Image: Ciarán Cooling
Touchscreens and solar panels require rare earth metals that are expensive and damaging to the environment. DCU’s Ciarán Cooling is developing a more sustainable alternative.
Ciarán Cooling is a PhD student in the School of Physical Sciences at Dublin City University (DCU). He completed a bachelor of applied sciences degree in applied physics in DCU in 2022, and worked as a technical officer before returning to research to undertake a PhD, which looks at finding more sustainable materials and processes for use in touchscreens and solar panels.
At a recent competition in DCU, Cooling explained that these technologies require rare earth metals that are “expensive to mine and bad for the environment”.
Cooling aims to develop materials that “are cheaper and better for the environment” but crucially can perform the same functions.
Here, he tells us more about his current work.
Tell us about your current research.
I’m working on my PhD, titled ‘Ultrathin and Nanolaminated Transparent Conducting Oxides’. Specifically, I’m using a technique called spray pyrolysis to use abundant materials, eg copper, tin, zinc, etc, to form a nanolaminate which would have the properties of a known material, in this case indium-tin oxide (ITO).
ITO is used in touchscreens, TVs and solar panels so it is very useful, but it is rare, expensive and environmentally damaging to mine and process.
I had finished my applied physics undergrad in DCU and was working in the teaching labs as a technical officer when my supervisor was setting up this research group and informed me of the opportunity to do a PhD, which I jumped at.
The team is split between DCU and Trinity College Dublin, which allows us a wide spread of personnel and equipment. The primary members of the team have worked together for a long time so there is a good working relationship and this has allowed a relatively new research group to make big steps quickly.
In your opinion, why is your research important?
My research is ultimately about sustainability – finding cheaper, more efficient and environmentally safer ways to do what we are currently doing. Unfortunately, we are stripping our planets resources in damaging ways with a disturbing lack of regard for the future. Research into sustainable alternatives is vital for our future development to allow for expansion and innovation at a sustainable level.
What inspired you to become a researcher?
There was a little book in my grandparents’ house on famous scientists and what they discovered that I read when I was very young, and from that day all I wanted to do was carry out experiments and discover how and why things are the way they are.
A love of science-fiction helped too, seeing all these wonderful inventions and discoveries. While most of them are not realistic, they did instil a sense of wonder and curiosity and a desire to be a part of the effort to develop those concepts which were possible and turn them from science fiction to science fact.
What are some of the biggest challenges or misconceptions you face as a researcher in your field?
That solutions that we need today can be generated quickly. The amount of research, then development, then integration into society that it takes for innovation takes a large amount of time. Even if tomorrow a material was developed which could replace ITO, there is so much inertia behind ITO that it would probably take a decade until the effects of introducing and then using this new material could be measured. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t engage in this research, but we do have to predict the problems we will be dealing with in a few decades time and begin work on a solution now.
Do you think public engagement with science has changed in recent years?
Yes, but not necessarily in a wholly positive manner. The internet for better or worse is full of information, but without checks and balances this information can be misconstrued or downright false. That’s why it’s important to use reputable sources.
Science has been the victim too many times of misunderstandings, unintentional and otherwise.
Engagement with the public is as vital as the research itself – if the work cannot be disseminated to the public without manipulation, then its efforts and potential benefits may be marred.
How do you encourage engagement with your own work?
I recently took part in the Tell it Straight competition in DCU, where postgrad students give a five-minute presentation on their research to a non-specialist audience.
This requires researchers to distil their work to the key features which will be most impactful and yet still giving enough detail for a critical understanding. I won in my category, which was delightful and showed to me that the public is still interested in scientific research, perhaps just without all the technobabble which suffuses so much academic work.
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