Serena Corr is a chair in Functional Materials and Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield. She works on next-generation battery materials and advanced characterisation techniques for nanomaterials.

Serena Corr
Alma materTrinity College Dublin
Known forNext generation battery materials
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Sheffield
University of Glasgow
University of Kent
University of California, Santa Barbara
Thesis New magnetic nanocomposite materials
Doctoral advisorYurii Gun'ko

Early life and education

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Corr grew up in Clonmel and attended Presentation Secondary School. She studied chemistry at Trinity College Dublin.[1] She completed her doctoral work on magnetic structured materials (nanoparticles and quantum dots for biomedical applications) with Yurii Gun'ko.[2] She focussed on nanomaterials that could be used for biomedical applications.[3] Corr worked on several outreach programs during her PhD. She joined the University of California, Santa Barbara, working with Ram Seshadri on vanadate metal-insulator transitions from 2007 to 2009.[1][4] She worked on rutile vanadium oxide.[4][5] They also explored molybdenum dioxide materials that demonstrated reversible lithium storage capacity.[6]

As a student, Serena was heavily involved in the Maths Department in Trinity College Dublin, acting as a course administrator for Tim Murphy's 061 Practical Computing course[citation needed].

Career

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Corr was made a lecturer at the University of Kent.[1] She spent her first year writing papers and proposals for the Diamond Light Source and ISIS neutron source.[3][7] Her early work considered ways to design nanostructured materials using organometallic precursors.[8][9] She demonstrated that magnetic nanoparticles could be used as MRI contrast agents.[10] She held a visiting professorship at the University of Otago[citation needed].

Corr joined the University of Glasgow as a lecturer in 2013 and was made a professor in 2018.[1] She took part in the science communication competition I'm a Scientist, Get me out of here!.[11] In 2014 she collaborated with Eleanor Schofield to conserve the Mary Rose.[12] She developed multi-functional magnetic nano-composites that could remove the iron ions within waterlogged wood.[12]

In 2013 she edited a chapter for Nanomedicine, Magnetic Nanoparticles for Targeted Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy.[13] Her group look at new insertion electrodes for energy storage.[14] These were formed from nanoparticles, which house lithium ions that can be moved between the cathode and anode.[15] She showed that shape and size of the nanoparticles can impact their electrochemical properties.[15] She uses fast microwave processing and alkoxides for continuous chemical synthesis of next generation battery materials.[15][16] In 2015 she was awarded a £1.2 million Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant to investigate the reliability of these materials in devices.[17] This involves studying the structure of electrodes and dynamics of ion movement.[18][19] In 2017 she was made a Training Champion for the Faraday Institution, an academia - industry response to the Faraday Battery Challenge.[20][21] Her research on battery longevity and how Lithium-ion batteries degrade was covered by The Daily Telegraph.[22] In 2019 she will talk about the history of batteries at the Royal Institution.[23]

In 2017 Corr was selected as a Royal Society of Chemistry Journal of Materials Chemistry lecturer.[1][24] She joined the University of Sheffield as a chair in Functional Materials and Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2018.[25][26] She serves on the management board of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council doctoral training centre in energy storage.[27] She is an associate editor of Royal Society of Chemistry journal Nanoscale[citation needed] and the IOP Publishing journal Progress in Energy.[28][29]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Group". Corr group. 20 March 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  2. ^ Gun’ko, Yurii K.; Rakovich, Yury P.; Corr, Serena A. (1 March 2008). "Multifunctional Magnetic-fluorescent Nanocomposites for Biomedical Applications". Nanoscale Research Letters. 3 (3): 87–104. Bibcode:2008NRL.....3...87C. doi:10.1007/s11671-008-9122-8. ISSN 1556-276X. PMC 3244791.
  3. ^ a b Lalloo, Manisha (10 April 2013). "Starting out in academia". Chemistry World. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  4. ^ a b Corr, Serena A.; Grossman, Madeleine; Furman, Joshua D.; Melot, Brent C.; Cheetham, Anthony K.; Heier, Kevin R.; Seshadri, Ram (28 October 2008). "Controlled Reduction of Vanadium Oxide Nanoscrolls: Crystal Structure, Morphology, and Electrical Properties". Chemistry of Materials. 20 (20): 6396–6404. doi:10.1021/cm801539f. ISSN 0897-4756.
  5. ^ "Strongly correlated materials". Corr group. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  6. ^ Shi, Yifeng; Guo, Bingkun; Corr, Serena A.; Shi, Qihui; Hu, Yong-Sheng; Heier, Kevin R.; Chen, Liquan; Seshadri, Ram; Stucky, Galen D. (9 December 2009). "Ordered Mesoporous Metallic MoO2 Materials with Highly Reversible Lithium Storage Capacity". Nano Letters. 9 (12): 4215–4220. Bibcode:2009NanoL...9.4215S. doi:10.1021/nl902423a. ISSN 1530-6984. PMID 19775084.
  7. ^ "STFC home". data.isis.stfc.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Nanostructured material design". Corr group. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  9. ^ Corr, Serena A.; Gun'ko, Yurii K.; Douvalis, Alexios P.; Venkatesan, Munuswamy; Gunning, Robert D.; Nellist‖, Peter D. (9 January 2008). "From Nanocrystals to Nanorods: New Iron Oxide−Silica Nanocomposites from Metallorganic Precursors". The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 112 (4): 1008–1018. doi:10.1021/jp076871d.
  10. ^ Corr, Serena A.; Byrne, Stephen J.; Tekoriute, Renata; Meledandri, Carla J.; Brougham, Dermot F.; Lynch, Marina; Kerskens, Christian; O'Dwyer, Laurence; Gun'ko, Yurii K. (1 April 2008). "Linear Assemblies of Magnetic Nanoparticles as MRI Contrast Agents". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 130 (13): 4214–4215. doi:10.1021/ja710172z. ISSN 0002-7863. PMID 18331033.
  11. ^ "Profile". New Materials Zone. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Nanomaterials for conservation". Corr group. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  13. ^ Williams, Marc J.; Corr, Serena A. (2013), "Magnetic Nanoparticles for Targeted Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy", Nanomedicine, Elsevier, pp. 29–63, doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-098338-7.00002-9, ISBN 9780080983387
  14. ^ "Insertion electrodes for energy storage". Corr group. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  15. ^ a b c "Microwave processing for fast, green preparation of insertion electrodes". UKRI. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  16. ^ "Dr Serena Corr has been awarded a Supergen Energy Storage Challenge grant". www.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  17. ^ "Design and high throughput microwave synthesis of Li-ion battery materials". UKRI. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  18. ^ Tierney, S. "Connecting Research: The Forum · Chemistry Seminar – Dr Serena Corr". Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  19. ^ "Ian Dangerfield Lecture". www.maynoothuniversity.ie. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  20. ^ "About – The Faraday Institution". Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  21. ^ "Graduate & Postdoctoral – The Faraday Institution". Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  22. ^ English, Andrew (15 November 2018). "Everything you need to know about lithium-ion batteries – but which car makers forgot to tell you". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  23. ^ "The battery – inside out". Eventbrite. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  24. ^ "Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship Winner 2017 – Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog". Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  25. ^ "5 new academics to join Department". www.sheffield.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  26. ^ "New academics for the department". www.sheffield.ac.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  27. ^ "Management". Energy Storage and its Applications. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  28. ^ "nanoscale_editorial board members". www.rsc.org. 23 February 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  29. ^ "Editorial Board - Progress in Energy - IOPscience". iopscience.iop.org. Retrieved 8 December 2018.