£8,671,092
Division of Materials Engineering
Research Projects
The following are current funded research projects taking place within the research division:
Paragraf support fund 2Principal Investigator: Colin HUMPHREYS Funding source: Paragraf Paragraf Limited Start: 01-08-2021 / End: 31-07-2025 Amount: £33,540 |
ESTEEM - Sustainable manufacturing for future compositesPrincipal Investigator: Han ZHANG Funding source: EPSRC Start: 01-10-2021 / End: 30-09-2024 Amount: £395,947 With only 1% of energy consumption compared to current manufacturing methods, high performance composites with integrated new functions like deformation and damage sensing as well as de-icing will be manufactured without needs of even an oven. This new method will be tuned to fully comply with the processing requirements of existing high performance composite systems, reducing costs in capital investment, operational, and maintenance aspects. The new functions will also provide real-time health monitoring of components' structural integrity to enable condition based maintenance with high reliability. |
QMUL-HUST Partnership: Wide-Bandgap, Thermally-Evaporated Perovskite Solar CellsPrincipal Investigator: Zhe LI Funding source: Start: 01-04-2022 / End: 01-04-2024 Amount: £5,000 Wide-Bandgap, Thermally-Evaporated Perovskite Solar Cells |
International exchange: Environmental impacts of lead leakage from perovskite photovoltaic integrated greenhousePrincipal Investigator: Zhe LI Funding source: Royal Society Start: 14-03-2022 / End: 13-03-2024 Amount: £12,000 To understand the impact of perovskite solar modules on agricultral environments |
Eco-Friendly Perovskite photovoltaic technologies-AXA Research FellowshipPrincipal Investigator: Zhe LI Funding source: AXA research fund Start: 01-03-2022 / End: 01-03-2024 Amount: £100,000 Eco-Friendly Perovskite photovoltaic technologies-AXA Research Fellowship |
KTP with Lucideon: Cell testing to assist development of novel biomaterialsPrincipal Investigator: Karin HING Co-investigator(s): Simon RAWLINSON Funding source: Innovate UK Start: 17-02-2021 / End: 17-02-2024 Amount: £249,854 The aim of this programme is to transfer and embed knowledge of in vitro cell testing from QMUL to Lucideon to enable them to offer clients integrated physico-chemical and biological characterisation of materials used in medical devices & implants to improve the safety & efficacy of healthcare treatments. |
Royal Society University Research Fellowship Renewal : Oliver FenwickPrincipal Investigator: Oliver FENWICK Funding source: Royal Society Start: 19-10-2020 / End: 18-10-2023 Amount: £389,434 This project will develop crystalline materials comprising well-defined nano-objects arranged on a regular lattice. These nano-objects will be either two-dimensional (ultrathin layers within the material), one-dimensional (linear structures within the material), or zero-dimensional (quantum dots within the material), with unusual electronic properties in all cases. These bulk materials, which are straightforward to process, will retain low-dimensional characteristics. These unusual characteristics will be used to boost the efficiency of energy devices. In particular, this project will investigate their use for thermoelectrics (conversion of waste heat into electricity), and photovoltaics, delivering in both cases new materials for improved energy devices. |
Graphene-Organic Devices for Smart DisplaysPrincipal Investigator: Oliver FENWICK Co-investigator(s): William Gillin Funding source: Innovate UK Start: 01-04-2021 / End: 30-09-2023 Amount: £238,656 This project will develop graphene-based organic light-emitting diodes. It is a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between Paragraf Ltd. and QMUL. The KTP scheme helps businesses in the UK to innovate and grow by linking them with an academic or research organisation and a graduate researcher. |
Molecular Manufacturing of Macroscopic Objects - fellowship Stoyan SmoukovPrincipal Investigator: Stoyan SMOUKOV Funding source: EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Start: 01-09-2018 / End: 31-08-2023 Amount: £1,180,624 This interdisciplinary proposal proposes a molecular basis for Manufacturing for the Future,[a1] to grow many types of particles in a nature-inspired way. It offers scalability, near-full utilization of the material, and the ability to carry out transformations at near ambient conditions. Manufacturing in nature spans the scales from intricate ... |
Engineered Protein Nanosheets at Liquid-Liquid Interfaces for Stem Cell Expansion, Sorting and Tissue EngineeringPrincipal Investigator: Julien GAUTROT Funding source: EU Commission - Horizon 2020 Start: 01-09-2018 / End: 31-08-2023 Amount: £2,011,161 ProLiCell will design the biochemical and mechanical properties of extracellular matrix (ECM) protein nanosheets that can sustain the formation of adhesion protein complexes and support cell proliferation and culture on materials with very weak bulk mechanical properties (liquids). |
Wafer-Scale Manufacturing of Single-Crystal Perovskite OptoelectronicsPrincipal Investigator: Lei SU Funding source: EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Start: 01-05-2021 / End: 30-04-2023 Amount: £316,308 In this project we aim to developĀ a scalable and high-yield manufacturing process for mass-producing single-crystal perovskite optoelectronics. |
Creative Clusters Fashion in Smart TextilePrincipal Investigator: James BUSFIELD Co-investigator(s): Emiliano BILOTTI and Haixue YAN Funding source: AHRC Arts and Humanities Research Council Start: 31-10-2018 / End: 31-03-2023 Amount: £345,900 The Business of Fashion, Textiles and Technology (BFTT) is a five-year industry-led project, which focusses on delivering sustainable innovation within the entire fashion and textile supply chain. The aim is to foster a new, creative business culture in which fashion, textiles and technology businesses can use R&D as a mechanism for growth. |
Graphene Flagship Core Project 3Principal Investigator: James BUSFIELD Co-investigator(s): Nick DUGGAN, Yang HAO, Emiliano BILOTTI, Dimitrios PAPAGEORGIOU, Wei TAN, Colin CRICK, Han ZHANG, Himadri GUPTA and Nicola PUGNO Funding source: EU Commission - Horizon 2020 Start: 01-04-2020 / End: 31-03-2023 Amount: £376,501 This grant will cofund the establishing of a mini-CDT with 5 PhD studentships in Graphene materials at QMUL. |
FlexNanoFlowPrincipal Investigator: Lorenzo BOTTO Funding source: Commission of the European Community Start: 01-04-2017 / End: 31-03-2023 Amount: £1,017,645 2D nanomaterials hold immense technological promise thanks to extraordinary intrinsic properties such as ultra-high conductivity, strength and unusual semiconducting properties. Our understanding of how these extremely thin and flexible objects are processed in flow is however inadequate, and this is hindering progress towards true market applications. When processed in liquid ... |
Combined LAPS and SICM for multimodal live cell imagingPrincipal Investigator: Steffi KRAUSE Co-investigator(s): Wen WANG and Jon GORECKI Funding source: EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Start: 01-09-2018 / End: 28-02-2023 Amount: £571,839 A novel instrument will be developed that will revolutionise the ability to monitor cellular processes and cell communication in polarised cells by simultaneously imaging cells apically and basally. This will provide information about apical cell morphology and basal ion concentrations and electrical signals such as cell surface charge and impedance. |
Smart rope with sensing capability using multifunctional materials (SENSING ROPE)Principal Investigator: Emiliano BILOTTI Co-investigator(s): James BUSFIELD Funding source: Royal Academy of Engineering Start: 29-01-2021 / End: 22-01-2023 Amount: £53,030 This Royal Academy of Engineering funded industry fellowship will explore the use of novel polymer nanocomposites as embedded sensors in ropes. |
Body-Worn Sensor for Point-of-Care Vascular Access MonitoringPrincipal Investigator: Lei SU Funding source: EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Start: 01-10-2021 / End: 31-12-2022 Amount: £378,651 In this project, we will develop a body-worn sensor for cardiovascular monitoring, particularly to address a long-standing clinical challenge in vascular access health surveillance. |
EPSRC New Investigator Award: Stability of Organic Solar Cells Based on Non-Fullerene AcceptorsPrincipal Investigator: Zhe LI Funding source: EPSRC Start: 24-09-2019 / End: 31-10-2022 Amount: £500,890 This EPSRC project aims to unravel the degradation mechanisms of organic solar cells based on non-fullerene acceptors and elucidate the material and device design rules to guide the development of high performance and high stability solar cells. |
3D Photoelectrochemical Imaging in Porous Light-Addressable StructuresPrincipal Investigator: Steffi KRAUSE Co-investigator(s): Joe BRISCOE, Thomas ISKRATSCH and Bo ZHOU Funding source: EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Start: 04-01-2021 / End: 03-10-2022 Amount: £202,248 The project aims to develop a photoelectrochemical imaging system for mapping of electrochemical processes in three dimensions within porous electrode structures. The new technology will aid the development of novel electrode materials for energy harvesting devices and be suitable for in-situ 3D functional imaging in 3D tissue culture. |
All-printed thermoelectric generatorsPrincipal Investigator: Oliver FENWICK Funding source: Royal Society Start: 01-10-2017 / End: 31-08-2022 Amount: £110,748 Organic thermoelectric materials are in the early stages of development, and the excitement surrounding them lies in their low cost, solution processability (they can be printed) and their mechanical flexibility. In short, they could revolutionise thermoelectric power generation. In this project, an OTEG will be fabricated on paper by a novel printing process. It is a cheap, scalable process that is much-needed for OTEGs to become reality. Furthermore, this project follows the conviction that a fundamental understanding of OTEG device physics will accelerate the development of improved thermoelectric materials |
QMIF: Aerosol treatment of commercial perovskite solar cells for improved efficiency and stabilityPrincipal Investigator: Joe BRISCOE Co-investigator(s): Zhe LI Funding source: Start: 01-10-2021 / End: 31-07-2022 Amount: £50,000 Development of aerosol treatment methods to improve the performance of commercial perovskite solar cells and panels |
KiriTEG (Smart Grants)Principal Investigator: Emiliano BILOTTI Co-investigator(s): Michael REECE, Oliver FENWICK and Han ZHANG Funding source: Innovate UK Start: 01-08-2020 / End: 31-07-2022 Amount: £131,117 The KiriTEG project will develop flexible, miniaturised TEGs allowing the design of non-rigid thermoelectric energy harvester devices. This will be achieved by development of innovative semiconductor materials, materials deposition techniques and production processes to allow the commercial scaling of the project deliverables. This project utilises the skills of 'kirigami' (variant of origami that includes cutting as well as folding) to produce a new generation of low cost, highly flexible devices. These energy harvesting devices will operate between -40C and +120 C, which covers the vast majority of low grade harvesting applications. |