Introduction
James Robert Durrant FRS is a Professor of Photochemistry in the faculty of Natural Sciences, department of Chemistry at Imperial College London and Sêr Cymru Solar Professor in the College of Engineering at Swansea University. He is the Director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics (CPE).
Education
Durrant was educated at Imperial College London where he was awarded a PhD in 1991 for research on photosystem II using spectroscopy.
Career and research
Durrant's research focuses on a range of photochemical applications including Solar Cells, Solar Fuel Production and Photocatalysis, Nanomaterials and Plastic Electronics and has authored over 400 publications, in 2015 he was named as a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters meaning he ranked in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year (in Web of Science).
Aside from research Durrant is also involved in teaching Photochemistry at Imperial College London.
Awards and honours
Durrant was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017 for his research contributions in photochemistry of new materials for use in solar energy conversion – specifically targeting both solar cells (photovoltaics) and solar to fuel (i.e.: artificial photosynthesis). He was also award the Tilden Prize in 2012 and the Meldola Medal and Prize in 1994.