Chemical Sciences

Tia E. Keyes

GRSC, Ph.D., M.R.S.C., C.Chem. CSci
Associate Professor, Physical Chemistry
Phone Number: 8185
Room Number: X113
Email Address:Tia.Keyes@dcu.ie>

Brief Biography

Tia Keyes is associate professor of physical chemistry at the School of Chemical Sciences, where she has been a member of academic staff since 2002. Her research interests lie in the fields of molecular spectroscopy & photophysics and in supramolecular & interfacial chemistry. She is particularly interested in applications of these fields to biological problems, including cell imaging/environmental mapping, cell capture, sensing and membrane mimetics. Tia’s research team are based between the School of Chemical Sciences and the National Biophotonics and Imaging Platform Ireland (NBIPI) www.nbipireland.ie/ which is housed within The National Centre for Sensor Research www.ncsr.ie

Tia is an academic member of The Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (www.bdi.ie) and currently co-node leader (Britain and Ireland) on the Biophotonics4life consortium (http://www.biophotonicsworld.org. Tia is also currently coordinator of the National Biophotonics and Imaging Platform at DCU.

Our research group is financially supported through a number of sources including Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, The Higher Education Authority (PRTLI) and EU.

Key Current Research Interests

Photochemistry and spectroscopy, in particular, electronic, Raman, and time-resolved spectroscopies applied to the study of Electron and Energy Transfers in supramolecular and heterogeneous nano-scale assemblies.
Supramolecular interfacial chemistry, particularly the development of photoactive arrays which incorporate controlled degrees of inter-component, and interfacial communication for solar energy conversion and nanoelectronic devices.
Luminescent polymers and supermolecules for sensing, electrochromics and ECL.
Nanoscale Interfacial platforms for surface enhanced bio-Raman spectroscopy.
Luminescent probes for heterogeneous microenvironments and biomaterials.

Collaborators:

Prof Robert Forster, DCU, Prof. Robert Forster, DCU, Prof. Alan M. Bond, Monash University, Australia, Dr Grace Morgan, UCD, Dr. James Rice, UCD. Dr. T. McCormack, DKIT, Prof. Tony Wedd, University of Melbourne, Australia, Prof Niamh Moran RCSI, Dr Marc Devocelle, RCSI, Prof L Cronin, Univ Glasgow, UK, Prof. Mario Reuben, Univ. of Karlsruhe, Prof Conor Long, DCU, Prof Emmanuel Iwuoha, Univ. of Western Cape, Prof Vickie McKee, Univ of Loughborough, Prof Jane Nelson.

Vacancies

Two Studentships available immediately

PhD Studentship (3 years funding); Jointly with Dr Tim McCormack, DKIT; Supramolecular interfacial films for solar energy
For further information or to apply please contact tia.keyes@dcu.ie or tim.mccormac@dkit.ie
MSc Studentship (15 months but with possible extension to PhD) - Synthesis of Novel Luminescent Probes for Sensing in the Cellular Environment.
For further information or to apply please contact tia.keyes@dcu.ie

Currently there are no postdoctoral vacancies in our group, however, we are always interested in hearing from high quality graduates or postdocs who may be interested in applying with us for Marie Curie Postdoctoral or Postgraduate funding to join our group.

Highlights/ Cover Articles:

Enhanced photocurrent production from thin films of Ru(II) metallopolymer/Dawson polyoxotungstate adducts under visible irradiation

Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 3593-3595
DOI: 10.1039/C2CC17431F
Films of polyoxometalate:Ru(II)-metallopolymers generate photocurrents in the presence of benzyl alcohol and visible light. Significantly, the photocurrent generated by a polyoxotungstate adduct is seven fold larger than the Dawson polyoxomolybdate.

Single nanocavity electrodes: fabrication, electrochemical and photonic properties:

Nanosphere lithography has been used to create spherical recessed electrodes of nanometre dimensions capable of enhancing fluorescent signals.
Chem. Commun., 2010, 46, 7053-7053
DOI: 10.1039/C0CC90088E

Fabrication of gold sphere to cuboid nanoarrays using PDMS templates

Chem. Commun., 2011,47, 7605-7607
DOI: 10.1039/C1CC11495F
A novel polymer based templated approach to creating highly ordered gold arrays with either positive or negative nano-scale features of controlled shape from truncated spheres to cuboids is presented.

Sensitization of photo-reduction of the polyoxometalate anions [S₂M₁₈O₆₂]⁴⁻ (M = Mo, W) in the visible spectral region by the [Ru(bpy)₃]²⁺ cation

Nigel Fay , Victoria M. Hultgren , Anthony G. Wedd , Tia E. Keyes , Robert J. Forster , Deirdre Leane and Alan M. Bond Dalton Trans., 2006, 4218-4227
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2006/DT/b605663f
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/cb/Volume/2010/01/two_techniques.asp
Multimodal cell imaging by ruthenium polypyridyl labeled cell penetrating peptides Lynda Cosgrave, Marc Devocelle, Robert J. Forster and Tia E. Keyes, Chem. Commun., 2010, 46, 103
DOI: 10.1039/b918611e