Group Leader
Dr. Shalini Singh
Associate Professor (Chemistry) Department of Chemical Sciences and The Bernal Institute, University of Limerick
Shalini received her PhD degree at University of Limerick within INSPIRE structured PhD Programme in 2016. Her work was focused on designing multicomponent metal chalcogenide semiconductor nanocrystals using methods of colloidal chemistry. She subsequently joined Ghent University, Belgium to explore the surface chemistry of colloidal nanocrystals systems. She was awarded FWO postdoctoral grant in 2017 to work on designing novel semiconductors for photonic applications. In early 2020, she returned back to University of Limerick as a Lecturer.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr Ankita Bora
Ankita obtained PhD in 2023 under the supervision of Prof. Nikolai Gaponik and Dr. Vladimir Lesnyak at Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. She subsequently joined UL as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Kevin M. Ryan. In September 2024 she obtained Irish Research council postdoctoral fellowship and joined the Singh research group. Her research will be focused on designing synthetic routes for alkali metal containing copper chalcogenide nanocrystals and harvesting them in energy conversion and storage applications.
Dr Suvodeep Sen
Suvodeep obtained his Masters in Chemistry from Sikkim University and then subsequently joined Prof. Narayan Pradhan’s group for PhD at IACS Kolkata, India. He obtained his PhD in July 2023. He obtained Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship 2023 and joined Singh’s research group in September 2023. He is working on developing new hybrid 2D electrocatalyst via colloidal chemistry.
PhD Students
Angela Kadlas
Angela graduated with an Integrated BS-MS Dual Degree from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune with a major in Chemistry in May 2024. Her master’s thesis titled “Multi-Functional Fe3O4-Au Hybrid Nanostructures for Catalytic Studies” was done under the supervision of Dr. Pramod Pillai. She is a doctoral researcher at the Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, focusing on synthesizing alkali metal-based ternary chalcogenides nanocrystals for energy storage and conversion applications.
Nadia Fletcher
Nadia received her BSc in Pharmaceutical and Industrial Chemistry from the University of Limerick in 2024. She is now continuing her studies at UL, joining Dr. Shalini Singh’s nanomaterial design research group. Her research focuses on the synthesis of alkali metal-based ternary chalcogenides nanocrystals for energy storage and conversion applications.
Manoj Palabathuni
Manoj has a integrated BS-MS Degree in Nanotechnology from Acharya Nagarjuna university, India (2021). He pursued his MS project under guidance of Dr. Nimai Mishra on Stability of Metal Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals at SRM University India. He is currently a doctoral researcher investigating ternary metal dichalcogenides nanocrystals for energy harvesting and storage applications.
Hannah McKeever
Hannah has just received her BSc. in Pharmaceutical and Industrial Chemistry at the University of Limerick with a first-class honour. Having worked with Dr. Shalini Singh on her final year project she will now continue this work on the synthesis of colloidal ternary metal chalcogenide nanocrystals for uses in energy and environmental applications.
“I loved every minute of my undergrad degree and am very excited to take the next step in my career as a PhD researcher in the field of nanomaterials at UL!”
Niraj Patil
Visiting Students
Davide Pratolongo
Davide is a second year PhD student at Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, University of Genova in Italy. He is working in the group of Prof. Federico Locardi in Genova. Currently, he is visiting us as an exchange PhD student for 7 months to work on designing new chalcothalides with tunable optoelectronic properties.
Past Members
Dr. Manh Pham
Former co-supervised PhD student with Prof. Kevin M Ryan.
Dr Nilotpal Kapuria
Former co-supervised PhD student and Research Associate
Currently a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University in Prof Sara Skrabalak’s group.
Dr Maria Zubair
Former co-supervised PhD student with Prof. Kevin M Ryan
Currently working as a Technical Instrument Scientist, Bernal Institute.
Dr Pengshang Zhou
Former co-supervised PhD student with Prof. Zeger Hens
Currently working at Jiangnan University, China.