The group concentrates on the study of low dimensional structures such as one-dimensional “wires” and zero-dimensional quantum “dots”. As the length scales of such systems shrink, unusual properties arise due to the quantum confinement (squeezing) of electrons on scales approaching the electron wavelength. These properties can have commercial potential in novel device production.

Understanding exactly why such unusual properties arise can help us to engineer new properties that are desirable for modern technologies. The group has ultrahigh vacuum facilities for the growth and analysis of such structures and has cluster computation for the modelling of electronic and optical behaviour.

An area which has grown rapidly in recent years is that of the use of organic polymers for light emitting devices. This group is working on the optimisation of such materials for laser applications by studying the fundamental processes of light emission. Ongoing work aims control vibrational relaxation, potentially leading to solid state organic materials with light emitting properties which can surpass those of currently employed materials.

The group is continuing investigations of fullerene thin films.  The project aims at a further investigation of electronic processes as well as the nature of the metastable states in these materials, in particular through in situ Raman spectroscopy.

A more recent addition to the fullerene family is carbon nanotubes. Although, potentially of great interest to a diverse range of applications, these materials are relatively impure as grown and are difficult to purify through conventional methods as they are insoluble. A range of novel purification methods are being explored by the group, leading to more precise characterization of their electronic and optical properties .

The group has more recently extended its activities to biological systems, and paticularly biomedical applications of spectroscopy. The work is extended to the examination of the interaction of carbon nanotubes with biological systems to assess compatibility and toxicity.

The Materials Synthesis and Applications Group brings together expertise in the School of Chemistry as well as Food Science and Environmental Health. It comprises six staff members and runs a range of postgraduate and undergraduate research projects aimed at novel materials development for applications as diverse as molecular recognition, biomimetic chemistry and supramolecular chemistry.

The group consolidates the body of expertise already accumulated in the Institute in the area of air quality monitoring and environmental sensing techniques. Its aims include extending the work on characterisation of the pollutants in the atmosphere, the study of their harmful effects, and developing novel sensing methods.

The group is also involved in trace metal analysis using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy and anodic stripping voltametry. Of particular concern is lead levels in potable water and efforts towards developing a technique for accurate determination of lead in seawater are being made.

The group has considerable expertise in the design construction and testing of biomedical microspectrometer sensor systems. Such systems have applications for monitoring the redox reactions of respiratory pigments in cell extracts and permeabilised cells. Conducting polymers based, for example, on isoindoles, show similar spectral changes upon optical or electrochemical stimulus. Such colour changes can therefore be used for sensor applications.  The group will explore the applications of such sensor materials and micro systems for environmental monitoring.

This group is affiliated to the Centre for Industrial and Engineering Optics which has a record of research in photopolymer holographic materials and in interferometric techniques for surface metrology and defect detection. These techniques include holographic interferometry, speckle interferometry and white light interferometry. The development of photopolymer holographic recording materials has been a key aim of the group for some years. Considerable progress has recently been made on a novel self-processing holographic recording material developed in the group’s laboratories.  Diffusion studies and careful modeling of the physical processes are helping to improve understanding of this and similar materials, leading to better control of the material properties.  Applications in holographic imaging, diffractive optical elements, and holographic interferometry for surface metrology, have already been demonstrated and published. Currently applications of the IEO material are being investigated in both the production of holographic gratings for spectroscopy, and in holographic data storage and devices.

Development of the material itself is also continuing and a number of projects are under way to improve the ability of the material to record high spatial frequency interference patterns in order to expand its range of applications. 

The CNRI has origins in the School of Electronic and Communications Engineering.and is headed-up by  Mark Davis who is on a research secondment funded by SFI. The research staff complement currently stands at 5 researchers. The CNRI is funded under a SFI  Multi-Investigator Award and under an Enterprise Ireland Informatics Initiative project.The CNRI is undertaking research in the area of wireless networks and specifically the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless LAN standards. The main focus of the work is in radio resource management for quality of service (QoS) provisioning. QoS provisioning is a critical element in the delivery of real-time services such as Voice over IP (VoIP) and video streaming over wireless networks.

This group specialises in radiobiology and environmental toxicology. An area of research where the group has demonstrated considerable success has been in the development of novel in vitro cultures from human, fish and invertebrates of ecological importance, for employment in radiation and ecotoxicological studies.
The Radiobiology activities investigate the effects of ionising and non-ionising radiation on both mammalian and aquatic species. Non-targeted (non-DNA) effects such as bystander effects , genomic instability and adaptive responses are the main focus. Translational research, involving the correlation of patient radiosensitivity with radiotherapy response and the identification of candidate genes responsible for radiosensitivity, is also conducted.
The Environmental Toxicology effort focuses on establishing the toxic effects of contaminants of environmental concern on established cell lines and primary cell culture systems developed in the centre.
In addition, the Biospectroscopy research has focused on the use of vibrational spectroscopy as a novel screening method for cancer and for the identification of radiation-induced damage to cellular macromolecules.

Established under the Enterprise Ireland PAT scheme, the group brings expertise in Surface Coatings Technology (Architectural, Automotive, Medical Devices, Aerospace, Manufacturing etc), Corrosion Control Technology (Materials Selection, Mechanisms), Nanomaterials (Sol-Gel) and engages in consultancy and contract Research (Enterprise Ireland Clients)

It makes use of a range of surface characterisation (SEM, TEM, AFM) as well as analytical techniques (ICP, XRD, GC, EDS, WDS)