Graduated with first class honours in Chemical Sciences from D.I.T. (2006). Began PhD in January 2007 under the supervision of Dr. Michael Seery and Dr. Suresh Pillai, project titled "Semi-conductor nanomaterials for the photocatalytic remediation of urban air".

Spent 6 months in RICE University, Houston, Texas as part of the FAS Science Challenge internship under the mentorship of Prof. Mike Wong. Carried out structural investigation on Pd and Pd/Au supported catalysts using Diffuse Reflectance IR.

Principle Research Interests

This project involves the development of novel titanium dioxide nanomaterials for photocatalysis. Photocatalysis implies photon assisted catalysis whereby a semiconductor will produce an electron, hole pair upon irradiation with a photon of light, thus forming strong oxidising species that can further react to degrade harmful contaminants in air. Although this technology is readily available it is limited by the band gap of the TiO2 semiconductor (3.2 eV).

Some ways to improve photocatalytic activity include:

reducing the band gap through synthesis techniques or addition of metal/non-metal dopants,
decreasing electron, hole recombination through the addition of electron trapping sites,
particle surface alterations, increasing surface area or increasing adsorption sites

Early studies have showed promising results for the photocatalytic removal of NO under solar simulated irradiation. Recent spectroscopic studies have also shown possible connections between chelating carboxylate binding modes and crystalline transformations of TiO2 at different temperatures.

Publications

Spectroscopic Investigation of the Anatase-to-Rutile Transformation of Sol−Gel-Synthesized TiO2 Photocatalysts, Nicholas T. Nolan, Michael K. Seery and Suresh C. Pillai, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2009, 113 (36), pp 16151–16157

“A systematic study of the effect of silver on the chelation of formic acid to a titanium precursor and the resulting effect on the anatase to rutile transformation of TiO2, N. T. Nolan, M. K. Seery, S. J. Hinder, L. F. Healy, S. C. Pillai, ” J. Phys. Chem. C., 2010, 114, 13026 - 13034