University of Nottingham - Equipment Account

Summary
We will offer to UK academic and industrial scientists and engineers expert facilitated access to a new high performance liquids dedicated XPS spectrometer, the first of its kind in the UK. This type of instrument is an important tool used across many science and engineering disciplines, including for example nanotechnology, chemistry, surface science, functional materials, pharmaceuticals, catalysis, metallurgy, sensors, the environment and energy. LiPPS will provide unique atomistic measurements of both bulk liquids and solutes there-in. Other new features make this instrument easier to operate, able to deal with a wider range of sample types and to acquire data autonomously.

This unique facility will provide UK universities and industry with the opportunity to carry out world-leading research. By providing open access at the Nottingham Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Centre (NNNC) at the University of Nottingham we aim to maximise the impact of this instrument on UK science and industry. To help achieve this Nottingham will collaborate with other leading centres of Photoelectron Electron Spectroscopy particularly the new national facility (NEXUS) hosted by Newcastle.

The NNNC operates as a sustainable cross-faculty multidisciplinary centre supporting open-access to state-of the art-instrumentation. The provision of such facilities is a priority of the University of Nottingham. The new LiPPS instrument will become a key service within the NNNC which is committed to the long term maintenance and updating of this resource for the benefit of research in the UK.

Impact Summary
Who will benefit?
The proposal will help support and generate research projects that drive new areas of activity across UK HEIs. These are expected to be primarily within the areas of (or at the interface of) catalysis, nanotechnology, chemistry, surface science, functional materials, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, food technology, the environment and energy. Resulting outputs will potentially benefit the wider scientific community and UK industry, increasing international competiveness.

The project will benefit the Universities in this proposal through increased integration of facilitated open access to liquid based XPS. This initial collaboration on offering complementary EPSRC National Facility (NEXUS) services hosted by the University of Newcastle. The University of Nottingham will benefit through experience gained in the sustainable operation of an open access analytical facility working in partnership, as opposed to competitively, with other HEIs. The NNNC will also benefit through the increased number of users within the Centre that may also access other complementary tools.

New fundamental insights and applications delivered through the analysis supplied will benefit academics through generating new avenues for research. The LiPPS instrument will provide proof of principle data and detailed study data that users can obtain to leverage higher quality research outputs and financial support. We foresee that benefits will also accrue to the applicants and associated research groups in Physics, Pharmacy and Chemistry in terms of collaborations spinning out from the activities of the Centre. Such collaborations may also occur between users of the Centre, either through direct linking through the Centre itself or at user meetings. Industrial users will benefit from access to state of the art analyses and expertise which can much more rapidly address problems than current systems. As well as increased sample throughput the system will provide a range of quantitative data that can help inform business critical decisions.

How will benefit from the research be supported?
As specified in our proposal, time on instrumentation or training will be allocated based upon a hierarchical question system. This will lead to the selection of Users with interests in line with EPSRC remit and work with maximum benefit to the user and the UK. Academic and industrial researchers will be trained as required in new analytical and data interpretation skills. Hence the LiPPS will contribute to delivering a source of highly trained researchers with significant added skills.

As appropriate we will facilitate technology transfer through engagement with regional and national networks (eg. KTNs) through the BDE within the NNNC, the Universities Research and Business Development Office and its wholly owned TSB funded technology transfer company, eminate Ltd. Whilst XPS is an established technique in certain high-value industrial sectors (eg. semiconductors, aerospace, pharmaceuticals), this completely new approach of liquid XPS measurements will lead to a step-change in the application of XPS to analytical measurements.

Training benefits (eg. improved career prospects) and the impact of industrial problem solving are expected to accrue from 6 months. Research outputs such as publications, talks at conferences and funding are expected to begin from around 12-18 months of project commencement. A contribution to new substantive collaborations that yield significant areas of activity and identifiable industrial outputs such as products/IP will be from years 2 to 3.