Dr Ayomi Perera

Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education
Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry
Penrhyn Road

Senior Lecturer in Organic & Pharmaceutical Chemistry

[email protected]

ORCID

About

I am an organic chemist with multidisciplinary research interests, broadly in areas of sustainable technologies for the development of nanomaterials for energy, catalysis, water purification and biomedical applications.

I obtained my PhD in Chemistry, under the supervision of Professor Stefan Bossmann at Kansas State University, USA, followed by a postdoctoral appointment at University College London, in the EPSRC Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Currently, I am spearheading a dynamic and diverse research group, in addition to conducting lectures and lab classes in organic, environmental and industrial chemistry, as a senior lecturer at Kingston University.

Qualifications

PhD in Chemistry, Kansas State University, 2012
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, Jan 2013 – Jul 2013
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, EPSRC Frontier Engineering Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering, University College London, Jan 2014 – Aug 2018
Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), 2019

Domains

Transcending scientific boundaries has been a hallmark of my research career, with multiple national and international inter-disciplinary collaborations. My research experience ranges from the synthesis of organic, inorganic, hybrid, nano and porous materials, to protein chemistry, and microbiology.

My current research draws inspiration from my PhD and postdoctoral experiences, the highlights of which were:

the development of a greener approach to solar energy harvesting via a protein incorporated "Hybrid Soft Solar Cell"
optimisation of mesoporous titanosilicates as highly active epoxidation catalysts
development of robust, responsive, biocompatible magnetic hydrogels for drug delivery.

At present, I am pursuing two major research interests under the unifying theme of "advanced functional nanomaterials for sustainable applications":

Development of advanced composite materials for water purification, light harvesting and photo/chemo catalysis
Development of composite hydrogels for applications in wound care and customizable drug delivery.

Recent grants

Principal Investigator: HEFCE Global Challenges Research Fund award 2020/2021, "A combinatorial approach to low-cost water treatment via removal of microbes, organic pollutants and heavy metals" - Part III.
Co-Investigator: HEFCE Global Challenges Research Fund award 2019/2020, "A combinatorial approach to low-cost water treatment via removal of microbes, organic pollutants and heavy metals" - Part II.
Co-Investigator: HEFCE Global Challenges Research Fund award 2018/2019, "A combinatorial approach to low-cost water treatment via removal of microbes, organic pollutants and heavy metals" - Part I.
Co-Investigator: BBSRC LIDo (London interdisciplinary doctoral programme) 2017, "Magnetically actuated hydrogels: A revolutionary platform for tissue engineering".

Selected conferences

AIChE Annual Meeting 2017, Minneapolis, MN, USA, 30 October - 3 November 2017. "Investigation of Factors that Induce Cristobalite Formation during Titanosilicate Synthesis and Their Potential Impact on Heterogeneous Catalysis", and "Nacre-Inspired Composite Gels for Biomedical Applications".
ACS National Meeting 2017, Washington DC, USA, 20-24 August 2017. "Titanium(IV)-Induced Formation of Cristobalite in Titanosilicates and its Potential Effect on Heterogeneous Catalysis - Induced Impact or Spectator?".
AIChE Annual Meeting 2016, San Francisco, CA, USA, 13-18 November 2016. "Development of a Hierarchical Titanosilicate with High Catalytic Activity via Statistically Guided Synthesis".
Gordon Research Conference: Catalysis, New London, NH, USA, 12-17 June 2016. "Statistically guided synthesis optimization of a hierarchically ordered micro-meso porous titanosilicate for heterogeneous catalysis".
Pacifichem 2015 Conference, Honolulu, HI, USA, 15-20 December 2015. "Synthesis Optimization of Hierarchically Ordered Micro-Mesoporous Ti-Silica for Heterogeneous Catalysis".
ZMPC 2015 Conference, Sapporo, Japan, 28 June - 2 July 2015. "Optimized Synthesis of Mesoporous Ti-Silica Micro-Spheres for Catalysis: A Doehlert Matrix Study".
AIChE Annual Meeting 2014, Atlanta, GA, USA, 12-17 November 2014, "Synthesis and Catalytic Activity of Mesoporous Ti-Silica Materials".
ChemEng Day UK, April, 2014 (Manchester) and 2015 (Sheffield). "Self-Organization Behavior and Scope of Application of Mycobacterial Porin MspA", and "Optimized Synthesis of Mesoporous Titano-Silicate Microspheres for Catalytic Applications: A Doehlert Matrix Study".
ACS 47th Midwest Regional Meeting, Wichita, KS, USA, 24-27 October 2012. "FTO and FTO/TiO2 Based Solar Cells Incorporating the Mycobacterial Porin MspA as a Green Alternate Energy Source", "Mechanism of Temperature Dependent Nanoscopic Vesicle Formation of Mycobacterial Porin MspA in Aqueous Media", "3D Aggregation Behavior of RuC2-MspA Assemblies in Aqueous Media: An Explanation to Lack of Channel Blocking of MspA Pore by RuC2 Complex".
Capitol Graduate Research Summit, Topeka, KS, USA, 16 February 2012. "Design of a 'Greener' Solar Cell using Mycobacterial Protein MspA". (Winner: Best poster award)
K-State Research Forum, Manhattan, KS, USA, 20 April 2011. "Purification and Analytical Assessment of the Mycobacterial Porin MspA and Investigation of its Channel Activity and Potential Use for a Protein Nano-Solar Cell". (Winner: Best research presentation award)
22nd National NSF EPSCoR Conference, Coeur d'Alene, ID, USA, 24-27 October 2011. "Design of a Mycobacterial Porin Based Dye Sensitized Solar Cell". (Winner: Grand prize in energy poster session)
ACS Joint 46th Midwest Regional Meeting - 39th Great Lakes Regional Meeting, St. Louis, MO, USA, 19-22 October 2011. "Design of a Mycobacterium Porin (MspA) Based Solar Cell".

Publications

Development of a carbon coated LaCuFeO3 core-shell catalyst for simultaneous degradation of fluoroquinolone organic pollutants in wastewater: enhanced catalysis via nanospace confinement

Xie, Lijuan, Yu, Tianqi, Deng, Yun, Niu, Wanchen, Ruan, Wenquan and Perera, Ayomi, 2026, Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (101), 4 pp 776-785, Published

3 core-shell catalyst for simultaneous degradation of fluoroquinolone organic pollutants in wastewater: enhanced catalysis via nanospace confinement">View this article

Adsorption-based removal of organic dyes via a sustainably produced few-layered graphene: a potential method for industrial wastewater treatment

Bristow, Reece M.D., Bossmann, Stefan H., Foot, Peter J.S., Beadham, Ian G. and Perera, Ayomi S., 2025, FlatChem (53), Published

Dr Ayomi Perera

About

Qualifications

Domains

Teaching and learning

Research

Professional practice, knowledge exchange and impact

Leadership and management

Publications

Articles

Book Sections/Chapters

Conference Items

Theses

Gallery of work

PhD student Reece Bristow presents at KU SEC Research conference 2021

SEC Lunchtime lecture series 11/02/2021 presented by Dr Perera

Videos of my work

Research finds bright future for alternative energy with greener solar cells

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