HIGH THROUGHPUT INORGANIC NANOMATERIALS DISCOVERY

Completed

Hydrogen and Fuel Cells(Hydrogen, Hydrogen production)
Renewable Energy Sources(Solar Energy)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials)

Not Cross-cutting

Dr J Darr
Chemistry
University College London

Standard

EPSRC

01 May 2007

31 January 2010

33 months

£774,376

Materials sciences

London

Physical Sciences

Dr J Darr, Chemistry, University College London

Professor JC Elliott, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London
Professor JRG Evans, Chemistry, University College London
Professor ZX Guo, Chemistry, University College London
Dr I Rehman, Materials Sciences and Engineering, University of Sheffield

The current advancement of technology very much depends upon the discovery of new materials. It has been known for some time that combinations of elements not involving carbon (called inorganic materials) can have important uses in areas from electronics, computing and UV protection in products, to harnessing energy from the sun. In particular, when inorganic particles are very small, typically made up of a few hundred atoms (called nanomaterials), they can have unusual and exciting properties. The discovery of such "nanomaterials" is very much hampered by our inability to make these materials fast enough and then to be able to test them adequately for their properties.The proposed research seeks to develop a new, faster way of making and discovering inorganic "nanomaterials" that can absorb sunlight (as an free energy source), and use this energy to split water into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen (in a process known as photocatalysis). The hydrogen can then be used for powering cars or devices of the future. Such a process is important to sustain the energy requirements of mankind on this earth when our fossil fuels (e.g. oil) are exhausted

31/10/07