HIGH THROUGHPUT INORGANIC NANOMATERIALS DISCOVERY
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Materials
Abstract
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.
Organisations
- Queen Mary University of London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Malvern Instruments (Collaboration)
- Sun Chemical Ltd (Collaboration)
- AMR Constructions (Collaboration)
- Johnson Matthey (United Kingdom) (Collaboration)
- Chemistry Innovation (Collaboration)
- Thermo Fisher (To be removed 1) (Project Partner)
- Coates Lorilleux Ltd (Project Partner)
- AMR Ltd (Project Partner)
- Hydrogen Solar (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Tescom Corporation UK (Project Partner)
- Faraday: INSIGHT (Chemical throughput) (Project Partner)
- SRI International (Project Partner)
- Spectris (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
Weng X
(2008)
Direct syntheses of Lan+1NinO3n+1 phases (n=1, 2, 3 and 8) from nanosized co-crystallites
in Journal of Solid State Chemistry
Weng X
(2009)
High-throughput continuous hydrothermal synthesis of an entire nanoceramic phase diagram.
in Journal of combinatorial chemistry
Thompson K
(2009)
Screening tests for the evaluation of nanoparticle titania photocatalysts
in Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology
Zhang Z
(2009)
Photocatalytic activities of N-doped nano-titanias and titanium nitride
in Journal of the European Ceramic Society
Weng X
(2009)
Synthesis and characterization of doped nano-sized ceria-zirconia solid solutions
in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
Zhang Z
(2009)
Direct continuous hydrothermal synthesis of high surface area nanosized titania
in Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Wang X
(2009)
Robust QSAR model development in high-throughput catalyst discovery based on genetic parameter optimisation
in Chemical Engineering Research and Design
Zhang Z
(2010)
Continuous hydrothermal synthesis of extensive 2D sodium titanate (Na 2 Ti 3 O 7 ) nano-sheets
in Dalton Trans.
Lin T
(2010)
Rapid Automated Materials Synthesis Instrument: Exploring the Composition and Heat-Treatment of Nanoprecursors Toward Low Temperature Red Phosphors
in Journal of Combinatorial Chemistry
Lin T
(2010)
Rapid automated materials synthesis instrument: exploring the composition and heat-treatment of nanoprecursors toward low temperature red phosphors.
in Journal of combinatorial chemistry
Description | AMR Ltd |
Organisation | AMR Constructions |
Country | India |
Sector | Private |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Chemistry Innovation KTN |
Organisation | Chemistry Innovation |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Johnson Matthey Technology Centre |
Organisation | Johnson Matthey |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Malvern Instruments Ltd |
Organisation | Malvern Instruments |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | Sun Chemical |
Organisation | Sun Chemical Ltd |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Private |
Start Year | 2007 |
Title | Co-current mixer and method for precipitating nanoparticles |
Description | this is a confined jet mixer that allow mixing of supercritical water and metal salts at room temperature in water. This prevents bloacking and is a major development that is highly scalable and still makes very good quality nanoceramics |
IP Reference | EP2576036 |
Protection | Patent granted |
Year Protection Granted | 2013 |
Licensed | No |
Impact | its allowed me to develop the process so well that we have continued to get industry and academic funding to carry out nanomaterials research and develop new research areas |