Molly MacInnes
I use electrochemistry to study and design materials and interfaces. I am especially interested in the interactions of aqueous metal ions with solid surfaces. Understanding these interactions is crucial both for understanding the fate of these heavy metal pollutants in the environment and for developing sensing and separations materials to identify and remove these metals from waste streams. Using conductive oxides or non-conductive nanoparticle films as electrodes, we can use electrochemistry to gain thermodynamic, kinetic, and mechanistic information about the interactions of redox-active metal ions with these surfaces. I am most interested in the f-elements, i.e. the bottom two rows of the periodic table that we never talk about in classes because little is understood about these elements, but they are becoming increasingly industrially relevant, but we are also exploring the d-elements (transition metals) because we want to build up understanding of periodic trends.
In addition to probing interactions at solid oxide surfaces, I am interested in fabricating surfaces that have a high selectivity for adsorption of specific metals. We look towards organic ligands used in separations technology and are exploring ways to graft these ligands to electrode surfaces. In this way, not only can we use electrochemistry to understand the adsorption/binding reactions, but we can explore the possibility of using the surfaces as electrochemical sensors for trace metal ions.
When I'm not in the lab or the classroom, I enjoy exploring the world through running, biking, and climbing, and I have recently developed an obsession with knitting.
Education and Degrees
B.A. (Honors), Oberlin College, 2013
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2020
Postdoctoral experience, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2020-2022
Selected Publications
Undergraduate co-authors are bolded.
- Marshall-Roth, T.; MacInnes, M. M.; Jordan, A. M.; Piedmonte, I. D.; Pace, K. A.; Adelman, S. L.; Anderson, N. H.; Cooley, J. C.; Kozimor, S. A.; Mullis, M. S.; Mocko, V.; Rocha, F. R.; Stein, B. W. 鈥淨uantifying Outer- and Inner-Coordination Sphere Effects Using Uranium Redox Chemistry in Molten Salt Solutions.鈥 J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2026,
- Kauffman, M., Graham, A. M.; Jing, D.; and MacInnes, M. M.* 鈥淓lucidating aqueous cerium(IV) adsorption dynamics on tin oxide surfaces using electrochemistry.鈥 ACS Electrochemistry, 2026, 2, 401-409,
- Shaw, T. E. IV; Jones, Z. R.; Adelman, S. L.; Anderson, N. H.; Bowes, E. G.; Bauer, E. D.; Dan, D.; Knope, K. E.; Kozimor, S. A.; MacInnes, M. M.; Mocko, V.; Rocha, F. R.; Root, H. D.; Stein, B. W.; Thompson, J. D.; Wacker, J. N. 鈥淧uCl3{CoCp[OP(OEt)2]3}: Transuranic Elements Entering the Field of Heterometallic Molecular Chemistry,鈥 Chemical Science, 2024, 15, 12754-12764,
- Livshits, M. Y.; Wolford, N. J.; Bahn, J. K.; MacInnes, M. M.; Greer, S. M.; Vellore Winfred, J. S. R.; Hanson, K.; Gompa, T. P.; Stein, B. W. 鈥淓xploring Differences in Lanthanide Excited State Reactivity Using a Simple Example: The Photophysics of La and Ce Thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA) Complexes.鈥 Inorganic Chemistry, 2023, 62, 13712-13721,
- DiMucci, I. M.; Root, H. D.; Jones, Z. R.; Kozimor, S. A.; MacInnes, M. M.; Miller, J. L.; Mocko, V.; Oldham, W. J.; and Stein, B. W. 鈥淧hotochemical Separation of Plutonium from Uranium.鈥 Chemical Communications, 2022, 58, 10961-10964,
- Hazelnis, J. P.; Sartori, A.; Cheek, Q. B.; Giri, R. P.; MacInnes, M. M.; Murphy, B. M.; Magnussen, O. M.; and Maldonado, S. 鈥淒etection of Ge-Containing Adlayers at the Liquid Hg/Water Interface by In Situ X-Ray Reflectivity in Aqueous Borate Electrolytes Containing Dissolved GeO2.鈥 Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2022, 126, 8177-8189,
- Molly M MacInnes, Zachary R Jones, Bo Li, Nickolas H Anderson, Enrique R Batista, Ida M DiMucci, Cecilia Eiroa-Lledo, Karah E Knope, Maksim Y Livshits, Stosh A Kozimor, Veronika Mocko, Kristen A Pace, Francisca R Rocha, Benjamin W Stein, Jennifer N Wacker, Ping Yang. 鈥淯sing Molten Salts to Probe Outer-Coordination Sphere Effects on Lanthanide(III/II) Electron Transfer Reactions.鈥 Dalton Trans., 2021, 50, 15696-15710
- Lancaster, M.; Mow, R.; Liu, J.; Cheek, Q.; MacInnes, M. M.; Al-Jassim, M.; Deutsch, T.; Young, J.; Maldonado, S. 鈥淧rotection of GaInP2 Photocathodes by Direct Photoelectrodeposition of MoSx Thin Films.鈥 ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2019,11, 25115-25122,
- MacInnes, M. M.; Cousineau, B. R.; Youngs, S. M.; Sinniah, K.; Reczek, J. J.; Maldonado, S. 鈥淒iscovery of Unusually Stable Reduced Viologen via Synergistic Folding and Encapsulation鈥 J. Electrochem. Soc. 2019, 166, H825-H834
- Hlynchuk, S.; MacInnes, M. M.; and Maldonado, S. 鈥淪ensitization of p-GaP by physisorbed triarylmethane dyes.鈥 Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2018, 122, 20073-20082,
- MacInnes, M. M.; Hlynchuk, S.; Acharya, S.; Lehnert, N.; Maldonado, S., 鈥淩eduction of graphene oxide thin films by cobaltocene and decamethylcobaltocene.鈥 ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2018, 10, 2004-2015,
- Eady, S. C.; MacInnes, M. M.; Lehnert, N. 鈥淚mmobilized Co-bis(benzenedithiolate) complexes: exceptionally active heterogeneous electrocatalysts for dihydrogen production from mildly acidic aqueous solutions.鈥 Inorganic Chemistry, 2017, 56, 11654-11667,
- Olson, A. C.; Keith, J. M.; Batista, E. R.; Boland, K. S.; Daly, S. R.; Kozimor, S. A.; MacInnes, M. M.; Martin, R. L.; Scott, B. L. 鈥淯sing solution- and solid-state S K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy with density functional theory to evaluate M-S bonding for MS42- (M=Cr, Mo, W) dianions.鈥 Dalton Transactions, 2014, 43, 17283-17295,
- Boland, K. S.; Hobart, D. E.; Kozimor, S. A.; MacInnes, M. M.; Scott, B.L. 鈥淭he coordination chemistry of trivalent lanthanides (Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Yb) with diphenyldithiophosphinate anions.鈥 Polyhedron, 2014, 67, 540-548, Spencer, L. P.; Yang, P.; Minasian, S. G.; Jilek, Robert E.; Batista, E. R.; Boland, K. S.; Boncella, J. M.; Conradson, S.D.; Clark, D.L.; Hayton, T.W.; Kozimor, S.A.; Martin, R.L.; MacInnes, M. M.; Olson, A.C.; Scott, B.L.; Shuh, D.K.; Wilkerson, M.P. 鈥淭etrahalide Complexes of the [U(NR2)]2+: Synthesis, Theory, and Chlorine K-Edge X-ray Spectroscopy.鈥 J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135, 2279
- Daly, S. R.; Klaehn, J. R.; Boland, K. S.; Kozimor, S. A.; MacInnes, M. M.; Peterman, D. R.; Scott, B. L. 鈥淣MR Spectroscopy and Spectral Characterization of Dithiophosphinate Ligands Relevant to Minor Actinide Extraction Processes.鈥 Dalton Trans., 2012, 41, 216