Advanced Materials and Sustainable Technologies 

Functional materials are at the core of modern technology. Our research in this theme focuses on advancing both materials functionality and sustainability, both by enabling sustainable technologies such as energy generation, harvesting, and storage and by replacing toxic or environmentally damaging substances.

We have a comprehensive suite of materials characterisation equipment, both in our own labs and shared with colleagues across the Faculty, including X-ray diffraction, scattering, and spectroscopy; Raman scattering; ESR; NMR; microscopy; and calorimetry. We are also frequent users of central facilities such as ISIS Neutron and Muon Source and Diamond Light Source. We have a particular interest in methods and properties that are sensitive to the local structure of materials.

Our target materials range from conventional ceramics to coordination frameworks, organic materials and molecules, nanomaterials, and quantum dots. These include

• photoluminescent materials, with applications from OLEDs to bioimaging;
• barocaloric materials, used for environmentally friendly solid-state refrigeration; and
• materials for high-performance batteries for electric vehicles.

Phonon dispersion of barocaloric adamantane.