Northwestern University Postdoctoral Association

Meet Dr. Leighton Jones! He is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry with Prof. George Schatz. His research interests are in the field of computational chemistry, which includes developing catalytic reaction mechanisms to probe their inner workings both kinetically and thermodynamically. Scroll down to learn more about him!

How would you introduce yourself?

I grew up in a small village on the East coast of England and went to university in the county of West Yorkshire, a beautiful region in the North of England. I acquired my undergraduate degree (a combined Bachelor of Science and Masters) from the University of Leeds and won the Nuffield Foundation Award and the Clothworkers Innovation Fund during this time. I received the Gunnell and Matthews Scholarship to pursue a PhD degree also in Leeds, which was defended in 2017 and won the department’s J. B. Cohen Prize the following term in 2018. In the same year, I started work at Northwestern University (Evanston campus) as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry with Prof. Mark Ratner and became a full member of the Royal society of Chemistry. I transitioned into the group of Prof. George Schatz in Feb 2019 and remained here since.

How has your journey to Northwestern University been? 

As a Brit, I settled into life relatively easily at Northwestern but had to get used to several things being in the US, from filing taxes to health insurance. Luckily, I had all the help I needed from friends and colleagues. The act of living as a postdoc in another country is full of new experiences, most notably in the small everyday things. My experience at Northwestern to date has been somewhat transformative in terms of both the research excellence and in the way the whole academic community responds in times of crisis. Everyone here is open to collaboration, which is well-established internally through the various centers and institutes that connect researchers and PIs across departments and utilize the in-house skills already here. This makes a powerful combination of scientific study and networking, not just internally but also with nearby centers such as Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The added bonus is that Northwestern’s Evanston campus is beautifully curated with its own lakefill and incredible views down along the shore to Chicago.

Tell us more about your research. 

During my PhD, I synthesized organic semiconductor candidates and performed quantum mechanical calculations with density functional theory (DFT) to understand their properties. I later chose to pursue the fast developing field of computational chemistry for the postdoc. My research interests are broad, but in general, include the study of (1) catalytic reaction mechanisms to probe their inner workings both kinetically and thermodynamically; (2) the vast field of molecular electronics, which covers everything from insulators to semiconductors (both organic and inorganic); (3) the sustainable separation of metals for electronic waste recycling; (4) the development of organic photovoltaics for solar energy capture.

With regards to catalysis, I’m part of the Institute for Catalysis in Energy Processes (ICEP), a component of the Institute for Sustainability and Energy (ISEN) at Northwestern, where we discover and develop new catalysts and surface chemistries. Working with several experimental collaborators, notably the groups of Prof. Michael Bedzyk and Prof. Tobin Marks, I help to theoretically characterize the interactions of catalytic metals such as platinum and molybdenum, that have either been deposited or functionalized onto surfaces. It was found that these systems have excellent propensity for alcohol dehydrogenation and that f-electrons do actually play a role at the valence edge.

Theory can be used to discover, with a pinch of creative exploration, unusual structures and properties that have the potential to unlock new technologies. For example, pre-pandemic in 2019 I investigated the unusual concept of conjugated organic dielectrics, and discovered it was not just possible to ensure excellent electrical insulation via quantum interference but acquire the leading dielectric value for such neutral structures in a molecular junction. In 2020 I discovered the new concept of voltage-induced Stark effects in semiconducting boron nanoflake junctions and found some exotic behaviors. These include the Stark effect shifting from linear, through quadratic to cubic responses depending on the atom-vacancy site of the boron hole. However, the technology to make atomically-precise vacancies in 2D materials is not yet available, so these findings will hopefully motivate new fabrication methods.

I am a Trainee Advisory Board member and active researcher in the Center for Sustainable Separations of Metals (CSSM), a National Science Foundation Center (NSF) who’s aim is to develop the separation and recycling of metals that are critical to the technology we use today, such as those in our smart phones, computers, cars and satellites. It is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania and co-hosted by Northwestern University among others. I’ve collaborated with researchers across the partner institutions and studied the separations of critical metals such as (1) lithium ions from sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium, to afford greater lithium recycling efficacy for batteries and the electric vehicle economy, with the group of Prof. Jonathan Sessler and Prof. Zak Page at the University of Austin, Texas; (2) the characterization of tellurium complexes with the group of Prof. Suzanne Bart at Purdue University, which have high photoconversion efficiencies (PCE) in solar cell applications but the metal itself is not directly mined; (3) separations of platinum, silver and gold among the ‘platinum group’ metals with the group of Sir Prof. Fraser Stoddart, here at Northwestern University. Ongoing projects include separations of adjacent lanthanides across the entire row with Prof. Jenifer Schafer’s group at the Colorado School of Mines, which requires hefty theoretical benchmarking. Outside of research, I’ve engaged with preparing school-based learning activities for separation science, co-wrote a perspective on the social and environmental impacts of mining, an Ecoscale review on the differences between industrial and academic metal separations and aided the production of a Google Arts and Culture online exhibition by the Science History Institute.

Another major component of my research is the development of organic photovoltaics, particularly non-fullerene acceptors with polymer donors. The PCE of these materials have leaped from ~10 % in 2018 to ~20 % in 2021, just 3 years. The extremely fast pace of this field needs fundamental understanding of the charge transfer pathways in these new and emerging materials on the fly. I’m working with a cohort of collaborators including the groups of Prof Marks, Hersam and Bedzyk here at Northwestern, Prof. Alex K.-Y. Jen in Hong Kong and researchers at Argonne National Lab and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to study the multitude of molecular architectures on device performance and continue this upward trend. A battery of World-class experimental techniques are used to elucidate the finest of structural-property phenomena, and my theoretical endeavors help to model and understand what can’t yet be seen in the lab.

More recently, one of my studies of functionalized two-dimensional materials laid the groundwork for a follow-up paper that explored some previously unknown states with carbenes. By derivatizing the organic functional group, these unknowns turned out to be non-bonding states that are ideal for optical manipulation in real electronic devices. These have immediate applications in fields who’s design strategies are conventionally challenging: molecular quantum computing with qubits. This second study was recently published in an open-access journal making it widely accessible to the public. Current efforts are extending these findings to other 2D materials.

When you’re not busy with research, what do you like to do? 

Throughout my life I’ve enjoyed travelling across Europe and round many parts of Asia. Unfortunately, the pandemic put a stop to that but it is great to see (with health and safety measures) the world slowly proceed with caution and turn a new page. There will never be a new ‘normal’ so it is important to keep focused with this ever-changing environment. I currently have plans for the UK and France this summer to see family and friends.

How can we reach you on social media/professional platforms? 

I have various profiles and media outlets, such as LinkedIn and ResearchGate, but I’m most active on Twitter, keeping it academically-focused. Twitter turns out to be a place where many PIs and researchers are promoting their recent projects and sharing others, as well as any activities and events they’re organizing or participating in. By following a wide range of scientists on Twitter it is very easy to keep up to date with what’s just published and see content that is not necessarily in my field. I’m eager to foster connections and collaborate so feel free to reach out.

You can also reach me on LinkedIn and ResearchGate.