G. Mike Bancroft

G. Mike Bancroft

Contact Information

Title: Professor Emeritus
Office: Rm 070 ChB,
Phone (Office): (519) 661-4117
Fax: (519) 661-3022
E-mail: gmbancro@uwo.ca

Research Areas

High Resolution Photoelectron Spectroscopy of minerals and glasses using laboratory and synchrotron radiation sources

Traditional Research Division:
Physical & Analytical

Education

B.Sc., M.Sc. (Manitoba), Ph.D., Sc.D. (Cambridge), D.Sc. (Hon) Western Ontario, D.Sc. (Hon) Manitoba, D.Cl. (Hon) St. John’s College, Manitoba

Awards

  • FRSC
  • Bucke Award
  • CIC Medal
  • Morley Award
  • Steacie Fellow
  • Guggenheim Fellow
  • Meldola Medal
  • Alcan Award
  • Herzberg Award
  • Harrison Prize
  • Rutherford Medal
  • Montreal Medal
  • Officer of the Order of Canada

Research

Recent research with H.W. Nesbitt  is centred on high resolution  XPS (X-ray photoelectron Spectroscopy) using laboratory and synchrotron radiation sources to quantify mainly the different types of O species in non-conductor silicate glasses and minerals. The Kratos  XPS in Surface Science Western is being used to obtain high resolution O 1s spectra of these non-conductors at optimal resolutions at 1486 eV; while the novel SXRMB beamline at the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon is enabling more bulk measurements at  up to 3,500 eV.  These measurements are important to obtain quantitative measurements of the three types of O present in all silicate glasses - bridging O    (Si- O-Si-O) , non-bridging O ( M-O-Si , where M= Na, K. Ca, etc), and "free" oxide (M-O-M), as well as distinguishing different types of BO species. The existence of the "free" oxide in most glasses  is very controversial; but our quantitative measurements show that this species is present at mol% levels in our glasses and many other glasses previously studied using  NMR and Raman spectroscopies. We have also shown that this "free" oxide species is probably the important species for uptake of CO2, H2O, and S in magmas.

Publications

  • H.W. Nesbitt, G.M. Bancroft, R. Sawyer, J.S. Tse, R.A. Secco, and G.S. Henderson, 2014.   Spectroscopic Studies of oxygen speciation in K-silicate glasses and melts. Canadian Journal of Chemistry, accepted July 2014.

  • A.G. Berlich, H.W. Nesbitt, G.M. Bancroft, and R. Szargan, 2013,  Binding of oxygen on vacuum fractured pyrite surfaces: Reactivity of iron and sulfur surface sites, Surface Science,  611, 60-66.   DOI: 10.1016/j.susc.2013.01.017

  • M. Patenen, G.M. Bancroft, S.Aksela, and H. Aksela, 2012 , Direct Experimental  determination  of   the K 2p and Cl 2p core-level binding energy shifts between molecular and solid  KCl: linebroadening effects. Physical Review B, 85, 125419 (1-7). DOI:  10.1103/PhysRevB.85.125419

  • H.W. Nesbitt, G.M. Bancroft, G.S. Henderson, R.Ho, K. Dalby, Y Huang and Z. Yan,  2011, Bridging and Non-bridging Oxygen in  Na2O-SiO2  glasses: Comparison of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Results, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 357, 170-180. doi:10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2010.09.031