2025 Society Impact Award from ISIS Neutron & Muon Source.

2025 Society Impact Award: Professor Christian Pfrang from the University of Birmingham awarded for his work using neutron reflectometry to investigate the effect of cooking emissions on indoor air quality.

​Cooking produces fatty acids, which can accumulate on water droplets in the atmosphere, or on surfaces in the home. From research using neutron reflectometry, Professor Christian Pfrang and his collaborators found that these fatty acids are not easily broken down, and therefore very stable. In the atmosphere, their continued presence can impact the climate. In the home, they can build up and trap toxic pollutants, affecting indoor air quality and therefore health.

To study these pollutants at ISIS, they used laboratory 'proxies' to act as a model of real-world samples. These were spun into super-thin films, just a few tens of nanometres in thickness.

With ISIS beamline scientist Dr Max Skoda, Professor Pfrang co-supervised the ISIS co-funded PhD student Ben Woden to create a new sample environment on the Inter beamline for measuring these atmospheric systems.

Their novel setup allows simultaneous neutron reflectometry and infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy, as well as temperature control. This means they can simulate more realistic atmospheric temperatures near zero degrees Celsius.

Using their reaction chamber, they have been able to study mixtures of fatty acids and how they react with two of the three primary drivers of atmospheric chemistry: ozone molecules and nitrate radicals. One example was their investigation of the role of atmospheric aerosols at night for cloud formation.

A recent study led by Dr Adam Milsom in Professor Pfrang's group focussing on the effect of cooking oil on indoor air quality showed how the fatty acids produced can trap pollutants on surfaces such as windows. It was selected by the Editors of the Royal Society of Chemistry's journal Environmental Science: Atmospheres as the Best Paper of the year and featured on the journal's front cover. The progression of this work has resulted in further publications, and cover features.

In addition to his team's academic publications, Professor Pfrang has appeared on television to speak about his work. He has also been invited to contribute to multiple written articles in the press as well as UK government reports, widening the societal impact of this highly collaborative research.