Dan joined the Department of Materials as a Lecturer in Polymer Science in November 2023.

His work focuses on solution processed energy materials (photovoltaics, solar energy conversion materials and thermoelectric materials based upon small-molecule organic semiconductors, semiconducting polymers, nanoparticles/quantum dots and blends of these)

   The development of these sustainable technologies is critical for limiting global warming to 1.5 ^oC, which requires net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Optimising these energy materials requires extensive and time-consuming empirical experimentation to understand and optimise materials processing. This bottleneck hinders the translation of newly synthesised materials from the lab to optimised functional devices, which usually takes years to achieve due to the extensive time and empirical experimentation required to understand and control material morphologies. 

   We are developing robotic platforms for automated high-throughput material preparation and characterisation, which have the potential for ≈10–50‐fold reduction in the usage of both resources and time to deduce the complex processing‐structure landscapes and inference of routes to obtain desired structures/morphologies in energy materials. We aim to explore the formulation, structure and function of the films, including their crystallisation and self-assembly behaviour.

Dan studied Chemistry at The University of Sheffield during which he spent a year in industry working for Tata Steel Europe (formally British Steel). Dan conducted his PhD studies in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Sheffield under the supervision of Prof. Jon Howse. Upon completing his PhD Dan conducted a three month JSPS fellowship at the Osaka Institute of Technology in Prof. Suiji Fuji’s lab, before returning to Prof. Jon Howse’s group to undertake a postdoc. His research during this part of his career covered a wide-range of soft-matter topics, including printable electronics, microwave-processing of polymers, responsive-coatings, contact lenses and polymer particles mirroring complex emergent biological behaviours. 

After completing his PhD and postdoc in a Chemical Engineering department Dan moved to the Department of Chemistry at Sheffield, working for Prof. Tony Ryan and Prof. Richard Jones to develop new optoelectronically active nanocomposite films and coatings in collaboration with the Cambridge Optoelectronics group (Prof. Richard Friend, Prof. Akshay Rao) were he has taken experimental methods and approaches from soft matter for the development of new optoelectronically active materials based on blends of inorganic semiconducting nanoparticles and small-molecule organic semiconductors. The overarching theme linking his research activities has been the development of new, in situ experimental techniques [based on microscopy and X-ray/neutron scattering and reflectivity] to deliver new insights into self-assembly phenomena that occur during materials processing.