​​Meet NICOLA'
Being a naturally curious person I’ve always been inclined towards science and engineering. Hence after graduating from BSc. Chemistry with Materials, I opted to pursue a masters in chemistry. Whenever I’m not in the lab, one can find me somewhere swimming, reading or dancing the night away with friends.
Polymeric logic gates
The field of molecular logic gates has been around for about 25 years. It incorporates various fields of chemistry such as organic and analytical chemistry to engineer new sensors which based on the same logic as electronic devices. Following my undergraduate project 1 where I synthesized a polymeric sensor that is able to detect for chloride ions and acid through their fluorescent properties, I am now synthesizing more sensors with the ability to detect for other analytes as well such as iron or sodium. This will give them the ability to potentially detect for corrosion at an early stage. Currently I am still working on the synthesis of the molecules which I will then use to obtain the polymeric sensors.
The Next step…
The next steps in my project would be to analyze the behavior of the sensors in a liquid medium and eventually at the solid state. From these studies, one would have an indication of whether the sensors can be used in the real world.