Debbie Sue Silvester-Dean is a British-Australian chemist who is a professor at

Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...

. Her research considers electrochemical processes and sensing. She has explored room-temperature ionic liquids. In 2021, she was awarded the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

Le Fèvre Medal.

Early life and education

Silvester was born in Essex in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. She was an undergraduate student at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

, where she earned a master's degree in 2005. She competed her third year project with Royce W. Murray at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

, USA. She moved to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

for graduate studies, where she studied room temperature ionic liquids using electrochemistry. Her doctoral research was supervised by Richard G. Compton. After a two-month internship

Schlumberger Schlumberger (), doing business as SLB, is a global multinational oilfield services company. Founded in France in 1926, the company is now incorporated as Schlumberger NV in Willemstad, Curaçao, with principal executive offices in Houston ...

Cambridge Research Centre, Silvester joined

as a postdoctoral scholar.

Research and career

Silvester has studied the electrochemical behaviour of room-temperature ionic liquids, which can be used to sense toxic gases and explosives. The electrochemical interactions of ionic liquids can be used to detect gases such as ammonia and chlorine. Silvester has shown that ionic liquids that contain

hexafluorophosphate Hexafluorophosphate is an fluoroanion, anion with chemical formula of . It is an Octahedral molecular geometry, octahedral species that imparts no color to its salts. is isoelectronic with sulfur hexafluoride, , and the Hexafluorosilicic acid, h ...

ions cannot detect

hydrogen chloride The Chemical compound, compound hydrogen chloride has the chemical formula and as such is a hydrogen halide. At room temperature, it is a colorless gas, which forms white fumes of hydrochloric acid upon contact with atmospheric water vapor. Hyd ...

because they form

hydrogen fluoride Hydrogen fluoride (fluorane) is an Inorganic chemistry, inorganic compound with chemical formula . It is a very poisonous, colorless gas or liquid that dissolves in water to yield hydrofluoric acid. It is the principal industrial source of fluori ...

Redox Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is t ...

active explosive compounds including

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

can be detected using electrochemistry by monitoring the reduction of the

nitro group In organic chemistry, nitro compounds are organic compounds that contain one or more nitro functional groups (). The nitro group is one of the most common explosophores (functional group that makes a compound explosive) used globally. The nit ...

s. She showed that the reaction mechanisms are different in ionic liquids to how they behave in water. In ionic liquids, the nitro groups undergo a 1 electron reduction, whilst in water they undergo a 6 electron reduction at every nitro group. Owing to their large sizes and complexities of miniaturisation, electrochemical cells are inappropriate for real-world sensing applications. Silvester developed a variety of device architectures with planar electrodes, including screen printed, thin film and microarray thin film electrodes. To enhance the sensitivity of the devices, Silvester has proposed surface-modified electrodes (including platinum nanoparticles and electrodeposited porous nanostructures). This patterning improves the radial diffusion, allowing for sub ppm gas sensing. Silvester showed that by combining her ionic liquids with

poly(methyl methacrylate) Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bran ...

it was possible to form a gel-like material that can remain stable in various orientations, making the devices much more robust and adaptable to the demands of gas sensing. Ionic liquid - PMMA blends can be used for the long term detection of high oxygen concentrations. Her room-temperature ionic liquids can also permit the detection of ions in water with high levels of sensitivity. She believes that this occurs due to void-assisted pairing between the protons within the ions of the water with the anions of the room-temperature ionic liquids. Beyond ionic liquids, Silvester has developed mesoporous materials for

hydrogen storage Several methods exist for storing hydrogen. These include mechanical approaches such as using high pressures and low temperatures, or employing chemical compounds that release H2 upon demand. While large amounts of hydrogen are produced by variou ...

Awards and honours

* 2013

Royal Australian Chemical Institute The Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) is both the qualifying body in Australia for professional chemists and a learned society promoting the science and practice of chemistry in all its branches. The RACI hosts conferences, seminars and ...

electrochemistry division Alan M Bond Medal * 2017

analytical & environmental division Peter W Alexander Medal * 2019

Australian Institute of Policy and Science The Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS) is an Australian non-partisan and non-profit organisation that aims to further public understanding of the public policy and science in Australia. Founded in 1932 as the Australian Institute of ...

WA Young Tall Poppy Award * 2019

Rennie Memorial Medal * 2020 Analytical Scientist Power List * 2020 Elected Fellow of the

* 2021

Le Fèvre Medal * 2021

Physical Chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...

Lectureship * 2021 Women in Technology WA Awards: Tech 20 winner, Outstanding STEM Educator and First Among Equals winner. * 2021

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

Analyst Emerging Investigator Lectureship * 2022

International Society of Electrochemistry The International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) is a global scientific society founded in 1949. The Head Office of ISE is located now in Lausanne, Switzerland. ISE is a Member Organization of IUPAC. The Society has now more than 1900 Individua ...

Tajima Prize * 2024

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silvester, Debbie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British women chemists Australian women chemists Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Academic staff of Curtin University Alumni of the University of Bristol Alumni of the University of Oxford