Research Interests
Dr. John Cleary completed his B.Sc. (Industrial Chemistry, 1998) at the University of Limerick. He was awarded a Ph.D. (Physical Chemistry, 2005) by the University of Limerick, on the topic “Characterisation of a Thermoreversible Hydrogel for the Controlled Release of Pharmaceutically Active Substances" . He worked at the National Centre for Sensor Research, Dublin City University, from 2005 to 2014, as postdoctoral researcher and research fellow, with a focus on the development and deployment of autonomous chemical sensors for water quality monitoring, in particular the monitoring of nutrients in water and wastewater. He joined the Department of Science & Health at Institute of Technology Carlow in 2014 and is a member of the EnviroCORE research centre.
Dr. Cleary’s current research interests include:
- Chemical detection methods for monitoring of environmental pollutants
- Chemical sensors for environmental monitoring
- Microfluidic analytical systems
- Hydrogel materials for sensors and controlled release applications
Engagement and Collaboration
I have ongoing collaborations with TE Laboratories Ltd., Co. Carlow, and the company are partners in current postgraduate research projects under my supervision: Optochemical detecton strategies for heavy metals in water, and Microfluidic analysis of chemical oxygen demand (COD)
Clean Water Technology Ltd., Co. Wexford
TSH Enterprises., Enfield, Co. Meath
Current Research Students
Principal supervisor
Annija Lace; Optochemical detecton strategies for heavy metals in water.
Laurence Kavanagh; Comparative hydrogeochemistry: distribution of metal ions in ground water, surface water, soils and plants in the South East of Ireland.
Loriane Mwana-Scoe; Sources, Prevalence and Characterisation of Microplastics in Irish Freshwater.
Jaime Edwards; Microfluidic analysis of chemical oxygen demand (COD)
Co-supervisor
Cormac Griffin; Application of microbial consortium constructed by functional microbiome technology for preventing absorption of Cadmium by crop plants
Past Research Students
Dr. Deirdre Cogan; The development of low cost autonomous chemical sensors for environmental monitoring. PhD thesis, Dublin City University, 2014, co-supervised with Prof. Dermot Diamond, DCU.
Areas of interest as a supervisor include
- Chemical detection methods for monitoring of environmental pollutants
- Chemical sensors for environmental monitoring
- Microfluidic analytical systems
- Hydrogel materials for sensors and controlled release applications
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Laurence Kavanagh, John Cleary, Jerome Keohane, Guiomar Garcia Cabellos and Andrew Lloyd, Lithium in the Natural Waters of the South East of Ireland, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 561-577.
Perez de Vargas Sansalvador, Isabel M.; Fay, Cormac D.; Cleary, John; Nightingale, Adrian M.; Mowlem, Matthew C.; Diamond, Dermot. Autonomous reagent-based microfluidic pH sensor platform. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2016, 225, 369-376.
Margaret McCaul, Jack Barland, John Cleary, Conor Cahalane, Timothy McCarthy, Dermot Diamond, Combining Remote Temperature Sensing with in-Situ Sensing to Track Marine/Freshwater Mixing Dynamics, Sensors 16(9):1402-1417.
Cogan, D., Fay, C., Boyle, D., Osborne, C., Kent, N., Cleary, J., Diamond, D. Development of a low cost microfluidic sensor for the direct determination of nitrate using chromotropic acid in natural waters. Analytical Methods, 2015, 7, 5396-5405.
Cogan , D., Fay, C., Rickard , A., Cleary, J., Phelan, T., Jankowski, K., Bowkett, M., Diamond, D. The development of an autonomous sensing platform for the monitoring of ammonia in water using a simplified Berthelot method. Analytical Methods, 2014, 6, 7606-7614.
Cleary, J., Bromberg, L. & Magner, E. 2004. Adhesion of polyether-modified poly(acrylic acid) to mucin. Langmuir, 20, 9755-9762.
Cleary, J., Bromberg, L. & Magner, E. 2003. Diffusion and release of solutes in Pluronic-g-poly(acrylic acid) hydrogels. Langmuir, 19, 9162-9172. Cleary, J., McGraw, C., Slater, C., Diamond, D. An autonomous microfluidic sensor for phosphate: application to the analysis of wastewater effluent. IEEE Sensors Journal, 2008, 8, 508-515.
Cogan, D., Cleary, J., Phelan, T., Mcnamara, E., Bowkett, M. & Diamond, D. 2013. Integrated fi‚ow analysis platform for the direct detection of nitrate in water using a simplified chromotropic acid method. Analytical Methods, 5, 4798-4804.
Diamond, D., Lau, T., Brady, S. & Cleary, J. 2008. Integration of Analytical Measurements and Wireless Communications Current Issues and Future Strategies. Talanta, 75, 606-612.
McGraw, C., Stitzel, S., Cleary, J., Slater, C. & Diamond, D. 2007. Autonomous microfluidic system for phosphate detection. Talanta, 71, 1180-1185.
Slater, C., Cleary, J., Mcgraw, C., Yerazunis, W., Lau, K. & Diamond, D. September 2007. Autonomous Field-deployable Device for the Measurement of Phosphate in Natural Water. SPIE, 6755, 67550L1-67550L8.
Slater, C., Cleary, J., Lau, K., Snakenborg, D., Corcoran, B., Kutter, J. & Diamond, D. 2010. Validation of a fully autonomous phosphate analyser based on a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip. Water Science & Technology, 61, 1811-1818.
Book Chapters
Cleary, J., Maher, D. & Diamond, D. 2013. Development and deployment of a microfluidic platform for water quality monitoring. In: Mukhopadhyay, S. & Mason, A. (eds.) Smart Sensors for Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring. Smart Sensors, Measurement and Instrumentation. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Diamond, D., Collins, F., Cleary, J., Zuliani, C. & Fay, C. 2013. Distributed environmental monitoring. In: Filippini, D. (ed.) Autonomous Sensor Networks: Collective Sensing Strategies for Analytical Purposes. Berlin: Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors.
Conference Proceedings and Papers
Lace, A., Ryan, D., Bowkett, M., Cleary, J. Candidate method identification for arsenite detection and quantification in water using optochemical strategies, 15th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, Rhodes, Greece, 31 Aug - 2 Sept 2017.
Mwana-Scoe L., Germaine K., Kakouli-Duarte T. and Cleary J., Characterisation of microplastics in Irish freshwaters, 15th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, Rhodes, Greece, 31 Aug - 2 Sept 2017.
Cedro, A. and Cleary, J., Microplastics in Irish freshwaters: A preliminary study. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, Rhodes, Greece, 3-5 September 2015.
Cleary, J., Maher, D., Slater, C. & Diamond. 28-31 October 2007. Field-Deployable Microfluidic Sensor for Phosphate in Natural Waters. IEEE Sensors 2007 Conference. Atlanta, United States.
Cleary, J., Cogan, D., Phelan, T. & Diamond, D. 5-7 September 2013. Microfluidic analyser for pH in water and wastewater. CEST 2013: The 13th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology. Athens, Greece.
Cleary, J., Cogan, D., Phelan, T. & Diamond, D. 5-7 September 2013. Next generation autonomous chemical sensors for environmental monitoring. The 13th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology. Athens, Greece.
Cleary, J., Maher, D., Cogan, D. & Diamond, D. 2012. A microfluidic platform for multi-parametric water quality analysis. ICEST 2012 -The 6th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology. Houston, United States.
Cleary, J., Maher, D., Slater, C. & Diamond, D. 23-25 February 2010. In situ monitoring of environmental water quality using an autonomous microfluidic sensor. SAS 2010 - IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium. Limerick, Ireland.
Cleary, J., Slater, C. & Diamond, D. 28-30 April 2009. Analysis of phosphate in wastewater using an autonomous microfluidics-based analyser. ICEST 2009 - International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology. Rome, Italy.
Cleary, J., Slater, C., Mcgraw, C. & Diamond, D. 12-16 October 2008. Monitoring of Phosphate Levels in Wastewater Using an Autonomous Microfluidic Sensor. The Proceedings of µTAS 2008 Conference. In: Locascio, L., Gaitan, M., Paegel, B., Ross, D. & Vreeland, W. (eds.) The Twelfth International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences. San Diego, California, United States.
Cogan, D., Cleary, J., Phelan, T., & Diamond, D. 5-7 Sept 2013. Next generation autonomous chemical sensors for environmental monitoring. CEST2013 The 13th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, Athens, Greece.
Diamond, D., Byrne, R., Lopez, F., Cleary, J., Maher, D., Healy, J., Fay, C., Kim, J. & Lau, K. 2010. Biomimetics and materials with multiple personalities - The foundation of next generation molecular sensing devices. SENSORS 2010 - 9th IEEE Sensors Conference. Hawaii, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Hayes, J., O'Connor, E., Cleary, J., Kolar, H., McCarthy, R., Tynan, R., O'Hare, G., Smeaton, A., O'Connor, E. and Diamond, D. (2009) Views from the coalface: chemo-sensors, sensor networks and the semantic sensor web. In: SemSensWeb 2009 - 1st International Workshop on the Semantic Sensor Web, Crete, Greece.
Published Reports
Radu, T., Cleary, J., O’Toole, M., Radu, A. & Diamond, D. 2009. Analytical Devices for Autonomous Monitoring of the Environment. STRIVE Programme 2007-2013. Wexford: Environmental Protection Agency.
Selected Conference Presentations
Cedro, A. and Cleary, J., An initial study of microplastics in Irish freshwater and wastewaters, European Conference on Plastics in Freshwater Environments Berlin, 21€“22 June 2016.
Cedro, A. and Cleary, J., Microplastics in Irish freshwaters: A preliminary study. CEST 2015: The 14th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, Rhodes, Greece, 3-5 September 2015.
Cleary, J., Fay, C., Phelan, T., McCormack, T., Naughton, O., Johnston, P., Gill, L., & Diamond, D. 12 June 2013. Kinvarra bay data fusion project. In: SmartBay Principal Investigator Workshop: Marine Institute, Galway, Ireland.
Cleary, J., Hayes, J. & Diamond, D. 6-10 July 2009. In-situ and remote monitoring of environmental water quality. In: Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Annual Meeting 2009: Denver, Colorado, USA.
Cleary, J., Maher, D., Carroll, G. & Diamond, D. 21-22 September 2011 Autonomous microfluidic analyser for wastewater monitoring. In: SWIG Conference - Sensing in Water 2011: Nottingham, UK.
Cleary, J., Maher, D., Kim, J.H., Lau, KT. & Diamond, D. 7-10 November 2011. Autonomous analyser platforms for remote monitoring of water quality. In: IECON: Melbourne, Australia.
Cleary, J., Maher, D. & Diamond, D. 26-27 September 2011. Autonomous nutrient detector for water and wastewater applications. In: 5th EWWMC - European Water & Wastewater Management Conference, London, UK.
Cleary, J., Slater, C. & Diamond, D. 1-3 February 2008. An Autonomous Sensor for Monitoring of Phosphate in Environmental Waters. Environ 2008: The 18th Irish Environmental Researchers Colloquium, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland.
Cleary, J. & Magner E., Electrochemical characterisation of a thermoreversible hydrogel for the controlled release of pharmaceutically active compounds, Electrochem 2001, 17 - 19th September 2000, Loughborough University, UK
Cleary, J., Bromberg, L.E., & Magner E., Diffusion of redox probes in thermoreversible hydrogels, COST-ACTION 523 Mid Term Meeting and Workshop on Nanomaterials, Fundamentals and Applications, 4-6th October, 2001, Kilmurry Lodge Hotel, National Technological Park, Limerick, Ireland.
Cleary, J., Bowkett, M., Aquamonitrix:Real time remote monitoring of water quality, ArabLab, 10-13 March, 2014, Dubai, UAE.
Cleary, J., Maher, D., Slater, C., & Diamond, D. In situ monitoring of environmental water quality using an autonomous microfluidic sensor. SAS 2010 - IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium, 23-25 February 2010, Limerick, Ireland.