Profile

Hi, my name is Ehren Dixon and I am an Electrochemist at Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork.

I was born in London and eventually moved to Ireland. I completed my Junior and Leaving Cert in Waterford before heading off to Cork for college.
I studied Science Education for four years at UCC before pursuing a Masters degree in Chemistry and now a PhD!

If you want to know anything about inorganic chemistry or electrochemistry, I’m your guy! 🙂

I am an Electrochemist at Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork.

My Masters was on Electroplating (Depositing solid metal onto items using electricity and chemistry) and creating new and better micro-scale devices.
We created hundreds of new micro inductors that used a new metal alloy and new micro-design to make them smaller and more energy-efficient than current ones. They were built layer by layer by depositing different metals (and plastics) in different patterns, all on one single silicon wafer.

My PhD is now on Electrosensing (Detecting gases using electricity and chemistry again :P)
We create new gas sensors to help detect various gases (Ammonia, CO2, Methane) for long periods of time. These devices will hopefully be capable of being placed on Irish farms to help detect gas emissions (pollution).

My PhD group is Vistamilk, and we’re trying to help better the dairy industry in Ireland! I’m helping by figuring out ways to detect gases in farmlands and to help stop Ireland’s gas pollution!

After having breakfast in Tyndall, I head on up to the top floor where my lab is and put on my PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). This includes a lab coat, a hairnet, gloves, shoe covers and sometimes a respirator (for all those really dangerous chemicals!)

I head over to my PC that has my special equipment attached to it. This special equipment ic called a potentiostat and it allows me to send/recieve electricity to/from various pieces of metal (electrodes). My PC lets me control what electricity I send out and helps me interpret the data I receive.

When electroplating, I send out a specific type of electricity (current and voltage) which causes dissolved metal ions in a liquid to deposit onto one of my electrodes. I can control how fast and how thick the deposited metal is by changing the electricity I send out.
I am trying to deposit new metals alloys to a specific thickness.

When electrosensing, I can send out a specific type of electricity which causes gas molecules to react with one of my electrodes. These reactions create electrical responses which I can detect and therefore know that there is a gas present and how much of it there is. I am trying to create new sensors with electrodes that can detect very small quantities of gases.

I finish up for the day by making sure my data is in readable graphs for people to see. I also make sure all my equipment is cleaned for the next day of testing.