Dr Emrys Evans

Research Fellow, Chemistry

emrys.evans@swansea.ac.uk

Fluent Welsh Speaker

Available For Postgraduate Supervision

Research Links

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9092-3938

Google Scholar

ResearcherID

About

Emrys Evans studied Chemistry at the University of Oxford (MChem 2012; DPhil 2016, supervised by Professor Christiane Timmel). His PhD project was on the photo and spin physics of light-induced radical pairs implicated in magnetoreception for animal navigation. Following this he worked with Professor Sir Richard Friend at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge as a Research Associate (2016-2019) and Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow (2019-2020). At Cambridge he conducted research on organic semiconductors and radical materials for optoelectronics in collaboration with Professor Feng Li, Jilin University. In 2020 he was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to lead research at Swansea University on ‘Radical energy and spin control in organic electronics.’ In 2021 he was awarded a Dillwyn Medal for STEMM from the Learned Society of Wales in recognition of early career research excellence for his work in the field of optoelectronics. In 2022 he received a Swansea University Research & Innovation Rising Star award.

Areas Of Expertise

Spectroscopy
Spin Physics
Optoelectronics
Spintronics

Career Highlights

Research

Radicals have unpaired electrons, leading to unusual chemistry and physics that could be used in next-generation organic electronics and molecular-based technologies. Emrys’s research explores novel functionality that arises from luminescence, magnetism and spin properties in these materials.

Publications

Research Highlights

Gillett, A., Tonnelé, C., Londi, G., Ricci, G., Catherin, M., Unson, D., Casanova, D., Castet, F., Olivier, Y., Chen, W., Zaborova, E., Evans, E., Drummond, B., Conaghan, P., Cui, L., Greenham, N., Puttisong, Y., Fages, F., Beljonne, D., & Friend, R. (2021). Spontaneous exciton dissociation enables spin state interconversion in delayed fluorescence organic semiconductors. Nature Communications, 12(1), 6640
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26689-8, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58730
Cho, H., Kimura, S., Greenham, N., Tani, Y., Matsuoka, R., Nishihara, H., Friend, R., Kusamoto, T., & Evans, E. (2022). Near‐Infrared Light‐Emitting Diodes from Organic Radicals with Charge Control. Advanced Optical Materials, 10(21), 2200628
https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202200628, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60644
Evans, E., Li, J., Storey, J., Maeda, K., Henbest, K., Dodson, C., Hore, P., Mackenzie, S., & Timmel, C. (2015). Sensitive fluorescence-based detection of magnetic field effects in photoreactions of flavins. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 17(28), 18456-18463.
https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cp00723b, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57575
Kattnig, D., Evans, E., Déjean, V., Dodson, C., Wallace, M., Mackenzie, S., Timmel, C., & Hore, P. (2016). Chemical amplification of magnetic field effects relevant to avian magnetoreception. Nature Chemistry, 8(4), 384-391.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2447, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57574
Evans, E., Kattnig, D., Henbest, K., Hore, P., Mackenzie, S., & Timmel, C. (2016). Sub-millitesla magnetic field effects on the recombination reaction of flavin and ascorbic acid radicals. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 145(8), 085101
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4961266, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57573
Evans, E., Olivier, Y., Puttisong, Y., Myers, W., Hele, T., Menke, S., Thomas, T., Credgington, D., Beljonne, D., Friend, R., & Greenham, N. (2018). Vibrationally Assisted Intersystem Crossing in Benchmark Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Molecules. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 9(14), 4053-4058.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b01556, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57572
Greenfield, J., Evans, E., Nuzzo, D., Antonio, M., Friend, R., & Nitschke, J. (2018). Unraveling Mechanisms of Chiral Induction in Double-Helical Metallopolymers. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 140(32), 10344-10353.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b06195, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57571
Conaghan, P., Menke, S., Romanov, A., Jones, S., Pearson, A., Evans, E., Bochmann, M., Greenham, N., Credgington, D., & Evans, E. (2018). Efficient Vacuum‐Processed Light‐Emitting Diodes Based on Carbene–Metal–Amides. Advanced Materials, 30(35), 1802285
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201802285, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57570
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201802285
Ascherl, L., Evans, E., Hennemann, M., Nuzzo, D., Hufnagel, A., Beetz, M., Friend, R., Clark, T., Bein, T., & Auras, F. (2018). Solvatochromic covalent organic frameworks. Nature Communications, 9(1)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06161-w, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57569
Ai, X., Evans, E., Dong, S., Gillett, A., Guo, H., Chen, Y., Hele, T., Friend, R., & Li, F. (2018). Efficient radical-based light-emitting diodes with doublet emission. Nature, 563(7732), 536-540.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0695-9, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57568

All Research

Journal Articles

Gorgon, S., Lv, K., Grüne, J., Drummond, B., Myers, W., Londi, G., Ricci, G., Valverde, D., Tonnelé, C., Murto, P., Romanov, A., Casanova, D., Dyakonov, V., Sperlich, A., Beljonne, D., Olivier, Y., Li, F., Friend, R., & Evans, E. (2023). Reversible spin-optical interface in luminescent organic radicals. Nature, 620(7974), 538-544.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06222-1, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63993
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06222-1
Cho, H., Kimura, S., Greenham, N., Tani, Y., Matsuoka, R., Nishihara, H., Friend, R., Kusamoto, T., & Evans, E. (2022). Near‐Infrared Light‐Emitting Diodes from Organic Radicals with Charge Control. Advanced Optical Materials, 10(21), 2200628
https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202200628, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60644
Gillett, A., Pershin, A., Pandya, R., Feldmann, S., Sneyd, A., Alvertis, A., Evans, E., Thomas, T., Cui, L., Drummond, B., Scholes, G., Olivier, Y., Rao, A., Friend, R., & Beljonne, D. (2022). Dielectric control of reverse intersystem crossing in thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters. Nature Materials, 21(10), 1150-1157.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-022-01321-2, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60976
Li, F., Gillett, A., Gu, Q., Ding, J., Chen, Z., Hele, T., Myers, W., Friend, R., & Evans, E. (2022). Singlet and triplet to doublet energy transfer: improving organic light-emitting diodes with radicals. Nature Communications, 13(1)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29759-7, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa60723
Gillett, A., Tonnelé, C., Londi, G., Ricci, G., Catherin, M., Unson, D., Casanova, D., Castet, F., Olivier, Y., Chen, W., Zaborova, E., Evans, E., Drummond, B., Conaghan, P., Cui, L., Greenham, N., Puttisong, Y., Fages, F., Beljonne, D., & Friend, R. (2021). Spontaneous exciton dissociation enables spin state interconversion in delayed fluorescence organic semiconductors. Nature Communications, 12(1), 6640
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26689-8, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58730
Drummond, B., Aizawa, N., Zhang, Y., Myers, W., Xiong, Y., Cooper, M., Barlow, S., Gu, Q., Weiss, L., Gillett, A., Credgington, D., Pu, Y., Marder, S., & Evans, E. (2021). Electron spin resonance resolves intermediate triplet states in delayed fluorescence. Nature Communications, 12(1)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24612-9, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57410
Greenfield, J., Nuzzo, D., Evans, E., Senanayak, S., Schott, S., Deacon, J., Peugeot, A., Myers, W., Sirringhaus, H., Friend, R., & Nitschke, J. (2021). Electrically Induced Mixed Valence Increases the Conductivity of Copper Helical Metallopolymers. Advanced Materials, 33(24), 2100403
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202100403, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57562
Hudson, J., Hele, T., & Evans, E. (2021). Efficient light-emitting diodes from organic radicals with doublet emission. Journal of Applied Physics, 129(18), 180901
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0047636, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa56659
Abdurahman, A., Hele, T., Gu, Q., Zhang, J., Peng, Q., Zhang, M., Friend, R., Li, F., & Evans, E. (2020). Understanding the luminescent nature of organic radicals for efficient doublet emitters and pure-red light-emitting diodes. Nature Materials, 19(11), 1224-1229.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0705-9, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57563
Cui, L., Gillett, A., Zhang, S., Ye, H., Liu, Y., Chen, X., Lin, Z., Evans, E., Myers, W., Ronson, T., Nakanotani, H., Reineke, S., Bredas, J., Adachi, C., & Friend, R. (2020). Fast spin-flip enables efficient and stable organic electroluminescence from charge-transfer states. Nature Photonics, 14(10), 636-642.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-0668-z, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57564
Ascherl, L., Evans, E., Gorman, J., Orsborne, S., Bessinger, D., Bein, T., Friend, R., & Auras, F. (2019). Perylene-Based Covalent Organic Frameworks for Acid Vapor Sensing. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141(39), 15693-15699.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b08079, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57565
Guo, H., Peng, Q., Chen, X., Gu, Q., Dong, S., Evans, E., Gillett, A., Ai, X., Zhang, M., Credgington, D., Coropceanu, V., Friend, R., Brédas, J., & Li, F. (2019). High stability and luminescence efficiency in donor–acceptor neutral radicals not following the Aufbau principle. Nature Materials, 18(9), 977-984.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0433-1, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57566
Montanaro, S., Gillett, A., Feldmann, S., Evans, E., Plasser, F., Friend, R., & Wright, I. (2019). Red-shifted delayed fluorescence at the expense of photoluminescence quantum efficiency – an intramolecular charge-transfer molecule based on a benzodithiophene-4,8-dione acceptor. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 21(20), 10580-10586.
https://doi.org/10.1039/c9cp02186h, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57567
Ai, X., Evans, E., Dong, S., Gillett, A., Guo, H., Chen, Y., Hele, T., Friend, R., & Li, F. (2018). Efficient radical-based light-emitting diodes with doublet emission. Nature, 563(7732), 536-540.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0695-9, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57568
Ascherl, L., Evans, E., Hennemann, M., Nuzzo, D., Hufnagel, A., Beetz, M., Friend, R., Clark, T., Bein, T., & Auras, F. (2018). Solvatochromic covalent organic frameworks. Nature Communications, 9(1)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06161-w, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57569
Greenfield, J., Evans, E., Nuzzo, D., Antonio, M., Friend, R., & Nitschke, J. (2018). Unraveling Mechanisms of Chiral Induction in Double-Helical Metallopolymers. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 140(32), 10344-10353.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b06195, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57571
Conaghan, P., Menke, S., Romanov, A., Jones, S., Pearson, A., Evans, E., Bochmann, M., Greenham, N., Credgington, D., & Evans, E. (2018). Efficient Vacuum‐Processed Light‐Emitting Diodes Based on Carbene–Metal–Amides. Advanced Materials, 30(35), 1802285
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201802285, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57570
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma.201802285
Evans, E., Olivier, Y., Puttisong, Y., Myers, W., Hele, T., Menke, S., Thomas, T., Credgington, D., Beljonne, D., Friend, R., & Greenham, N. (2018). Vibrationally Assisted Intersystem Crossing in Benchmark Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Molecules. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 9(14), 4053-4058.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b01556, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57572
Evans, E., Kattnig, D., Henbest, K., Hore, P., Mackenzie, S., & Timmel, C. (2016). Sub-millitesla magnetic field effects on the recombination reaction of flavin and ascorbic acid radicals. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 145(8), 085101
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4961266, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57573
Kattnig, D., Evans, E., Déjean, V., Dodson, C., Wallace, M., Mackenzie, S., Timmel, C., & Hore, P. (2016). Chemical amplification of magnetic field effects relevant to avian magnetoreception. Nature Chemistry, 8(4), 384-391.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2447, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57574
Evans, E., Li, J., Storey, J., Maeda, K., Henbest, K., Dodson, C., Hore, P., Mackenzie, S., & Timmel, C. (2015). Sensitive fluorescence-based detection of magnetic field effects in photoreactions of flavins. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 17(28), 18456-18463.
https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cp00723b, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57575

Supervision

Untitled (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Dr Martin Gill
Radical Photon-Spin Interface in Materials and Devices (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Matthew Davies
Organic Electronics - Radical materials and devices for opto-spintronics (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Paul Meredith

Taught Modules

CH-127 Chemical Practice

This module will introduce students to the three broad employment areas for chemistry: research, teaching or industrial positions. The lecture portion will cover fundamental aspects of being a professional chemist including safety, report writing, project management, and teaching skills. Students will attend research seminars and workshops, industrial field trips, and supervise school pupils in the laboratory. Assessment will be by coursework and a written report.
CH-237 Further Physical Chemistry

This module will advance students¿ studies in Physical Chemistry. The module provides a more in-depth look at thermodynamics from both the classical and molecular viewpoints, the thermodynamics of mixing and chemical equilibrium. Electrochemistry is covered from a fundamental and applied view and serves is used to further discuss thermodynamics, non-ideal behaviour and equilibrium. A deeper look at kinetics is then included that builds on prior knowledge and highlights the importance of kinetics in chemical reactions and processes. The module will build on existing understanding, further developing mathematical skills to explore the material covered in this module. In the laboratory students will undertake more advanced investigative experiments to explore the physical concepts. Material, techniques and skills covered in the course of this module will build on and therefore require understanding of all prior modules. The module will be assessed by coursework (laboratory experiments, laboratory report and assignments) and by examination.
CH-342 Advanced Topics in Physical, Instrumental and Analytical Chemistry

This module completes the core aspects of Physical Chemistry for the undergraduate programme, applying existing understanding of thermodynamics and quantum mechanics to connect the quantum world with the observable world in Statistical Mechanics and relating quantum understanding to the application of light in chemical reactions. Laboratory experiments will be fully investigative, with students carrying out advanced `mini projects¿ to initiate and guide students in elementary research skills in preparation for their research projects. Material, techniques and skills covered in the course of this module will require understanding of prior modules.
CH-344 Chemistry Project

3rd year projects are the opportunity to bring all you've learnt during your degree together and apply that knowledge to solve a problem. In Swansea these projects can be embedded in active research groups across the colleges of science, engineering or medicine, allowing you to build a network and experience in your chosen specialism within the chemical sciences. These projects are your opportunity to demonstrate to employers that you have a full understanding of your course and are able to direct your own studies, manage an independent research project and effectively communicate your findings. This selection suggests an interest in a project embedded within a research group in engineering, focusing on materials chemistry or chemical engineering
CH-409 MChem Research Project

MChem projects are the defining feature of the integrated masters with a chance to contribute research work of potentially publishable standard to an active research group within the University. In Swansea these projects can be embedded in active research groups across the Faculty of Science and Engineering or the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science, allowing you to build a network and experience in your chosen specialism within the chemical sciences. These projects are an excellent way of managing the transition on to your next destination after undergraduate study, whether that is a postgraduate research studentship or into employment. The skills developed in the MChem projects demonstrate the ability to successfully deliver all aspects of a 60 credit research project and on exit you will have demonstrated the academic equivalence and begun developing the other skills required for entry into professional development schemes leading to chartership. This selection suggests an interest in a project embedded within a research group in science, focusing on straight chemistry, or interacting and collaborating with another department such as bioscience, geography, physics, maths or computer science.

Key Grants and Projects

EPSRC New Investigator Award 2022 - 2025
Royal Society University Research Fellowship 2020 - 2025
Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (+ Isaac Newton Trust) 2019 - 2022

Dr Emrys Evans

Email address

Welsh language proficiency

Twitter Account

LinkedIn Account

Research Links

About

Areas Of Expertise

Career Highlights

Publications

Research Highlights

All Research

Journal Articles

Supervision

Untitled (current)

Radical Photon-Spin Interface in Materials and Devices (current)

Organic Electronics - Radical materials and devices for opto-spintronics (current)

Taught Modules

CH-127 Chemical Practice

CH-237 Further Physical Chemistry

CH-342 Advanced Topics in Physical, Instrumental and Analytical Chemistry

CH-344 Chemistry Project

CH-409 MChem Research Project

Key Grants and Projects

EPSRC New Investigator Award 2022 - 2025

Royal Society University Research Fellowship 2020 - 2025

Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (+ Isaac Newton Trust) 2019 - 2022