Biography

Professor Kevin M. Ryan holds a Personal Chair in Chemical Nanotechnology at the Department of Chemical Sciences in the School of Natural Sciences at the University of Limerick He is coordinator of the H2020 EU projects Si-Drive and NEILLSBAT in the area of Li-ion and Lithium-Sulfur batteries respectively. He is Co-Principal Investigator on SFI Centres MaREI and AMBER and funded Investigator on SSPC and Confirm. He is theme leader for the Molecular/Nano cluster at the Bernal Institute and holds SFI IVP and IRC Laureate awards. He is a native of Limerick and graduated with a BSc in 1999 and a PhD in 2003 in Chemistry from University College Cork. He subsequently held Marie Curie Fellowship positions at Merck Chemicals Southampton, UK and at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, prior to joining University of Limerick in 2006 as a Stokes Lecturer. He has published over 140academic papers with a h-index of 43 (Google Scholar) and holds several patents with research interests in semiconductor nanocrystals and nanowires for applications in electronic devices and batteries. His research group currently 5 postdoctoral researchers and 16 PhD students are based at the Bernal Institute (www.nanoresearchul.org).

Research Interests

Keywords: Colloidal Nanocrystals, Nanorods, Nanowires, Silicon, Germanium, Cadmium Sulphide, Cadmium Selenide, Copper Indium Gallium Sulphide/selenide (CIGS), Dicopper-zinc-tin-tetrasulphide (CZTS), Nanorod Assembly, Electrophoretic Assembly, Charge based Assembly, Thin-films, Photoabsorbers, Lithium ion batteries.

The group research interests are in: [1] Colloidal Nanocrystals with particular emphasis on Semiconductor Nanorods and their device scale assembly by directed (Electric fields ) or non-directed for scaleable applications in photovoltaics. The group has pioneered routes whereby the nanorods can be assembled from solution such that each rod is Vertically Aligned and Close packed (-allowing the formation of a forest of nanoscale photo absorbers directly from solution). As the semiconductors are pot synthesized and processed from solution (-similar to an ink) they offer a low cost protocol to thin-film devices. The group has recently extended the nanorod synthesis and assembly protocols to copper indium gallium sulfide/selenide (CIGS) and dicopper-zinc-tin-tetrasulphide (CZTS). These materials are attractive for their high efficiencies in thin-film devices and CZTS in particular is viewed as an attractive long term solution for low cost photovoltaics as all the elements are in high natural abundance. Funding for this work is through a Science Foundation Ireland Principal Investigator Award and through the SFI Strategic Research Cluster in Solar Energy Conversion.

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[2] Low cost solution synthesis of silicon and germanium nanowires by seeded and non-seeded strategies particularly targeted towards generating wires in high yield. We have developed a novel synthetic protocol that allows the growth of group 14 nanowires in the vapor phase of high boiling point solvents in glass ware based apparatus allowing high purity nanowires to be formed either with or without catalysts . Recently we have used indium and tin catalysts for form high density arrays of silicon and germanium wires on substrates and have extended the syntheses to metal silicide structures. Control over nanowire length for the formation of nanorods was achieved by a modification of this synthesis protocol. Investigation of nanowires of germanium as anodes for Lithium ion batteries is funded through the European Union GREENLION project with a consortium of 14 partners including large car manufactures such as SEAT and Volkswagen. The investigation of non-seeded nanowires for ICT is funded through an SFI Principal Investigator grant with industry support from Intel Ireland. For additional information see featured posts and full publication listings.Image removed.

Professional Activities

Patent

  • 2012 US8138067 - Method and System for Synthesis of Semiconductor Nanowires
  • 2002 US6699797 - Method of Fabrication of Low Dielectric Constant Porous Metal Silicate Film

Award

  • 2011 - MSSI Researcher Award
  • 2001 - Institute of Chemistry of Ireland Golden Jubilee Award

Employment

  • 2006 University of California Berkeley - Marie Curie Research Fellow
  • 2003 Merck Chemicals Ltd. - Marie Curie Fellow
  • 2002 University College Cork - Enterprise Ireland Research Fellow

Association

  • 2003 Association of Reserchers who have receive a Marie Curie Award, Marie Curie Fellowship Association
  • 2001 Member, Royal Society of Chemistry

Education

  • 2003 University College Cork - Ph.D.
  • 1999 University College Cork - B.Sc.

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journals

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Other Journals

Conference Publications

2015

GREENLION Project: Advanced Manufacturing Processes for Low Cost Greener Li-Ion Batteries

de Meatza, I,Miguel, O,Cendoya, I,Kim, GT,Loffler, N,Laszczynski, N,Passerini, S,Schweizer, PM,Castiglione, F,Mele, A,Appetecchi, GB,Moreno, M,Brandon, M,Kennedy, T,Mullane, E,Ryan, KM,Cantero, I,Olive, M,Briec, E,Muller, B (2015) GREENLION Project: Advanced Manufacturing Processes for Low Cost Greener Li-Ion Batteries. Electric Vehicle Batteries: Moving From Research Towards Innovation: Reports Of The Ppp European Green Vehicles Initiative :45-60

2009

ECS Transactions

O'Sullivan C., Gunning R.D., Barrett C.A., Singh A., Geaney H., Sanyal A., Ahmed S., Bala T., Ryan K.M. (2009) ECS Transactions. Ecs Transactions :17-29

2009

ECS Transactions

Ahmed S., Barrett C.A., O'Sullivan C., Sanyal A., Geaney H., Singh A., Gunning R.D., Ryan K.M. (2009) ECS Transactions. Ecs Transactions :209-219

Conference Contributions

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Other Publications