QMUL Centre for Sustainable Engineering News

Prof Ana Sobrido talks to BOSS Energy about barriers to scaling sustainable energy technologies

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 23:00:00 +0100

Prof Ana Sobrido was recently interviewed by Francesco Pinci, Marketing Manager at BOSS Energy, to explore the real challenges shaping the future of energy. One of the strongest insights from the discussion is that the biggest obstacle to scaling sustainable energy globally is not the absence of technology. According to Professor Ana Jorge Sobrido, the sector already has robust renewable and storage solutions available, particularly in mature markets such as the UK. What has not advanced quickly enough is the surrounding system: grid capacity, permitting processes, and investment frameworks still move more slowly than the technologies they are meant to support. That distinction matters because it changes the nature of the challenge. The question is no longer simply how to invent better clean technologies, but how to create the policy, infrastructure and financial coordination needed to deploy them at meaningful scale. From a technical standpoint, Professor Ana Jorge Sobrido, suggests we are relatively close; from a systems standpoint, she believes the full transition will still take another decade or two because alignment across those layers is exceptionally difficult to achieve. It was an insightful discussion on the challenges that remain and the opportunities ahead as we accelerate the transition to cleaner energy systems. Hopefully, through collaboration and innovation, we can all play a part in achieving a net-zero future.

New European Study Reveals Methane Emissions from Biogas Plants Are Higher Than Previously ...

Tue, 26 May 2026 23:00:00 +0100

A major new study led by Queen Mary University of London has revealed that methane emissions from biogas plants across Europe are higher than some estimates suggest—yet, once identified, the majority of these emissions could be eliminated at no net cost. A biogas plant is a facility that turns organic matter or material – such as food scraps, manure, sewage sludge or agricultural residues – into renewable energy. Biogas, containing approximately 50–65% methane, can be used to produce electricity and heat via Combined Heat & Power (CHP). Upgraded biogas, containing over 90% methane (biomethane), is typically injected into the existing gas grid and can be used as a substitute for fossil gas. This offers substantial low-carbon energy potential, but uncertainties regarding methane emissions may undermine this benefit. Published in Nature Communications Sustainability, the research presents one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of methane emissions from biogas and biomethane production. It combines detailed emissions measurements, environmental assessments, mitigation analysis, and comparisons of policy frameworks across Europe. The research team included colleagues from Queen Mary University of London, the Royal Holloway University of London, Heidelberg University, and AGH University of Krakow. Led by Maria Olczak during her PhD candidacy at Queen Mary, and Paul Balcombe, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Renewable Energy, the researchers measured methane emissions at biogas plants in the UK, Poland and Germany. On average, each plant was losing about 14.4 kilograms of methane every hour, meaning that for every 100 units of methane the plants produced, around 5 units were leaking into the atmosphere instead of being used as energy. However, the study shows that these emissions are highly variable. The lowest-emitting sites were losing only about 1.3 kilograms per hour, while the highest, recorded during abnormal operating conditions, were leaking up to 57 kilograms per hour. In percentage terms, this means some plants were losing just 2% of what they produced, while others were losing as much as 22%. Crucially, the team found that 59% of these emissions could be eliminated at no net cost, and 83% could be mitigated overall, using measures already available to industry, such as using gas-tight digestate storage tanks and regular Leak Detection and Repair surveys. Professor Paul Balcombe said: "Preventing methane emissions must be a priority as the biomethane sector grows. Cost-effective mitigation is widely available, particularly for new plants where best practices can be embedded from the start." The study uncovered several unexpected findings: Methane reduction is even more critical for plants producing electricity via Combined Heat & Power (CHP) than for those injecting biomethane into the gas grid. Methane accounted for 47% of emissions in CHP scenarios, compared with 30% for biomethane injection. More frequent leak detection and repair (LDAR) surveys do not automatically lead to lower emissions. Equipment quality and operator expertise were found to be more important, with key implications for regulators. Operators' ability or willingness to reduce emissions is influenced by factors including business models, feedstock types, stability of subsidy schemes and the volume of gas captured and sold. The study comes at a crucial moment for European energy and climate policy. The EU's REPowerEU plan aims to scale biomethane production to 35 billion cubic metres per year by 2030, up from 4.1 bcm in 2024 across the EU. Without strong emissions management, this rapid growth risks undermining the climate benefits of biomethane. The results also offer timely evidence for the European Commission as it revises the Renewable Energy Directive's Annex V and Annex VI—key components that define how greenhouse gas emissions from biomethane are calculated. The research breaks new ground in several ways: It provides the first source-level methane measurements for biogas plants in Poland and the UK, enabling identification of specific emission points rather than general site-level estimates. Poland and the UK hold some of Europe's highest potential for future biomethane production, making emissions reductions in these countries especially critical. The study integrates: source- and site-level measurements detailed emissions reconciliation environmental assessment techno-economic assessment of mitigation options cross-country policy analysis First author and lead researcher on the study, Dr Maria Olczak said: "We would like to thank all the operators who supported this study. It was particularly encouraging to see operators act on our findings, demonstrating the practical value of this research." The research was conducted independently by teams at Queen Mary University of London, Royal Holloway University of London, Heidelberg University, and AGH University of Krakow, with cooperation from plant operators. It was not funded by biogas or biomethane industry associations. Read the paper on Nature Communications here: www.nature.com/articles/s44458-026-00065-3

Scientists generate electricity from ambient moisture using everyday ingredients

Wed, 20 May 2026 23:00:00 +0100

An international research team led by scientists at Queen Mary University of London has developed an innovative method to power wearable electronics using ambient moisture and simple, non-toxic materials commonly found in the kitchen. In a study published in Nano Energy, researchers from Queen Mary, the University of Warwick, Imperial College London, and Universitas Mercatorum report a highly stable, biodegradable Moisture-Electric Generator (MEG). The device is fabricated from food-grade materials including gelatin, sodium chloride (table salt), and activated carbon, and harnesses humidity—typically a major challenge for electronics—as its energy source. This approach represents a significant shift in electronic design, transforming atmospheric moisture from a limitation into a functional energy input. A Sustainable Alternative to Conventional Power Sources With global electronic waste (e-waste) continuing to rise, the development offers a potentially low-impact alternative to conventional batteries and energy systems. The MEG is manufactured using a simple, water-based process and relies on widely available, non-toxic materials, supporting more sustainable and circular approaches to electronics. The technology works by absorbing water molecules from the surrounding air or from human skin. As the gelatin-salt solution dries, it self-organises into a three-layered structure. When exposed to humidity, this architecture enables ion movement within the material, generating a continuous and stable electrical output of approximately 1 volt per unit for periods exceeding 30 days. By connecting multiple units in series, the research team demonstrated scaled performance of up to 90 volts and 5.08 mA, sufficient to power small electronic devices such as a 40-light LED string. Dr Ming Dong, Postdoctoral Research Associate at Queen Mary University of London's School of Engineering and Materials Science and first author of the study, said: "Generating high voltages typically requires complex manufacturing processes or scarce materials. This work shows that it is possible to achieve strong performance using simple, sustainable components. By combining gelatin and salt, we have created a generator that operates using ambient humidity as its sole energy source." Dual Function: Power Generation and Sensing In addition to energy harvesting, the material demonstrates potential as a sensitive, skin-compatible sensor. Because its electrical output responds to small changes in moisture, the system can detect physiological signals linked to humidity variations. The researchers demonstrated that the device can monitor breathing patterns in real time and detect changes associated with speech through variations in exhaled moisture. It also shows promise for touchless proximity sensing, opening opportunities for integration into wearable health monitoring systems and human–machine interfaces—without requiring a battery. Biodegradable by Design A key advantage of the technology is its environmentally benign end-of-life profile. Unlike conventional electronics that rely on plastics and heavy metals, the MEG is designed to degrade safely. After use, the device can either biodegrade in soil within a few weeks or be dissolved in water, enabling recovery and reuse of its components without hazardous chemicals. This positions the technology as a potential contributor to circular electronics, where materials can be safely returned to the environment or recycled. Dr Dimitrios Papageorgiou, Reader in Functional Polymers and Composites at Queen Mary and corresponding author of the study, said: "Our goal was to rethink how electronic materials are designed and manufactured. This research demonstrates that high-performance energy devices can be made from low-cost, environmentally friendly materials. The ability of a gelatin-based system to generate meaningful electrical output highlights the potential scalability of this approach." The open-access paper, titled "A biobased moisture-electric generator with self-stratified architecture for physiological sensing and energy harvesting," was published in Nano Energy on 19 May 2026. Full Journal Citation: Dong, M., Zhang, H., Bilotti, E., Cataldi, P., & Papageorgiou, D. G. (2026). A biobased moisture-electric generator with self-stratified architecture for physiological sensing and energy harvesting. Nano Energy, 155, 112040. Link to Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211285526003447

Queen Mary scientists seek to slash carbon footprint of medicine manufacturing through new ...

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

By working with industry partners, bio-based solvents could replace fossil derived materials by the 2030s. A new British-based consortium aims to cut emissions by 60% compared to conventional fossil-derived solvents. Pharma's emissions per dollar of revenue are higher than the car industry. Solvents are a major culprit, but essential to making medicines. The consortium includes Exactmer, GSK, Queen Mary University of London, Atmospheric AI, Solve Chemistry, OXCCU, Celtic Renewables, University of Leeds, CPI, Croda, and Cytiva. The project is backed by £7m from Innovate UK and the Department of Health and Social Care. Solvents are central to making medicines. They help mix ingredients, enable chemical reactions, purify the drug and control product quality. They are also highly polluting. The production, use, and safe disposal of fossil-derived solvents create significant greenhouse gas emissions. It's one reason why the pharma industry has higher carbon emissions per dollar of revenue than the car industry. Now, a new industry-academic consortium seeks to reduce these emissions by 60%. The goal is to develop bio-based solvents which could replace fossil-derived solvents by the 2030s. Bio-based solvents are made from renewable biomass, and so do not release fossil reserves as carbon dioxide. Led by Exactmer, with strategic support from GSK, the British-based consortium also includes Queen Mary University of London, Atmospheric AI, Solve Chemistry, OXCCU, Celtic Renewables, University of Leeds, CPI, Croda, and Cytiva. The 36-month project is backed by £7m from Innovate UK and the Department of Health and Social Care. By bringing together key plays from pharma and chemical manufacturing and academia, the scientists intend to overcome the barriers which have scuppered previous efforts. The biggest challenge is to achieve the high purity and moisture control needed for making medicines, without it being too expensive and energy-intensive to be commercially viable. Manufacturers could use thin filters called membranes to separate different molecules, but today's membranes aren't up to the job of producing pharma-grade bio-based solvents. Scientists in the Livingston Lab at Queen Mary University of London will design and test new advanced membrane purification technologies capable of producing affordable, green, bio-based solvents at scale. This will allow manufacturers to replace fossil-derived solvents with bio-based solvents without needing major changes to their existing infrastructure or processes. By working with industry partners, the team will validate bio-based solvents in existing medicines manufacturing for small-molecules and oligonucleotides; de-risk regulation pathways; and establish a supply chain for producing pharmaceutical-grade bio-based solvents. Prof Andrew Livingston, Vice Principal for Research and Innovation at Queen Mary University of London, founder and CEO of Exactmer, and head of Queen Mary's Livingston Lab, said: "Projects like this are a prime example of how innovation can confront a major environmental issue which most people overlook, as well as promoting the growth in life sciences and advanced manufacturing that's key to the government's industrial strategy. The car industry is going electric, aviation is exploring hydrogen, now it's pharma's turn. Working together across industry and academia, with backing from government, is how we'll make the impact our economy and planet needs." Contact our Business Development team to learn more about industry-academic partnerships with Queen Mary University of London.

Delocalised Electronic States: Powering Molecular Photovoltaics

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Queen Mary Researchers Help Unlock the Secrets Behind 20% Efficient Organic Solar Cells. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London, working closely with collaborators at Imperial College London and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), have uncovered how the latest generation of organic solar cell materials achieve record‑breaking efficiencies of over 20%. Their findings provide long‑sought answers to a major puzzle in the field and lay out new design rules for future molecular photovoltaics. Organic solar cells — which use carbon-based molecules or polymers to absorb sunlight — offer a lightweight, flexible and potentially more sustainable alternative to traditional silicon photovoltaics. Over the past two decades, their power‑conversion efficiency has climbed from around 2% to over 20%, thanks largely to a new class of molecules known as non‑fullerene acceptors (NFAs), particularly the highly successful "Y‑family" of materials such as Y6. But until now, scientists have not fully understood how these materials reach such high efficiencies. Rethinking How Charges Are Created Traditionally, organic solar cells rely on a junction between two molecular materials — an electron donor and an electron acceptor — to split tightly bound excitons into free charges. This process normally requires a large energetic "offset" between the materials, which comes at a cost: the larger the offset, the lower the voltage and overall efficiency of the device. However, the latest NFAs break this rule, achieving high efficiencies with much smaller energy offsets. Some studies have even suggested that charges could be generated directly within the molecular film, without needing a clear donor–acceptor interface. A Combined Experimental–Computational Breakthrough To solve this puzzle, a team from Queen Mary's School of Engineering and Materials Science, with researchers at Imperial College London, combined experimental device measurements with a new computational model capable of simulating how excited electronic states spread out, or delocalise, across the molecular network. By comparing simulated and experimental data, the team found that this delocalisation plays a critical role in enabling efficient charge generation at low energetic cost. "What our results make clear is that we can no longer look at these molecules in isolation," said Dr Flurin Eisner, Lecturer in Green Energy at Queen Mary University of London and co-author of the study. "The secret to their high efficiency lies in how the energy is shared and spread out across an entire molecular network. It's this teamwork at the nanoscale that allows the charges to separate so effectively without needing a massive energetic push." Lead author Lucy Hart, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Imperial College London, added: "There has been a lot of debate about exactly how these exciting new materials generate electricity so efficiently when the traditional driving forces are so small. By combining our experimental measurements with a new computational approach, we were able to pinpoint the molecular features driving this efficient charge generation." Co-author Daniel Medranda (Imperial College London) highlighted the challenge of studying these ultrafast processes: "These mechanisms occur at incredible speeds and at the molecular scale. Our integrated approach acts like an advanced magnifying glass, allowing us to see how the specific shape and packing of these molecules dictate the performance of the entire solar cell." New Rules for Molecular Design The team identified key structural characteristics of the highest‑performing materials — including both their chemical structure and their nanoscale arrangement — that make them exceptionally effective at transferring energy across the film. The researchers also tested whether the new materials were capable of generating photocurrent without a traditional heterojunction interface. While this is not yet achievable, the results point clearly to how the materials could be improved to move closer to this goal. Towards Next‑Generation Solar Materials This work provides practical, evidence‑based design rules for chemists and materials scientists looking to push organic solar cell performance even further. Future efforts, the team suggests, should focus on: lowering the energy required for molecular reorganisation reducing structural disorder increasing intermolecular interactions The research was supported by UKRI (ATIP programme grant), the UKRI ERC underwrite scheme (POTENtIAl), and the Spanish CSIC via collaboration with Prof Campoy‑Quiles at ICMAB, Barcelona (project DOMMINO). Molecular factors controlling charge pair generation in organic photovoltaic materials was published in nature materials and can be viewed here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-026-02509-6

Three women leading research in Science and Engineering

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

To mark International Women's Day, we spotlight three women leading research in Science and Engineering. Meet Silvia Liverani (Head of the Centre for Probability, Statistics and Data Science) Mona Jaber (Head of the Centre for Networks, Communications, and Systems) and Ana Sobrido (Head of the Centre for Centre for Sustainable Engineering). Silvia Liverani I love uncovering the structure hidden in messy data using statistical models to find those patterns. My research focuses on developing advanced statistical methods for complex datasets, and one aspect I really enjoy is that I get to collaborate with researchers in other fields, including biologists, psychologists, clinicians, etc. I have been the Head of the Centre in Probability, Statistics and Data Science since 2023. The Centre is an exciting group of academics, PDRAs and PhD students, spanning from pure mathematics to applied statistics and image processing. Mona Jaber As a child, I was fascinated by how engineering could solve real-world problems and I knew then that I wanted to be an engineer. That early curiosity has grown into a lifelong passion that now drives my research in artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technologies, accelerating our progress toward more sustainable urban environments. Today, as Head of the Centre for Networks, Communications, and Systems, I have the privilege of working alongside exceptional colleagues on truly inspiring projects. What excites me most is not only the individual breakthroughs, but the possibility of bringing these innovations together, connecting ideas, systems, and disciplines, to then help shape a more sustainable future. Ana Sobrido My love for science started as a kid in school, when watching chemical reactions unfold felt like witnessing magic, sparking a curiosity to understand the hidden rules behind them. This led me to pursue a career in Chemistry where I developed a particular interest in materials for energy. My research pioneers sustainable materials and innovative manufacturing approaches to enable the next generation of energy storage and conversion technologies, helping accelerate the transition to a more resilient and low-carbon future. As Head of the Centre for Sustainable Engineering, I am excited about building on strong existing foundations to address the most pressing sustainability challenges. I look forward to working with fantastic colleagues, driving innovation and impactful research and excellence in teaching and learning, while fostering an open, inclusive, and inspiring environment for all.

Tiny structures, big impact: Queen Mary team develops new materials for faster, smarter ...

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have discovered a new way to finely control how materials respond to electrical signals, paving the way for faster and more efficient wireless communication systems. The study, led by Professor Yang Hao from Queen Mary's Centre for Electronics, has been published in Nature Communications. It reveals how the team engineered microscopic structures—called polar nanoclusters—inside a special ceramic film to create materials that can "tune" their electrical behaviour at microwave frequencies used in devices such as 5G antennas, radar systems, and sensors. Modern communication and sensing technologies depend on materials that can adjust how they interact with signals; changing frequency, reducing interference, or improving sensitivity. Until now, creating materials that could do this effectively and efficiently has been a major challenge. The Queen Mary team overcame this by precisely controlling the internal structure of a thin ceramic layer. Their method lets the material change its electrical response using less power and with minimal signal loss—something that has long limited previous designs. "By engineering the material at the nanoscale, we can achieve strong and stable tunability without compromising performance," said Professor Hao. "This opens the door to a new generation of reconfigurable wireless and sensing devices that are faster, smaller and more energy-efficient." The breakthrough could have far-reaching impact across industries—from next-generation mobile networks and satellite communications to advanced medical imaging and autonomous systems. Devices that can automatically adapt to changing environments are central to the future of sustainable, intelligent electronics. Beyond practical applications, the findings also offer new scientific insight into how materials behave at the smallest scales, particularly in how tiny polar regions can boost performance at higher frequencies. The research team is now exploring how to integrate these tunable films into working components and scale up the manufacturing process for real-world use. Read more at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64642-1