ENERGY & ENVIRONEMENT

We work to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Clean Water and Sanitation; Affordable and Clean Energy; and Sustainable Cities & Communities.

We focus on developing technologies that build off our fundamental research and can integrate across scales, from implantable to construction. materials.

Energy Extraction from Piezoelectric Polymers

Getting energy out of piezoelectric polymers is tricky. Their resistivity means that charge transfer across a polymer | conductor interface is relatively poor.

Here we work on coupling polymers to 2D diodes and supercapacitors for fully integrated energy harvesters, with a small footprint and high efficiency.

Key Researchers

Mr Ronald Leon

Dr Peter Sherrell

Polarisation Engineering

Aligning dipoles in polymers is expensive, traditionally requiring upwards of 40 MV/m at high temperatures.

We've developed ways to do this with no energy input by simply using nanomaterials and 3D printing.

The next step is control polarisation direction for patterned polarisation with bespoke spatial responses.

Key Researchers

Mr Ronald Leon

Ms Beenish Imtiaz

Dr Peter Sherrell

Key Outputs

"Interfacial piezoelectric polarization locking in printable Ti3C2Tx MXene-fluoropolymer composites" - Nat. Comms.

"Printed recyclable and self-poled polymer piezoelectric generators through single-walled carbon nanotube templating" - Ener. Enviro. Sci.

Water Splitting Catalysis

Salt water encompasses 98% of the water on earth. If we can develop ways to make hydrogen fuel from it, salt water can go a significant way to addressing the emerging energy crisis.

Here, we use 2D photocatalysts to probe the bottle neck of salt water splitting, the water oxidation reaction. By building 2D heterostructures we can manipulate charge transfer for higher quantum efficiencies and oxygen yields.

Key Researchers

Dr Peter Sherrell

Key Outputs

"Engineered 2D transition metal dichalcogenides—A vision of viable hydrogen evolution reaction catalysis" - Adv. Ener. Mater.

"Large-Area CVD MoS2/WS2 Heterojunctions as a Photoelectrocatalyst for Salt-Water Oxidation" - ACS Appl. Energ. Mater.