Biography
Colm is Assistant Professor of Inorganic and Materials Chemistry at the University of Dublin, Trinity College Dublin. He is an emerging leader in the field of sensing, bio-diagnostics, microfluidics, and materials development. After completing his PhD in 2016 in Trinity College Dublin, under the supervision of Prof. Sylvia Draper, he took a Postdoctoral role at Dublin City University. During this time, he served as scientific coordinator of an FP7 Project, lead researcher and co-applicant on a Technology Innovation Development Award (TIDA) and directed a research project in conjunction with Air-Force Research Laboratories (USA) and GE Global Research. From December 2018 he led a research group at University College Dublin. In October 2020 he returned to TCD upon receiving a 2-year Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship entitled `Bio-Inspired Photonic Sensors". In 2021, Colm was awarded a MSCA International Fellowship at University of Cambridge. In 2022, he accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the School of Chemistry, TCD and received a prestigious ERC Starting Grant to establish his own research group in the School of Chemistry and AMBER Centre, Trinity College Dublin. Colm's research draws on inspiration from natural systems that have perfected the ability to morph their colour, visibility, and reflectivity, to camouflage, signal, mimic, distract, and regulate biological processes. The group will use this approach to generate structural colours, multiple band-gap materials, invisible patterns upon polarisation, angle (in)dependent colours, and optical stimuli-responsive behaviour that can compete with natural systems. They advance these models to demonstrate wireless manipulation using light, heat, or vapour, camouflaging and encryption, and the ability to monitor, sense, and diagnose by discriminative optical sensing in gaseous and liquid states.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Maher, Daniel, Piekarczyk, Marcin, Sützl, Stefan, Vilella, Andreu Murillo, Fiechter, Marc, Tskhe, Yekaterina, Delaney, Colm, Taboryski, Rafael, Florea, Larisa, Bunea, Ada"Ioana, Multimaterial Microrobots for pH Sensing Fabricated Using Sequential 3D and 4D Printing with Automated Alignment, Advanced Materials Technologies, 11, (2), 2026
McKiernan, Eoin P., Ennis, Alexa, Delaney, Colm, Florea, Larisa, Brougham, Dermot F., Polymer/iron-oxide nanocomposite adsorbents for cycled magnetically-enabled extraction of aqueous micropollutants, RSC Sustainability, 2026
Delente, Jason M., Kolagatla, Srikanth, Lopez-Larrea, Naroa, Criado-Gonzalez, Miryam, Carlotti, Marco, Rodriguez, Brian J., Delaney, Colm, Mecerreyes, David, Mattoli, Virgilio, Florea, Larisa, Fabrication of 3D PEDOT:PSS composite microstructures via two-photon polymerisation, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 2026
Faraone, Teodora, Qian, Jing, Kolagatla, Srikanth, Bradley, A. Louise, Florea, Larisa, Delaney, Colm, Direct Laser Writing of Polymer Nanocomposites for Tunable Structural Color, Advanced Materials, 37, (43), 2025
Jing Qian, Yekaterina Tskhe, A. Louise Bradley, Larisa Florea, and Colm Delaney, A Robust pH Sensing Module Utilizing Reproducible Structural Colour Fabricated by Two-Photon Polymerisation, EOSAM 2025, 2025
Izaddoust, Sepideh, Poves-Ruiz, Isabel, Hualde, Enrique Azuaje, Patko, Daniel, Florea, Larisa, Delaney, Colm, Basabe-Desmonts, Lourdes, Benito-Lopez, Fernando, Present and future of smart functional materials as actuators in microfluidic devices, Lab on a Chip, 25, (23), 2025, p6075-6099
Lázaro, Isabel Abánades and Anastasaki, Athina and Ardoña, Herdeline Ann M. and Arguilla, Maxx Q. and Bati, Abdulaziz S.R. and Batmunkh, Munkhbayar and Besford, Quinn A. and Browne, Michelle P. and Bryant, Saffron J. and Carlotti, Marco and Contini, Claudia and Delaney, Colm and Draper, Emily R. and Elbourne, Aaron and Evans, Jack D. and Florea, Larisa and Forner-Cuenca, Antoni and Forse, Alexander C. and Gonzalez, Miguel I. and Krause, Simon and Lee, Hiang Kwee and Lerch, Michael M. and Liu, Shi and López-Salas, Nieves and Martin-Martinez, Francisco J. and Pezzato, Cristian and Protesescu, Loredana and Schaufelberger, Fredrik and Pascual, Paula Sebastián and Fernández, Aránzazu Sierra and Tarpeh, William A. and Vilé, Gianvito and von Krbek, Larissa K.S. and Wang, Hongzhang and Wu, Tailin and Wells, Connor J.R. and Cranford, Steven W., 35 challenges in materials science being tackled by PIs under 35(ish) in 2024, Matter, 7, (11), 2024, p3699 â" 3706
Augustine, A. and Qian, J. and Faraone, T. and Kolagatla, S. and Prochukhan, N. and Morris, M.A. and Bradley, A.L. and Florea, L. and Delaney, C., Direct Laser Writing of Silica Nanoparticle Nanocomposites: Probing Mechanical Reinforcement and Understanding Structural Color from Design Parameters, Small, 2024
Qian, Jing and Kolagatla, Srikanth and Zhang, Xia and Florea, Larisa and Delaney, Colm and Bradley, A. Louise, Novel applications based on dynamic color of photonic structures printed by two-photon lithography, Novel Optical Materials and Applications 2023, 2023
Geoghegan, N. and O'Loughlin, M. and Delaney, C. and Rochfort, K.D. and Kennedy, M. and Kolagatla, S. and Podhorska, L. and Rodriguez, B.J. and Florea, L. and Kelleher, S.M., Controlled degradation of polycaprolactone-based micropillar arrays, Biomaterials Science, 11, (9), 2023, p3077-3091
Qian, J. and Kolagatla, S. and Pacalova, A. and Zhang, X. and Florea, L. and Delaney, C. and Bradley, A.L., TPL-fabricated responsive hydrogel-based micro photonic structures for visible vapor sensing, SPIE Organic Photonics + Electronics, 2023, 12663, (1266304), 2023
Murphy, R.D. and Delaney, C. and Kolagatla, S. and Florea, L. and Hawker, C.J. and Heise, A., Design of Statistical Copolypeptides as Multipurpose Hydrogel Resins in 3D Printing, Advanced Functional Materials, 33, (52), 2023
Ennis, Alexa, Nicdao, Deanna, Kolagatla, Srikanth, Dowling, Luke, Tskhe, Yekaterina, Thompson, Alex J., Trimble, Daniel, Delaney, Colm, Florea, Larisa, Two"Photon Polymerization of Sugar Responsive 4D Microstructures, Advanced Functional Materials, 33, (39), 2023
J. Qian, S. Kolagatla, A. Pacalovas, X. Zhang, L. Florea, A. L. Bradley, and C. Delaney, Responsive spiral photonic structures for visible vapor sensing, pattern transformation and encryption, Advanced Functional Materials, 2023
Donato, S. and Nocentini, S. and Martella, D. and Kolagatla, S. and Wiersma, D.S. and Parmeggiani, C. and Delaney, C. and Florea, L., Liquid Crystalline Network Microstructures for Stimuli Responsive Labels with Multi-Level Encryption, Small, 2023
Alexa Ennis, Deanna Nicdao, Srikanth Kolagatla, Luke Dowling, Yekaterina Tskhe, Alex J. Thompson, Daniel Trimble, Colm Delaney, Larisa Florea, Two-Photon Polymerization of Sugar Responsive 4D Microstructures, Advanced Functional Materials, 2023
J Qian, C Delaney, X Zhang, L Florea, AL Bradley, Direct laser writing of submicron photonic arrays for vapor-responsive sensing, Optica Advanced materials Congress, Maastricht,Limburg Netherlands, 24/7/2022, 2022
Colm Delaney, Jing Qian, Xia Zhang, Radislav Potyrailo, A. Louise Bradley, Larisa Florea, Direct laser writing of vapour-responsive photonic arrays, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 9, 2021, p11674 - 11678
Dunne, A. and Francis, W. and Delaney, C. and Florea, L. and Diamond, D. and Ramadan, M., Stimuli-Controlled Fluid Control and Microvehicle Movement in Microfluidic Channels, 2021, 128-157pp
Marc del Pozo, Colm Delaney, Marina Pilz da Cunha, Michael G. Debije, Larisa Florea, Albert P. H. J. Schenning, Temperature-Responsive 4D Liquid Crystal Microactuators Fabricated by Direct Laser Writing by Two-Photon Polymerization, Small Structures, 2021, p10.1002/sstr.2
McCormack, James C., Podhorska, Lucia, Delaney, Colm, Zhang, Fengyuan, Rodriguez, Brian J., Kelleher, Susan M., High Aspect Ratio Polymeric Nanoneedle Arrays, Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, 306, (4), 2021, p2000754
Danielle Bruen, Colm Delaney, Johnson Chung, Kalani Ruberu, Gordon G. Wallace, Dermot Diamond, Larisa Florea, 3D Printed Sugar-Sensing Hydrogels, Macromolecular Rapid Communications, 2020
Marc del Pozo, Colm Delaney, Cees W. M. Bastiaansen, Dermot Diamond, Albert P. H. J. Schenning, Larisa Florea, Direct Laser Writing of Four-Dimensional Structural Color Microactuators Using a Photonic Photoresist, ACS Nano, 2020
Geoghegan, N. and Delaney, C. and Florea, L. and O'Loughlin, M. and Kelleher, S.M., Two-photon polymerization of masters for polymeric nanopillar replication, 24th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, MicroTAS 2020; Virtual, Online, 2020, pp368-369
Delaney, Colm, Geoghegan, Niamh, Ibrahim, Hossam, O'Loughlin, Mark Thomas, Rodriguez, Brian J., Florea, Larisa, Kelleher, Susan M, Direct Laser Writing to Generate Molds for Polymer Nanopillar Replication, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2020
del Pozo, M. and Delaney, C. and Bastiaansen, C.W.M. and Diamond, D. and Schenning, A.P.H.J. and Florea, L., Four-dimensional photonic micro-actuators for microfluidics applications, 24th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, MicroTAS 2020; Virtual, Online, 2020, pp346-347
Daikuzono, Cristiane M., Delaney, Colm, Morrin, Aoife, Diamond, Dermot, Florea, Larisa, Oliveira, Osvaldo N., Paper based electronic tongue: a low-cost solution for the distinction of sugar type and apple juice brand, The Analyst, 144, (8), 2019, p2827-2832
Danielle Bruen, Paula P. Campos, Marystela Ferreira, Dermot Diamond, Colm Delaney*, Larisa Florea*, Boronic Acid Homopolymers as Effective Polycations for Sugar-Responsive Layer-by-Layer Assemblies, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 1, (5), 2019, p990 - 996
Stuttgen, Vivien, Giffney, Hugh E., Anandan, Ayana, Alabdali, Anwar, Twarog, Caroline, Belhout, Samir A., O"Loughlin, Mark., Podhorska, Lucia, Delaney, Colm, Geoghegan, Niamh, Mc-Fadden, Jessica, Alhadhrami, Nahlah A., Fleming, Aisling, Phadke, Shreyas, Yadav, Ravi, Fattah, Sarinj, McCartney, Fiona, Alsharif, Shada Ali, McCaul, Jasmin, Singh, Krutika, Erikandath, Sumesh, O"Meara, Fergal, Wychowaniec, Jacek K., Cutrona, Meritxell B., MacMaster, Gwyneth, Reynolds, Alison L., Gaines, Susan, Hogg, Bridget, Farrelly, Marc, d"Alton, Mark, Coulahan, Peter, Bhattacharjee, Sourav, The UCD nanosafety workshop (03 December 2018): towards developing a consensus on safe handling of nanomaterials within the Irish university labs and beyond " a report, Nanotoxicology, 13, (6), 2019, p717-732
Danielle Bruen, Colm Delaney, Dermot Diamond, Larisa Florea, Fluorescent Probes for Sugar Detection, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2018
Akyazi T., Saez J., Tudor A., Delaney C., Francis W., Diamond D., Basabe-Desmonts L., Florea L., Benito-Lopez F., Applications of Ionic Liquid Materials in Microfluidic Devices, RSC Smart Materials, 2018-January, (28), 2018, p234 - 271, p234-271
Dunne A., Delaney C., McKeon A., Nesterenko P., Paull B., Benito-Lopez F., Diamond D., Florea L., Micro-capillary coatings based on spiropyran polymeric brushes for metal ion binding, detection, and release in continuous flow, Sensors (Switzerland), 18, (4), 2018
Paula P. Campos, Aishling Dunne, Colm Delaney, Cara Moloney, Simon E. Moulton, Fernando Benito-Lopez, Marystela Ferreira, Dermot Diamond, Larisa Florea, Photoswitchable Layer-by-Layer Coatings Based on Photochromic Polynorbornenes Bearing Spiropyran Side Groups, Langmuir, 2018
Tudor A., Delaney C., Zhang H., Thompson A.J., Curto V.F., Yang G.-Z., Higgins M.J., Diamond D., Florea L., Fabrication of soft, stimulus-responsive structures with sub-micron resolution via two-photon polymerization of poly(ionic liquid)s, Materials Today, 21, (8), 2018, p807 - 816, p807-816
Ren, J., Larkin, E., Delaney, C., Song, Y., Jin, X., Amirjalayer, S., Bakker, A., Du, S., Gao, H., Zhang, Y.-Y., Draper, S.M., Fuchs, H., Chemistry of 4-[(4-bromophenyl)ethynyl]pyridine at metal surfaces studied by STM, Chemical Communications, 54, (67), 2018, p9305 - 9308
Qian Shen, Eugene J. Larkin, Colm Delaney, Yingchun Cheng, Chunyang Miao, Xiong Zhou, Lacheng Liu, Wei Huang, Hongying Gao, Sylvia M. Draper, Harald Fuchs, Coordination Reactions of 5-(2-(4-Bromophenyl)ethynyl)pyrimidine in On-Surface Synthesis, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 122, (16), 2018, p8954--8959
Florea, Larisa, Francis, Wayne, Delaney, Colm, Diamond, Dermot, Stimuli-Controlled Manipulation of Synthetic Micrometre-Sized Vehicles for Bio-Inspired Fluidics, MDPI, 2017
Wayne Francis, Aishling Dunne, Colm Delaney, Larisa Florea, and Dermot Diamond, Spiropyran Based Hydrogels Actuators- Walking in the Light, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2017
Bruen D., Delaney C., Florea L., Diamond D., Glucose sensing for diabetes monitoring: Recent developments, Sensors (Switzerland), 17, (8), 2017
Florea, Larisa, Dunne, Aishling, Bruen, Danielle, Delaney, Colm, McCluskey, Peter, Diamond, Dermot, Stimuli-Responsive Materials and Biomimetic Fluidics: Fundamental Building Blocks of Chemical Sensing Platforms with Futuristic Capabilities, MDPI, 2017
C. M. Daikuzono, C. Delaney, H. Tesfay, L. Florea, O. N. Oliveira, A. Morrin, D. Diamond, Impedance spectroscopy for monosaccharides detection using responsive hydrogel modified paper-based electrodes, The Analyst, 142, (7), 2017, p1133--1139
CHAPTER 9. Applications of Ionic Liquid Materials in Microfluidic Devices in, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2017, pp234-271 , [Akyazi, Tugçe, Saez, Janire, Tudor, Alexandru, Delaney, Colm, Francis, Wayne, Diamond, Dermot, Basabe-Desmonts, Lourdes, Florea, Larisa, Benito-Lopez, Fernando]
Delaney, Colm, McCluskey, Peter, Coleman, Simon, Whyte, Jeffrey, Kent, Nigel, Diamond, Dermot, Precision control of flow rate in microfluidic channels using photoresponsive soft polymer actuators, Lab on a Chip, 17, (11), 2017, p2013-2021
Yue Lu,[a] Niamh McGoldrick,[a] Frances Murphy,[a] Brendan Twamley,[a] Xiaoneng Cui,[b] Colm Delaney,[a] Gearóid M. Ó Máille,[a] Junsi Wang,[a] Jianzhang Zhao[b] and Sylvia M. Draper*[a], Highly efficient triplet photosensitizers: a systematic approach to the application of Ir(III) complexes containing extended phenanthrolines, Chemistry - a European Journal, 22, 2016, p11349 - 11356
Delaney, C., Ó Máille, G.M., Twamley, B., Draper, S.M., One-Pot, High-Yielding, Oxidative Cyclodehydrogenation Route for N-Doped Nanographene Synthesis, Organic Letters, 18, (1), 2016, p88-91
Francis, W. and Delaney, C. and Florea, L. and Diamond, D., Self-powered micro-droplets for biomimetic microfluidics, 2016, pp758-759
Aishling Dunne, Colm Delaney, Larisa Florea, and Dermot Diamond, Solvato-morphologically controlled, reversible NIPAAm hydrogel photoactuators, RSC Advances, 2016
C. Delaney, S. D. Perera, G.M. O". Ma"ille and S. M. Draper, Intriguing Diels-Alder products: Chiral Centres with an added twist, Chemical Communications, 50, (13), 2014, p1599 - 1601
S. P. Anthony, C. Delaney, S.Varughese, L. Wang, S.M. Draper*a, Supramolecular luminescent system based on 2-cyano-3(4-(diphenylamino)phenyl) acrylic acid: Chiral luminescent host for selective CH3CN sensor, CrystEngComm, 13, (22), 2011, p6706 - 6711
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Colm DELANEY, Larisa Elena FLOREA, Danielle BRUEN, Dermot Diamond, 'Boronic acid derivatives for diol-sensing hydrogels', , 2018, 17 January 2023
Research Expertise
Description
My research focuses on using synthetic chemistry, molecular design and characterisation to generate novel functional materials, such as high refractive index nano materials, stimuli-responsive polymers, ionic liquids and poly(ionic liquids), and combines this with 3D fabrication techniques, such as direct light projection and direct laser writing to generate novel nanostructured materials, molecular sensors and dynamic photonic devices.Recognition
Awards and Honours
European Research Council Starting Awardee
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship Awardee
Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship Awardee
Best presentation given by an Early Career Researcher, 2022 MRS Fall Meeting, Hawaii, USA, entitled "Direct Laser Writing of Bioinspired Functional Materials"
Dublin City University Commercialisation Awardee - Awarded for successful international collaboration with UES & GE Global Research under the NBMC Consortium
TCD Demonstrator of the Year Awardee
TCD Runner-up BOC Gases Prize Awardee
TCD Runner-up Dorgan Prize Awardee
TCD Demonstrator of the Year Award
Memberships
Associate Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Affiliate Member of the American Chemical Society