GRADUATE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

March 2022: Caitlin McGranahan

Caitlin McGranahan.

Caitlin McGranahan, 6th year PhD student in Prof. Watson's group

NOTABLE RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS

Publications:

(1)   “Influence of donor-to-acceptor ratio on excited-state electron transfer within covalently tethered CdSe/CdTe quantum dot colloidal heterostructures”, Caitlin R. McGranahan and David F. Watson*, Published in: AIP The Journal of Chemical Physics as a part of the JCP Special Topic on Transport of Charge and Energy in Low-Dimensional Materials, February 2022.
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0078549

(2)   “Lone but Not Alone: Precise Positioning of Lone Pairs for the Design of Photocatalytic Architectures”, Joseph V. Handy, Wasif Zaheer,† Arianna R. M. Rothfuss,† Caitlin R. McGranahan,† George Agbeworvi, Justin L. Andrews, Karoline E. García-Pedraza, John D. Ponis, Jaime R. Ayala, Yu Ding, David F. Watson,* and Sarbajit Banerjee*. † designates contributed equally. Published in: Chemistry of Materials, January 2022.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.1c03762

(3)   “Excited-State Charge Transfer and Extended Charge Separation within Covalently Tethered Type-II CdSe/CdTe Quantum Dot Heterostructures: Colloidal and Multilayered Systems”, Caitlin R. McGranahan, Guy E. Wolfe II, Alejandro Falca, and David F. Watson, Published in: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, June 2021.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.1c05653

Research Highlight

My research focuses on characterization of photoinduced interfacial charge-transfer dynamics within dual-quantum dot (QD) heterostructures, both colloidal and surface-immobilized, working towards applications in redox photocatalysis. Currently, I am working on characterizing photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution within Sb2VO5/QD heterostructures as possible next generation photocatalysts for solar fuel production.

The chemistry department at UB is very welcoming, with an overwhelming sense of community and collaboration between graduate students as well as faculty. Additionally, my work environment as well as the relationships I have formed with my colleagues and advisor has made a positive impact on my graduate career.

Outside of lab I enjoy relaxing and spending time with my family, friends, and pets. I also enjoy doing puzzles, playing video games, and of course, attending all of the Buffalo Bills home games.

Congratulations Caitlin!

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