemistry, Physics and ...

. In 2007 Cameron returned to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, where she was awarded an

Research Councils UK Research Councils UK, sometimes known as RCUK, was a non-departmental public body that coordinated science policy in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2018. It was an umbrella organisation that coordinated the seven separate research councils ...

fellowship. She was awarded a

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

Harrison–Meldola Memorial Prize.

Research and career

In 2012 Cameron was made a Senior Lecturer at the

. She is a member of the Bath Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change. Her research focusses on the development of new photovoltaic systems and fuel cells. Cameron investigates the functional properties of perovskite solar cells using electrochemical and spectroscopic approaches, with the hope to improve their stability and operational lifetime. She has explored the use of device modelling and machine learning to understand the performance of emerging materials systems. She has also developed other materials systems for photovoltaics, including self-assembled peptide hydrogels. She is also interested in photo-

microbial fuel cells Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a type of bioelectrochemical fuel cell system also known as micro fuel cell that generates electric current by diverting electrons produced from the microbial oxidation of reduced compounds (also known as fuel or elec ...

, which are light activated cells that contain photosynthetic organisms that convert carbon dioxide into electrical energy. Her early work explored how biological fuel cells could use energy from plants, including moss. She developed a spray for coating the inside of greenhouses to optimise the energy of light irradiating plants, with the hope to improve their yield and growth. Such a spray could extend growing seasons in countries without long summers due to their climate and latitude. This programme, supported by

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for environmental quality, environmenta ...

, created a spray that absorbs blue light and converts it to red, enhancing the amount of light that can be used by the growing crops. It also scatters the light around the greenhouse, which increases the yield. Critically, Cameron's research used an abundant, low cost luminescent down-shifting material.

Select publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Petra Living people British women chemists British women academics Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Bath Academics of the University of Bath Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research people