The Royal Society of Chemistry has announced that a Swansea researcher is one of the winners of its 2025 prizes in Research and Innovation, which celebrate exceptional people advancing the chemical sciences across industry and academia.
Dr Emrys Evans, from the Department of Chemistry at Swansea University, has won the Materials Chemistry Early Career Prize for pioneering contributions in the development and characterization of luminescent materials based on organic radicals, for use in light-emitting devices and new quantum technologies. Dr Evans also receives £3,000 and a medal.
His research team is based at the Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials (CISM) at Swansea, where they are using laser experiments to study the flow of energy and electrons in and between molecules by monitoring light absorption and emission starting from a picosecond (million-millionth of a second). The underlying electronic structure of the materials are revealed by studying the effect of magnetic fields on the energy levels and resulting photoexcited dynamics.
Dr Evans and his team have developed luminescent carbon-based radicals with emission that enable highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) towards potential applications in displays and imaging.
His work on the design of multi-electron coupled states in molecules enable potential applications in advanced sensors of local environments (magnetic / electric field, temperature) that could be exploited in future studies of materials and biological mechanisms.
Dr Emrys Evans, on receiving the prize, said:
‘It is a great honour to receive this prize and I want to acknowledge the great team effort: all students, researchers, collaborators and mentors from past to present. It is my privilege to be a scientist and chemist; each day working on topics that I think are interesting and important; and together probing and pushing the boundaries of a field. The team makes it possible. Diolch yn fawr!’
Professor David Smith FRSC, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean for the Faculty of Science and Engineering and Chair of the RSC Professional Standards Board, said:
‘This Royal Society of Chemistry award is deserved recognition for Emrys for his innovative work on the development and characterization of luminescent materials. This is an exceptional achievement, which highlights Emrys’s outstanding contribution to materials chemistry.’
Study chemistry at Swansea University