Metamaterials for energy applications
Engineering and characterisation of improved materials to harvest, store, transmit, and save energy
Energy
We develop new pathways for solutions of today's and future energy challenges. Our areas of focus are:
- The conversion of unused or wasted energy in the environment into electrical energy;
- Atomic level manipulation and control of interfaces between two materials to engineer materials for better energy harvesting (thermoelectrics and solar)and energy storage (batteries);
- Wireless power transfer systems;
- Nanomaterials for energy storage and conversion;
- 3D Metamaterials for energy harvesting applications
From harvesting to storage, our Centre brings together expertise from physics and engineering to explore, for example,
- the role of electronic and thermal transport in materials and their optical properties and characterisation;
- how to synthesize and characterise novel functional nanoporous materials for practical applications in for example solar and hydrogen energy creation, storage, and conversion, nanodevice construction, greenhouse capture and conversion, photocatalysis and environmental catalysis for renewable energy to lightweight wearable engineering devices;
- the exploitation of metamaterials in energy harvesting to enhance conversion efficiency of unused or wasted energy into electrical energy to power small electronic devices such as wireless sensors.
| Prof Janet Anders: Quantum thermodynamics: nano- machines, data storage, computation and communication, and diagnostic healthcare |
| Prof Bill Barnes: Nanophotonics; plasmonics; light-molecule interactions; photosynthetic materials |
| Prof Monica Craciun: Optoelectronic materials and devices; quantum phenomena; nanoelectronics |
| Dr Charles Downing: Nanophotonics and plasmonics |
| Prof Alastair Hibbins: Metasurfaces to modify fluid flow |
| Dr David Horsell: Thermoacoustics; electrical conduction in nanostructures |
| Dr Steve Hepplestone: Quantum mechanics and its applications to materials |
| Dr Simon Horsley: Theory of electromagnetic and acoustic materials |
| Prof Geoff Nash: Infrared sources; detectors and spectroscopy;surface acoustic wave devices |
| Dr Ana Neves: Wearable technology; graphene; 2D materials |
| Prof David Wright: Active/Reconfigurable metasurfaces; phase-change materials |
| Dr Yongde Xia: Nanomaterials for energy |
| Dr Dibin Zhu: Energy harvesting and wireless power transfer |