Powering the energy transition: novel materials, smarter fuels, and heat re-use

Professor Stuart Clarke is Professor of Surface Science in the Department of Chemistry, here in Cambridge, although he did his first three degrees in Oxford. Originally joining the Cavendish Laboratory (Physics) in 1993, he moved to the Department of Chemistry in 2000. His work exploits a range of international facilities, such as synchrotron and neutron scattering centres at the worlds leading institutes providing novel experimental methods to investigate interfacial behaviour. Recent interests include interfacial aspects of batteries, supercapacitors, light harvesting molecules, lubrication and corrosion. He is presently a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry Surface Coatings Group aiming to highlight the challenges and benefits of these interesting materials/coverings.

Rafia is Research Associate working in area of heterogenous catalysis, coordination chemistry and surface sciences. Her research interests focus on designing innovative catalysts for oxygen evolution reactions and other related reactions to address the global energy crisis. She aims to develop efficient and sustainable solutions for clean energy production through advanced catalyst design.

Previously Rafia worked as a PhD researcher at Yusuf Hamied department of Chemistry, Cambridge UK and Quaid I Azam university Pakistan as a commonwealth fellow for development of novel catalysts for oxygen evolution reactions. This project crafted a new and unique class of catalysts that demonstrated globally competitive performance by combining non-precious metals with novel organic ligands via a low-temperature route. Furthermore, insights into molecular phenomena at the surface of these catalysts were gained by employing advanced techniques such as SEM/TEM EDS, XPS, among others. This work has recently be patented with Cambridge Enterprise with Rafia been named sole inventor.

Professor Alex Routh received his PhD from Princeton University in the United States in 2000. He has been lecturing in Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge since 2006 and was promoted to full professor in 2017. His position is a joint appointment with the Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows; a multi-disciplinary research institute, within the University, spanning the physical sciences. His research is in the field of colloid science and Prof Routh has worked in the areas of encapsulation, dispersion stability, formulation and drying.

Andy Woods’ research involves developing quantitative models and analogue laboratory experiments to explore some of the challenges associated with fluid mechanics in a range of environmental and energy processes. This includes research on the long-term storage of energy in the geosphere through storage of heat or hydrogen; long-term removal of carbon dioxide from man’s environment through geological storage of carbon in deep saline aquifers; and the development of models to identify novel approaches to reduce energy consumption in buildings through more efficient supply of heat, coupled with the use of thermal batteries for interseasonal heat storage. He also has ongoing research projects exploring the dynamics of volcanic systems and the dynamics of turbulent plumes in both the atmosphere and ocean, with important implications to ocean plastics and deep-sea mining.

Much of the research that Andy leads is closely coupled with direct applications in industry or environmental engineering, where idealised models of complex multiphase processes provide a powerful complement to detailed engineering simulations.