Jonathan Coleman is the

Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin is a chair in physics founded in 1724 and funded by the Erasmus Smith Trust, which was established by Erasmus Smith, a wealthy London merchant, who live ...

in the School of Physics and a Principal Investigator in CRANN at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. Coleman's research focuses on solution-processing of nanomaterials and their use in applications. He is most well-known for the development of

liquid phase exfoliation First demonstrated in 2008, Liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) is a solution-processing method which is used to convert layered crystals into 2-dimensional nanosheets in large quantities. It is currently one of the pillar methods for producing 2D nano ...

, a widely used method for preparing two-dimensional

nanosheet A nanosheet is a two-dimensional nanostructure with thickness in a scale ranging from 1 to 100 nm. A typical example of a nanosheet is graphene, the thinnest two-dimensional material (0.34 nm) in the world. It consists of a single layer o ...

Early life and education

Coleman attended the King's Hospital School, before studying for a BA in Experimental Physics in Trinity College Dublin. He graduated with First Class Honours and a gold medal in 1995. He completed a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in Physics in TCD in 1999 under Prof Werner Blau.

Research and Career

Coleman became a lecturer in Physics at TCD in 2001 and was the Professor of Chemical Physics from 2011 to 2022 before moving to his current chair. He is currently (2022) the Head of the School of Physics in TCD and a member of the University Council. The theme of his research is the production and processing of

nanomaterials * Nanomaterials describe, in principle, materials of which a single unit is sized (in at least one dimension) between 1 and 100 nm (the usual definition of nanoscale). Nanomaterials research takes a materials science-based approach to nan ...

in liquids. The main focus is

of layered crystals such as

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...

and inorganic layered compounds. This produces liquid

suspensions In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous mixture of a fluid that contains solid particles sufficiently large for sedimentation. The particles may be visible to the naked eye, usually must be larger than one micrometer, and will eventually ...

of two-dimensional nanosheets such as

graphene Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure.

, Boron nitride, BN, MoS₂ or MoO₃. Such liquid processing allows the production of coatings,

thin film A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ap ...

s and composites. These structures are useful in a range of applications in areas such as: reinforced composites, transparent conductors, sensors,

optoelectronic devices Optoelectronics (or optronics) is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that find, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, ''light'' often includes invisible forms of radiatio ...

and electrodes for batteries,

solar cell A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

supercapacitors A supercapacitor (SC), also called an ultracapacitor, is a high-capacity capacitor, with a capacitance value much higher than other capacitors but with lower voltage limits. It bridges the gap between electrolytic capacitors and Rechargeable ba ...

, etc. He has also performed research on other nanomaterials such as

carbon nanotubes A scanning tunneling microscopy image of a single-walled carbon nanotube Rotating single-walled zigzag carbon nanotube A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tube made of carbon with diameters typically measured in nanometers. ''Single-wall carbon nan ...

and metallic

nanowire A nanowire is a nanostructure in the form of a wire with the diameter of the order of a nanometre (10−9 metres). More generally, nanowires can be defined as structures that have a thickness or diameter constrained to tens of nanometers or less ...

s. In addition to his publications on liquid phase exfoliation of graphene and other layered materials, he has published a number of papers on applications of solution processed 1D and 2D materials. Examples include: the demonstration of highly sensitive polymer-graphene composite strain sensors; printed nanosheet-based transistors and high-capacity lithium ion batteries. Coleman is most well-known for the development of

, a widely used method for preparing graphene and other two-dimensional

s. Coleman's papers have been cited 98,000 times yielding a h-index of 119. He has been included on a number of highly cited researchers lists including the list of scientists with h-index beyond 100 and the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list. To date he has been awarded four ERC grants. He has given a number of public talks, for example the Irons Lecture at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

in the United States in April 2017, and the Jacobus van ‘t Hoff Lecture at

TU Delft Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

in June 2022. He also participated in the ERC-organised TEDx-Brussels public talks.

Awards and recognition

Coleman was named the 2011

Science Foundation Ireland Science Foundation Ireland (SFI; ga, Fondúireacht Eolaíochta Éireann) is the statutory body in Ireland with responsibility for funding oriented basic and applied research in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM ...

Researcher of the Year and was awarded the Kroll Medal from the

Institute of Materials The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a UK engineering institution whose activities encompass the whole materials cycle, from exploration and extraction, through characterisation, processing, forming, finishing and applicatio ...

in 2012. In 2011, he was named among the top 100 Materials Scientists of the previous decade by Thompson Reuters. In 2018 he was named the ''

ACS Nano ''ACS Nano'' is a monthly, peer-reviewed, scientific journal, first published in August 2007 by the American Chemical Society. The current editor in chief is Xiaodong Chen (Nanyang Technological University). The journal publishes original research ...

'' Lecture Awardee by the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

, and in 2022 was awarded the Tabor Medal by the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

. He is also a

Member of the Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural ...

(MRIA), and a Member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Jonathan Living people Irish physicists Academics of Trinity College Dublin People educated at The King's Hospital Alumni of Trinity College Dublin 1973 births Members of the Royal Irish Academy