ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

"Understanding structure-property relationships across lengthscales is key to the design of functional and structural materials and devices. Moreover, the complexity of modern devices extends to three dimensions and as such 3D characterization is required across those lengthscales to provide a complete understanding and enable improvement in the material’s physical and chemical behaviour. 3D imaging and analysis from the atomic scale through to granular microstructure is proposed through the development of electron tomography using (S)TEM, and ‘dual beam’ SEM-FIB, techniques offering complementary approaches to 3D imaging across lengthscales stretching over 5 orders of magnitude. We propose to extend tomography to include novel methods to determine atom positions in 3D with approaches incorporating new reconstruction algorithms, image processing and complementary nano-diffraction techniques. At the nanoscale, true 3D nano-metrology of morphology and composition is a key objective of the project, minimizing reconstruction and visualization artefacts. Mapping strain and optical properties in 3D are ambitious and exciting challenges that will yield new information at the nanoscale. Using the SEM-FIB, 3D ‘mesoscale’ structures will be revealed: morphology, crystallography and composition can be mapped simultaneously, with ~5nm resolution and over volumes too large to tackle by (S)TEM and too small for most x-ray techniques. In parallel, we will apply 3D imaging to a wide variety of key materials including heterogeneous catalysts, aerospace alloys, biomaterials, photovoltaic materials, and novel semiconductors. We will collaborate with many departments in Cambridge and institutes worldwide. The personnel on the proposal will cover all aspects of the tomography proposed using high-end TEMs, including an aberration-corrected Titan, and a Helios dual beam. Importantly, a postdoc is dedicated to developing new algorithms for reconstruction, image and spectral processing."

2 337 330 €

Start date: 2012-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31

Global change involves a large number of complex interactions between various earth system processes. In the atmosphere, one component of the earth system, there are crucial feedbacks between physical, chemical and biological processes. Thus many of the drivers of climate change depend on chemical processes in the atmosphere including, in addition to ozone and water vapour, methane, nitrous oxide, the halocarbons as well as a range of inorganic and organic aerosols. The link between chemistry and climate is two-way and changes in climate can influence atmospheric chemistry processes in a variety of ways. Previous studies have looked at these interactions in isolation but the time is now right for more comprehensive studies. The crucial contribution that will be made here is in improving our understanding of the processes within this complex system. Process understanding has been the hallmark of my previous work. The earth system scope here will be ambitiously wide but with a similar drive to understand fundamental processes. The ambitious programme of research is built around four interrelated questions using new state-of-the-art modelling tools: How will the composition of the stratosphere change in the future, given changes in the concentrations of ozone depleting substances and greenhouse gases? How will these changes in the stratosphere affect tropospheric composition and climate? How will the composition of the troposphere change in the future, given changes in the emissions of ozone precursors and greenhouse gases? How will these changes in the troposphere affect the troposphere-stratosphere climate system? ACCI will break new ground in bringing all of these questions into a single modelling and diagnostic framework, enabling interrelated questions to be answered which should radically improve our overall projections for global change.

2 496 926 €

Start date: 2011-05-01, End date: 2017-04-30

Microporous materials are an important class of solid; the two main members of this family are zeolites and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Zeolites are industrial solids whose applications range from catalysis, through ion exchange and adsorption technologies to medicine. MOFs are some of the most exciting new materials to have been developed over the last two decades, and they are just beginning to be applied commercially. Over recent years the applicant’s group has developed new synthetic strategies to prepare microporous materials, called the Assembly-Disassembly-Organisation-Reassembly (ADOR) process. In significant preliminary work the ADOR process has shown to be an extremely important new synthetic methodology that differs fundamentally from traditional solvothermal methods. In this project I will look to overturn the conventional thinking in materials science by developing methodologies that can target both zeolites and MOF materials that are difficult to prepare using traditional methods – the so-called ‘unfeasible’ materials. The importance of such a new methodology is that it will open up routes to materials that have different properties (both chemical and topological) to those we currently have. Since zeolites and MOFs have so many actual and potential uses, the preparation of materials with different properties has a high chance of leading to new technologies in the medium/long term. To complete the major objective I will look to complete four closely linked activities covering the development of design strategies for zeolites and MOFs (activities 1 & 2), mechanistic studies to understand the process at the molecular level using in situ characterisation techniques (activity 3) and an exploration of potential applied science for the prepared materials (activity 4).

2 489 220 €

Start date: 2018-10-01, End date: 2023-09-30

One of the greatest challenges facing society is the sustainability of resources. At present, a step change in the sustainable use of resources is needed and catalysis lies at the heart of the solution by providing new routes to carbon dioxide mitigation, energy security and water conservation. It is clear that new high efficiency game-changing catalysts are required to meet the challenge. This proposal will focus on excellence in catalyst design by learning from recent step change advances in gold catalysis by challenging perceptions. Intense interest in gold catalysts over the past two decades has accelerated our understanding of gold particle-size effects, gold-support and gold-metal interactions, the interchange between atomic and ionic gold species, and the role of the gold-support interface in creating and maintaining catalytic activity. The field has also driven the development of cutting-edge techniques, particularly in microscopy and transient kinetics, providing detailed structural characterisation on the nano-scale and probing the short-range and often short-lived interactions. By comparison, our understanding of other metal catalysts has remained relatively static. The proposed programme will engender a step change in the design of supported-metal catalysts, by exploiting the learning and the techniques emerging from gold catalysis. The research will be set out in two themes. In Theme 1 two established key grand challenges will be attacked; namely, energy vectors and greenhouse gas control. Theme 2 will address two new and emerging grand challenges in catalysis namely the effective low temperature activation of primary carbon hydrogen bonds and CO2 utilisation where instead of treating CO2 as a thermodynamic endpoint, the aim will be to re-use it as a feedstock for bulk chemical and fuel production. The legacy of the research will be the development of a new catalyst design approach that will provide a tool box for future catalyst development.

2 279 785 €

Start date: 2012-04-01, End date: 2017-03-31