Catherine Suenne De Castro

Postdoctoral Fellows

Current

Location:

Al Kindi B5/L3 3204-WS15

Social Profile:

Research Interests

Catherine’s major research interests are directed towards the accurate photophysical characterization of materials. Her work is currently focused on photocatalysis and organic photovoltaics although she has extensive experience with perovskites, fluorescence probes and chemosensors as well as complex polymer systems.

Selected Publications

  • Bertrandie, J.; Han, J.; De Castro, C. S. P.; Yengel, E.; Gorenflot, J.; Anthopoulos, T.; Laquai, F.; Sharma, A.; Baran, D. The Energy Level Conundrum of Organic Semiconductors in Solar Cells. Advanced Materials. 34 (35), 2202575, 2022. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202202575
  • Doolin, A. J.; Charles, R. C.; De Castro, C. S. P.; Rodriguez, R. G.; Péan, E. V.; Patidar, R.; Dunlop, T.; Charbonneau, C.; Watson, T; Davies, M. L. Sustainable Solvent Selection for the Manufacture of Methylammonium Lead Triiodide (MAPbI3) Perovskite Solar Cells, Green Chem., 23, 2471–2486, 2021. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/gc/d1gc00079a
  • S. Karuthedath , J. Gorenflot , Y. Firdaus , N. Chaturvedi, De Castro, C. S. P. , G. T. Harrison, J. I. Khan, A. Markina, A. H. Balawi, T. A. Dela Peña, W. Liu, R.-Z. Liang , A. Sharma, S. H. K. Paleti , W. Zhang, Y. Lin, E. Alarousu, D. H. Anjum , P. M. Beaujuge, S. De Wolf , I. McCulloch , T. D. Anthopoulos , D. Baran , D. Andrienko  and F. Laquai. Intrinsic efficiency limits in low-bandgap non-fullerene acceptor organic solar cells. Nature Materials, 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-020-00835-x
  • Péan, E. V.; Dimitrov, S.; De Castro, C. S.; Davies, M. L. Interpreting Time-Resolved Photoluminescence of Perovskite Materials. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 22, 28345-28358,  2020
  • McFarlane, T.; De Castro, C. S.; Holliman, P. J.; Davies, M. L. Improving the light harvesting and colour range of methyl ammonium lead tri bromide (MAPbBr3) perovskite solar cells through co-sensitisation with organic dyes. Chemical Communications, 55, 35-38, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8cc07298a
  • Shivaji, K.; Mani, S.; Ponmurugan, P.; De Castro, C. S.; Davies, M. L.; Balasubramanian, M. G.; Pitchaimuthu, S. Green Synthesis Derived CdS Quantum Dots Using Tea Leaf Extract: Antimicrobial, Bioimaging and Therapeutic Applications in Lung Cancer Cell. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 1 (4), 1683–1693, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.8b00147
  • De Castro, C. S.; Cova, T. F. G. G.; Pais, A. C. C.; Pinheiro, D.; Núñez, C.; Lodeiro, C.; de Melo, J. S. S. Probing Metal Cations with Two New Schiff Base Bischromophoric Pyrene based Chemosensors: Synthesis, Photophysics and Interactions Patterns. Dyes and Pigments, 134, 601-612, 2016

Education

  • ​PhD in Chemistry, Specialisation in Photochemistry, University of Coimbra, Portugal, 2016
  • Masters Degree in Advanced Chemistry, University of Coimbra, Portugal, 2010
  • BSc (Hons.), Chemistry, University of Coimbra, Portugal, 2008

Professional Profile

  • ​2018 - 2019: Post-Doctoral Fellow. Swansea University. United Kingdom
  • 2016 - 2018: Post-Doctoral Research Assistant. Swansea University. United Kingdom
  • 2015 - 2015: Fellow Researcher. University of Coimbra, Portugal. Laser Lab Europe III - Study of ultrafast photoinduced reactions
  • 2011 - 2015: PhD Fellow Researcher. University of Coimbra, Portugal. Synthesis, photophysical and molecular simulation investigations on fluorescent oligomers and polymers
  • 2010 - 2010: Fellow Researcher. University of Coimbra, Portugal. Anthocyanins as natural photoprotector

Scientific and Professional Membership

  • Early Career Representative on the RSC's Photophysics and Photochemistry Group’s Committee
  • Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
  • European Society of Photobiology (ESP)
  • Portuguese Society of Chemistry (SPQ)

Awards

  • ​ Nomination for Education/Science Award, Gala Ardina D'Ouro, Notícias de Fafe, Portugal (2019)​

KAUST Affiliations

  • ​KAUST Solar Center (KSC)
  • Division of Physical Science and Engineering (PSE)

Research Interests Keywords

Photophysics Organic Photovoltaics Photoluminescence Spectroscopy