Aidan McDonald Associate Professor

Prof. Aidan McDonald is an Associate Professor in Inorganic Chemistry at Trinity College Dublin where his research explores the roles metals play in Biology and Materials Chemistry. His primary research interests lie in examination of Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) layered nanomaterials the most common of which are made-up of early transition metals (Mo, W) and chalcogens (S, Se). Such TMDs are applied in bulk form widely for the hydrodesulfurisation and hydrocracking of petroleums (to remove S and N-containing pollutants from hydrocarbon fuels, limiting emission of SO2 and NO2 amongst others), as well as being highly reactive hydrogen evolution catalysts. We explore the reactivity properties of delaminated nanosheets (individual 2D layers) for applications in hydrodesulfurisation and hydrogen evolution catalysis.

He was awarded an an ERC Starting Grant in 2016 and a Royal Society/SFI University Research Fellowship. He was recently awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry Sir Edward Frankland Fellowship (2017) and the Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry EuroBIC Medal (2020). He was elected a fellow of TCD in 2020.

Prior to his position in the School of Chemistry, Prof. McDonald completed Ph.D. studies at Utrecht University in 2008 and held post-doc research positions as National Institutes of Health Kirschstein Fellow in the USA and a Marie Curie Research Fellow in Europe.