Rachel Evans

FRSC FIMMM FLSW
Born
Rachel Claire Evans
Alma materSwansea University (MChem, PhD)
AwardsMarie Curie Fellowship
Dillwyn Medal (2017)
Scientific career
FieldsMaterials chemistry
Photophysics
Solar energy
Soft matter
Polymers[1]
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge
Trinity College Dublin
University of Aveiro
University of Coimbra
Lonza Group
ThesisEfficient emitters for technological applications (2007)
Websitewww.msm.cam.ac.uk/people/evans

Rachel Claire Evans FRSC FIMMM FLSW is a Welsh chemist based at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.[1] She works on photoactive polymer-hybrid materials for solar devices, including organic photovoltaics and stimuli-responsive membranes.[2]

Early life and education

Evans grew up in South Wales.[3] She studied at Swansea University, earning a Master of Chemistry (MChem) degree in 2002.[4][5] During her Masters, she completed an International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IASTE) fellowship at Lonza Group.[3] She returned to Swansea University for her PhD, investigating on light-emitting materials for display technologies.[6][4]

Research and career

After her PhD, Evans spent a year at the University of Aveiro.[4] She was subsequently awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship at the University of Paris[4] where she worked as a postdoc on fluorescence of soft materials.[4] Evans left Paris to join the University of Coimbra as a Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia postdoctoral fellow. She moved to Trinity College Dublin in 2009, where she was a lecturer in Physical Chemistry. Her research was funded by Science Foundation Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.[7] She delivered the 2011 Royal Society of Chemistry Schools lecture on the Chemistry of Light.[8] In 2013 she published the textbook Applied Photochemistry with Springer Publishing.[9] They explored self-assembly of conjugated polyelectrolyte–polyoxometalate networks, with dimensions controlled by the polymer chain length and steric charge distribution.[10][11] The self-assembly of these lumophores can be used to tune the optical and electronic properties.[12] To understand the morphology of these films and inform the design of performance nanostructured devices, her group use small-angle scattering, spectroscopy and microscopy.[13][14] Small-angle scattering allows her to study the microstructure of hybrid materials at the near atomic scale.[15] Their conjugated polyelectrolyte work was featured in the ChemComm Emerging Investigators issue.[16] She also worked on oxygen sensitive printable ink sensors.[17]

Evans has explored polymer-hybrid materials for luminescent solar concentrators.[18] By controlling the placement and orientation of the lumophore, she showed that it is possible to limit light lost by reabsorption.[19][20] She minimises waveguiding losses by designing materials with high refractive indices. She demonstrated that perylene carboxdiimide-bridged triethoxysilane can be covalently grafted to siloxane hybrids.[18] Her work was featured in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C Emerging Investigators Issue in 2016.[21] She also develops encapsulation techniques to improve device lifetime.[22] She was made an associate professor in 2016. She collaborated extensively with the University of Montpellier as part of a French-Irish collaboration.[23]

Evans was appointed a lecturer at the University of Cambridge in 2017[3] and a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.[4] Her group explore soft materials that are responsive to stimuli, nanostructured inks and hybrid nanoparticles.[24] The soft materials respond to light, using photoresponsive surfactants that include an azobenzene group.[25] She was appointed chair of the Royal Society of Chemistry Photophysics and Photochemistry Group in 2017.[26]

She founded Senoptica Technologies[27] in 2018 and is the chief scientific officer (CSO) working on optical sensors developed in Evans' lab.[28] Senoptica Technologies detect defective modified atmosphere packaging, changing colour to alert the consumer to the amount of oxygen in the pack.[29]

Awards and honours

2023 Elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW)[30]

2018 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)[31]

2018 Nominated a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM)[32]

2017 Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and Society of Chemical Industry UK Young Researchers Medal[33][34]

2017 Learned Society of Wales Dillwyn Medal[35]

2015 Trinity College Dublin Fellowship[36]

2014 Irish Lab Awards Young Leader of the Year[37]

2008 RSC Harry Hallam prize[3]

2007 RSC Ronald Belcher Memorial Lectureship[34]

References

  1. 1 2 Rachel Evans publications indexed by Google Scholar
  2. ↑ Rachel Evans publications from Europe PubMed Central
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Dr Rachel C. Evans". labevans.co.uk. The Evans Group. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Anon (2018). "Dr Rachel Evans". jesus.cam.ac.uk. Jesus College Cambridge. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  5. ↑ "Graduate Profiles". swansea.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  6. ↑ Evans, Rachel Claire (2007). Efficient emitters for technological applications. discover.library.wales (PhD thesis). Swansea University. OCLC 502626916. Copac 54612244.
  7. ↑ "Rachel Evans : School of Chemistry – Trinity College Dublin". chemistry.tcd.ie. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  8. ↑ "RSC Annual Lecture for Schools 'Chemistry of Light' – Irish Science Teachers' Association". ista.ie. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  9. ↑ Evans, Rachel C., Douglas, Peter, Burrows, Hugh (2013). Applied photochemistry. Dordrecht: Springer. ISBN 9789048138302. OCLC 842836702.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ Houston, Judith E.; Patterson, Adam R.; Jayasundera, Anil C.; Schmitt, Wolfgang; Evans, Rachel C. (2014). "Charge-modulated self-assembly and growth of conjugated polyelectrolyte–polyoxometalate hybrid networks". Chem. Commun. 50 (40): 5233–5235. doi:10.1039/c3cc47552b. hdl:2262/72169. ISSN 1359-7345. PMID 24336591.
  11. ↑ Houston, Judith E.; Chevrier, Michèle; Appavou, Marie-Sousai; King, Stephen M.; Clément, Sébastien; Evans, Rachel C. (2017). "A self-assembly toolbox for thiophene-based conjugated polyelectrolytes: surfactants, solvent and copolymerisation". Nanoscale. 9 (44): 17481–17493. doi:10.1039/c7nr06169b. ISSN 2040-3364. PMID 29106435. Closed access icon
  12. ↑ Dublin, Fiona Killard, Trinity College. "Rachel Evans : Profiles – Trinity Research : Trinity College Dublin, Rachel Evans". tcd.ie. Retrieved 2 December 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ "Nanostructured Inks for Organic Electronics". The Evans Group. 14 November 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  14. ↑ "Instrumentation". The Evans Group. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  15. ↑ "ISUO – the Irish Synchrotron, Free Electron Laser, Neutron and Muon Facility Users Organisation Materials and Device Photochemistry Group – Evans (TCD)". isuo.ie. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  16. ↑ Anon (2014). "Contributors to the Emerging Investigators Issue 2014" (PDF). Chemical Communications. 50 (40): 5100. doi:10.1039/c4cc90109f. ISSN 1359-7345. Closed access icon
  17. ↑ "Trinity Chemistry Newsletter 2016". Issuu. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  18. 1 2 Meazzini, Ilaria; Willis-Fox, Niamh; Blayo, Camille; Arlt, Jochen; Clément, Sébastien; Evans, Rachel C. (2016). "Targeted design leads to tunable photoluminescence from perylene dicarboxdiimide–poly(oxyalkylene)/siloxane hybrids for luminescent solar concentrators" (PDF). Journal of Materials Chemistry C. 4 (18): 4049–4059. doi:10.1039/C5TC03952E. hdl:20.500.11820/320613b7-a508-47ae-9c07-a34e8bb54070. ISSN 2050-7526. Closed access icon
  19. ↑ Brennan, Lorcan J.; Purcell-Milton, Finn; McKenna, Barry; Watson, Trystan M.; Gun'ko, Yurii K.; Evans, Rachel C. (2018). "Large area quantum dot luminescent solar concentrators for use with dye-sensitised solar cells". Journal of Materials Chemistry A. 6 (6): 2671–2680. doi:10.1039/c7ta04731b. hdl:2262/96216. ISSN 2050-7488.
  20. ↑ Kaniyoor, Adarsh; McKenna, Barry; Comby, Steve; Evans, Rachel C. (15 December 2015). "Design and Response of High-Efficiency, Planar, Doped Luminescent Solar Concentrators Using Organic-Inorganic Di-Ureasil Waveguides". Advanced Optical Materials. 4 (3): 444–456. doi:10.1002/adom.201500412. ISSN 2195-1071. S2CID 97140164.
  21. ↑ "Emerging Investigators 2016: Novel design strategies for new functional materials Home". pubs.rsc.org. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  22. ↑ McKenna, Barry; Troughton, Joel R.; Watson, Trystan M.; Evans, Rachel C. (2017). "Enhancing the stability of organolead halide perovskite films through polymer encapsulation". RSC Advances. 7 (52): 32942–32951. Bibcode:2017RSCAd...732942M. doi:10.1039/c7ra06002e. hdl:2262/82530. ISSN 2046-2069.
  23. ↑ "A growing French-Irish radiance". Ambassade de France en Irlande – French Embassy in Ireland. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  24. ↑ "Research". The Evans Group. 19 October 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  25. ↑ "Soft Responsive Materials". The Evans Group. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  26. ↑ "RSC Photophysics & Photochemistry Group Meeting 2018 – Specific". specific.eu.com. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  27. ↑ "Home - Senoptica Technologies LTD". Senoptica Technologies LTD.
  28. ↑ "About Us | Senoptica Technologies LTD". senoptica.com. Senoptica Technologies Ltd. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  29. ↑ "Home | Senoptica Technologies LTD". Senoptica Technologies LTD. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  30. ↑ Wales, The Learned Society of. "Rachel Evans". The Learned Society of Wales. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  31. ↑ "Rachel is admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry". The Evans Group. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  32. ↑ Sallows, Lianne (26 October 2018). "New IoM3 Fellows". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  33. ↑ Sallows, Lianne (8 May 2018). "2017 Macro Group UK Young Researchers Medal awarded to Dr Rachel Evans". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  34. 1 2 "2017 Macro Group UK Young Researchers Medal". Macro Group UK. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  35. ↑ "Dillwyn prize for outstanding ECR researcher in STEMM". The Evans Group. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  36. ↑ Dublin, Provost & President, Trinity College. "Provost & President : Trinity College Dublin". tcd.ie. Retrieved 2 December 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  37. ↑ "2014 – School of Chemistry – Trinity College Dublin". chemistry.tcd.ie. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
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