Summary
Matthew grew up in the South of England in the leafy county of Surrey, just outside of London. He started his undergraduate studies at Imperial College in 2011 in Chemistry as a Rector's Scholar, culminating with his Master's year abroad at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. His MSci project focused on the multi-step asymmetric total synthesis of a biologically active molecule with anti-HIV applications.
This was followed by a year at Merck KGaA in Southampton working on organic solar cell technologies, specifically the fabrication and analysis of OTFT and OPV devices. The experience gave him both an insight into working in a fast-paced research environment as well as a continued desire to pursue a career that translates chemical research into solving real-world problems.
This led him to apply to the PhD program at Imperial College under the supervision of Prof. Iain McCulloch, where he secured one of only fifty prestigious President’s PhD Scholarships across Imperial for high-performing doctoral researchers (2016-2021).
He was recently awarded one of only four 2021 EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowships in the Department of Chemistry which is currently being undertaken in collaboration with Prof. Martin Heeney and Prof. Magda Titirici. This work focuses on sustainable hydrogen generation and electrocatalytic waste biomass oxidation using sustainable organic materials.
Additionally, Matthew is currently the Assistant Warden of Woodward Buildings, playing a key role in community development and delivering pastoral support to over 700 student residents.
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Ghasemi M, Balar N, Peng Z, et al., 2021, A molecular interaction-diffusion framework for predicting organic solar cell stability, Nature Materials, Vol:20, ISSN:1476-1122, Pages:525-+
Kosco J, Bidwell M, Cha H, et al., 2020, Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from organic semiconductor heterojunction nanoparticles, Nature Materials, Vol:19, ISSN:1476-1122, Pages:559-565
Xie C, Heumueller T, Gruber W, et al., 2018, Overcoming efficiency and stability limits in water-processing nanoparticular organic photovoltaics by minimizing microstructure defects, Nature Communications, Vol:9
Kosco J, Sachs M, Godin R, et al., 2018, The effect of residual palladium catalyst contamination on the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity of conjugated polymers, Advanced Energy Materials, Vol:8, ISSN:1614-6832
Wadsworth A, Hamid Z, Bidwell M, et al., 2018, Progress in Poly (3-Hexylthiophene) Organic Solar Cells and the Influence of Its Molecular Weight on Device Performance, Advanced Energy Materials, Vol:8, ISSN:1614-6832