Crystal Thompson was recently awarded a PhD in Chemistry. 

Prior to this she was awarded a BSc. In Applied Chemistry (Major) and General Chemistry (Minor) from the Chemistry Department at FST in 2020. In the 2019/2020 academic year, she started an undergraduate research project focusing on the use of cobalt(II) pincer complexes bearing thioamide ligands for electrocatalytic hydrogen production with Dr. Mark Lawrence. Inspired by her growing interest in electrocatalysis, she expanded the project, marking the beginning of her journey into postgraduate research.

At the peak of the COVID19 pandemic, Crystal entered the MPhil/PhD programme under the supervision of Dr. Mark Lawrence. Her doctoral thesis, “Cobalt(II) and copper(II) pincer complexes bearing functionalized pyridyl benzothiazoles/(thio)amides for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)” explored the efficacy of earth-abundant novel Co(II) and Cu(II) pincer complexes of 3-SNS, ONS, SNN and ONN coordination modes towards electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution.  Over the course of the project, a total of twelve Co(II) and Cu(II) pincer complexes were synthesized.

This work explored how the electrocatalytic performance of the Co(II) and Cu(II) systems with the ligand family can be tuned towards HER through electronic structural design. The study demonstrated how varying the ligand donor atoms, ligand substituents, metal center, proton source and solvent influences hydrogen production. These complexes demonstrated high activity toward electrocatalytic HER in organic, mixed-aqueous, and aqueous environments. The study provided a good blend of independent and collaborative work. 

The research was highly productive, resulting in seven peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Electrochimica Acta, Inorganica Chim Acta and ChemistrySelect and three international conference presentations (ACS Fall Conferences (2023 & 2025) and Mona Symposium (2024)).