Staff profile

Luke O’Driscoll graduated from Durham University with an MChem (Hons) in 2010. He remained at Durham for his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Martin Bryce, working on responsive surfactants for the dispersion of carbon nanotubes and graphene. After completing his PhD in 2014, Luke spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern Denmark under the supervision of Prof. Jan O. Jeppesen as part of an EU Marie-Curie Initial Training Network, “MOLESCO”. Within this project Luke worked on the synthesis and characterisation of redox active molecular switches for use in molecular scale electronics. In 2017 Luke returned to Durham and the Bryce group to continue with postdoctoral work in molecular electronics, designing and synthesising molecular wires to investigate both enhanced surface binding and quantum interference effects.

In 2021, Luke took up a teaching role at Durham, initially as a Teaching Fellow. He is currently an Assistant Professor (Education). He is part of the Level 2 Practical Chemistry module leadership team. He retains an interest in organic materials chemistry research by working with MChem project students and teaching related material in lecture courses. In 2026, Luke became chair of the Chemistry Department Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Teaching

Main Teaching Responsibilities (2026-27):

• Module Leadership Team and Senior Demonstrator: Practical Chemistry 2 - Integrated, Practical Chemistry 2 - Synthetic and Practical Chemistry 2 - Measurement.
• Senior Demonstrator: Experimental Chemistry II: Developing Laboratory Expertise
• Lecturer: Organic Materials (Materials Chemistry)
• Tutorials: Chemical Systems and Change: Structure and Dynamics (Organic)
• Supervision (Chemistry BSc Dissertation, Chemistry Literature Perspective, Chemistry Research Project)
• Workshops: Transition and Skills Weeks

Previous Teaching Responsibilities:

• Module Leader and Senior Demonstrator: Practical Chemistry 1A
• Module Leader and Senior Demonstrator: Practical Chemistry 1B
• Lecturer: Introduction to Polymer Chemistry (Introduction to Materials Chemistry)
• Lecturer: Spectroscopy and Proof of Structure (Core Chemistry 1)
• Tutorials: Core Chemistry 1 (Organic)
• Tutorials: Core Chemistry 2 (Organic)

Journal Article

• Heteroatom Effects on Quantum Interference in Molecular Junctions: Exploring Perturbation through Multiple Cross-Conjugation
  
  O’Driscoll, L. J., Targett, J. M., Xu, W., Salthouse, R. J., Williams, L. J., Daaoub, A., Sangtarash, S., Hong, W., Sadeghi, H., & Bryce, M. R. (2026). Heteroatom Effects on Quantum Interference in Molecular Junctions: Exploring Perturbation through Multiple Cross-Conjugation. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 130(15), 5610-5618. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5c08386
• Post-16 students’ experience of practical science during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on students’ self-efficacy in practical work
  
  Cramman, H., Arenas, B., Awais, R., Balaban, C., Cropper, C., Dennis, F., Finch, K., Gray, H., Hall, A., Kitchen, G., Norman, K., O’Driscoll, L., Petts, P., Petri, S., Robson, J., Rosenburgh, A., Shields, L., Swift, G. P., & Vaughan, H. (2024). Post-16 students’ experience of practical science during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on students’ self-efficacy in practical work. Enhancing Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2, 39-69. https://doi.org/10.62512/etlhe.14
• Planar aromatic anchors control the electrical conductance of gold|molecule|graphene junctions
  
  O’Driscoll, L. J., Jay, M., Robinson, B. J., Sadeghi, H., Wang, X., Penhale-Jones, B., Bryce, M. R., & Lambert, C. J. (2023). Planar aromatic anchors control the electrical conductance of gold|molecule|graphene junctions. Nanoscale Advances, 5(8), 2299-2306. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2na00873d
• Electrostatic Fermi level tuning in large-scale self-assembled monolayers of oligo(phenylene–ethynylene) derivatives
  
  Wang, X., Ismael, A., Ning, S., Althobaiti, H., Al-Jobory, A., Girovsky, J., Astier, H. P., O’Driscoll, L. J., Bryce, M. R., Lambert, C. J., & Ford, C. J. (2022). Electrostatic Fermi level tuning in large-scale self-assembled monolayers of oligo(phenylene–ethynylene) derivatives. Nanoscale Horizons, 7(10), 1201-1209. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2nh00241h
• Extended curly arrow rules to rationalise and predict structural effects on quantum interference in molecular junctions
  
  O’Driscoll, L. J., & Bryce, M. R. (2021). Extended curly arrow rules to rationalise and predict structural effects on quantum interference in molecular junctions. Nanoscale, 13(2), 1103-1123. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0nr07819k
• Heteroatom Effects on Quantum Interference in Molecular Junctions: Modulating Antiresonances by Molecular Design
  
  O’Driscoll, L. J., Sangtarash, S., Xu, W., Daaoub, A., Hong, W., Sadeghi, H., & Bryce, M. R. (2021). Heteroatom Effects on Quantum Interference in Molecular Junctions: Modulating Antiresonances by Molecular Design. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 125(31), 17385-17391. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c04242
• A review of oligo(arylene ethynylene) derivatives in molecular junctions
  
  O’Driscoll, L. J., & Bryce, M. R. (2021). A review of oligo(arylene ethynylene) derivatives in molecular junctions. Nanoscale, 13(24), 10668-10711. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1nr02023d
• Unusual dual-emissive heteroleptic iridium complexes incorporating TADF cyclometalating ligands
  
  Benjamin, H., Zheng, Y., Kozhevnikov, V. N., Siddle, J. S., O’Driscoll, L. J., Fox, M. A., Batsanov, A. S., Griffiths, G. C., Dias, F. B., Monkman, A. P., & Bryce, M. R. (2020). Unusual dual-emissive heteroleptic iridium complexes incorporating TADF cyclometalating ligands. Dalton Transactions, 49(7), 2190-2208. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9dt04672k
• Carbazole‐Based Tetrapodal Anchor Groups for Gold Surfaces: Synthesis and Conductance Properties
  
  Bryce, M. R., O’Driscoll, L., Wang, X., Jay, M., Batsanov, A., Sadeghi, H., Lambert, C., & Robinson, B. (2020). Carbazole‐Based Tetrapodal Anchor Groups for Gold Surfaces: Synthesis and Conductance Properties. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 59(2), 882-889. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201911652
• Formation of Two-Dimensional Micelles on Graphene: Multi-Scale Theoretical and Experimental Study
  
  Robinson, B. J., Bailey, S. W., O’Driscoll, L. J., Visontai, D., Welsh, D. J., Mostert, A. B., Mazzocco, R., Rabot, C., Jarvis, S. P., Kolosov, O. V., Bryce, M. R., & Lambert, C. (2017). Formation of Two-Dimensional Micelles on Graphene: Multi-Scale Theoretical and Experimental Study. ACS Nano, 11(3), 3404-3412. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.7b01071
• Key role of the linker in pyrene-linker-carboxylate surfactants for the efficient aqueous dispersion of multiwalled carbon nanotubes
  
  Welsh, D. J., O’Driscoll, L. J., Bailey, S. W., Visontai, D., Howes, K., Frampton, H., Bryce, M. R., & Lambert, C. J. (2015). Key role of the linker in pyrene-linker-carboxylate surfactants for the efficient aqueous dispersion of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. RSC Advances, 5(115), 95360-95368. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ra20250g