Chemical Synthesis of Transformative Extended Materials
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Our 10-15 year research vision is: chemical synthesis of advanced functional materials with properties that will challenge contemporary understanding of the physical and chemical behavior of extended systems, achieved with the precision that is now customary in small molecule chemistry. It is important to realize this vision because the synthesis of new functional materials is of strong societal and economic importance to the UK in priority areas such as energy and healthcare, and because access to materials with unprecedented properties opens up new scientific horizons. Realization of the vision requires strong links to the materials science, condensed matter physics, chemical engineering and life science collaborators who form the Programme Grant (PG) partnership.The proposal has a single 5-year thematic target: the development of synthetic methodologies for modular materials with domains of function. The target is addressed in three coupled Themes because the scientific challenges and the skills necessary to tackle them successfully are strongly linked, as reflected in the forecast deployment of 25% of the PG resource in activity that cuts across the themes.Theme 1 targets porous materials with incompatible or contraindicated chemical functional groups that can deploy flexibly to produce unique molecular separations and catalytic reactivity, producing new paradigms for the efficient use of limited natural resources. In Theme 2, optimally controlled interfaces in oxide materials will produce enhanced ionic transport for application in fuel cells and generate contraindicated scientifically challenging physical properties (e.g., ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity in a single material). The properties and functions accessed in Themes 1 and 2 on the molecular scale will be translated into the nano- to mesoscale in Theme 3 by chemical control of the statistical assembly processes which produce nanostructured assemblies. This provides a linked and integrated approach to the contraindicated chemical reactivity and physical property challenges and enables interaction with the more complex environments in living systems.The theme goals will be achieved by the fusion of synthesis, measurement and modeling in a cross-disciplinary, cross-sector, cross-institution international partnership. The partnership is constructed to allow the development of new methodology for the rapid evaluation of materials for properties of interest and subsequent detailed studies of the resulting promising lead examples by expert collaborators. The close thematic links and the opportunity for breakthroughs in competitive areas require a flexible resource deployment strategy, managed by a small leadership team with an experienced project mentor and reporting to an internationally-leading Steering Group. Resource is allocated to allow the building of further partnerships during the PG. The PG team have demonstrated research exploitation and outreach leadership via the formation of the award-winning spin-out, Iota NanoSolutions and the establishment of the Centre for Materials Discovery (with Europe's largest suite of capital equipment for accelerated extended materials discovery). Outreach to industry will be taken to a new level here via the concurrent NWDA-funded Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry.The PG activity is focused in an area where global competition is characterised by a strong geographical focus of resources. This is recognised by the University of Liverpool who have consistently reinvested in materials chemistry. This is demonstrated here again by the commitment of 1.22M cash and 276K in-kind support in addition to the normal 20% FEC contribution, which adds value to the EPSRC investment as part of a true long-term partnership with the funding body. 10 dedicated DTA studentships are committed to the grant for cross-disciplinary and cross-institution activity.
Publications
Briggs ME
(2015)
Dynamic flow synthesis of porous organic cages.
in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England)
Bushell AF
(2013)
Nanoporous organic polymer/cage composite membranes.
in Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
Butchosa C
(2014)
Shining a Light on s -Triazine-Based Polymers
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Chalker P
(2012)
Atomic layer deposition of germanium-doped zinc oxide films with tuneable ultraviolet emission
in Journal of Materials Chemistry
Chalker PR
(2010)
Liquid injection atomic layer deposition of silver nanoparticles.
in Nanotechnology
Chen L
(2014)
Separation of rare gases and chiral molecules by selective binding in porous organic cages.
in Nature materials
Cheng G
(2014)
Conjugated Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (C-PIMs)
in Advanced Functional Materials
Cheng G
(2012)
Soluble conjugated microporous polymers.
in Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
Chong S
(2013)
Tuning of gallery heights in a crystalline 2D carbon nitride network
in J. Mater. Chem. A
Chong SY
(2012)
Local structure of a pure Bi A site polar perovskite revealed by pair distribution function analysis and reverse Monte Carlo modeling: correlated off-axis displacements in a rhombohedral material.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
| Description | The original vision for this was project was "chemical synthesis of advanced functional materials with properties that will challenge contemporary understanding of the physical and chemical behaviour of extended systems, achieved with the precision that is now customary in small molecule chemistry". We have produced, published and patented materials based on this vision with properties spanning photocatalysis and selective sorption to lead-free replacements of piezoelectric materials and new fuel cell electrodes. The delivery of this vision is exemplified by the development of molecular cage solids as a new class of porous materials with function arising from their solid state structures but controlled by molecular synthesis. These materials have remarkable sorption properties, for example, they are the best known materials for separating the commercially important noble gases krypton and xenon. These materials were commercialised by Sigma Aldrich. A fundamental breakthrough was the use of crystal structure prediction (CSP) to predict the assembly of these cages in the solid state - this was the first example of using CSP outside of the pharmaceutical area to design new organic functional porous solids. At the time of publication, these organic cages were by far the largest molecules to have been tackled using CSP. Unlike zeotype approaches for metal-organic frameworks, this CSP method involves no assumptions about topology and it is therefore applicable to hypothetical candidate molecules about which nothing is known experimentally. Similarly, by using chemical design criteria, we have grown in an atomic layer-by-atomic layer manner two oxide materials with quite different crystal structures on top of each other, opening up new generations of materials combinations of functional interfaces by revealing the principles needed to fuse different oxide lattices. The combination of different skills and perspectives within the project team has allowed us to develop new approaches to the identification of functional materials, for example by blending approaches involving inorganic and organic synthesis. By integrating our knowledge of porous, nanostructured and oxide materials in a manner that was quite unanticipated at the start of the project, we identified a new approach to the synthesis of solid oxide fuel cell cathodes based on the self-organisation of ordered regions within an extended structural scaffold - this sort of "emergent" behaviour is common in soft matter, such as polymers, but rare in "hard" materials such as oxides. The resulting material performs well as a cathode and is a candidate for next-generation systems that is currently under development. One of the most striking scientific developments is the first report of a ferromagnetic ferroelectric bulk material that operates at room temperature - the combination of the two long-range ordered states of ferroelectricity (electrical dipoles) and ferromagnetism (magnetic dipoles or spins) has proved very challenging because the basic chemical bonding requirements of these two states had been thought to be contradictory and in competition with each other. We identified this material by first understanding the structure of related materials that contained only one of the two ground states over a range of length scales, not solely the long-range average view that diffraction gives us, and then designing new systems to favour both states simultaneously. The resulting material displays both switchable magnetisation and electrical polarisation at room temperature, together with magnetoelectric coupling. |
| Exploitation Route | The specific materials reported will contribute to the design of enhanced functional systems across the areas of selective sorption (for example low-energy separations, removal of toxic chemicals), catalysis, ion transport, fuel cell electrodes, lead-free piezoelectrics and multiferroics. The design approaches, for example self-organisation in hard materials, creation of epitaxial non-isostructural oxide interfaces and the control of extended function by local chemical modification, will be used by researchers aiming to create functional materials across a range of materials classes and sectors. |
| Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Chemicals,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Energy,Environment,Healthcare |
| URL | https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/chemistry/research/rosseinsky-group/programme,grant/ |
| Description | A new class of porous materials have been created that are now commercially available (see Sigma Aldrich catalogue: http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/papers/19855385). We have identified the first magnetoelectric ferroelectric ferromagnet, which is a class of material important for low-energy information storage and processing, and patented this material: this represents the combination in a single material of two states of long-range order long thought to be antithetical to each other. New fuel cell electrode design approaches have led to a patented material (based on a new design motif) acquired by a company and strong subsequent research interaction that has further grown their patent base and broadened their materials strategy. Materials with very high sorption capacities for toxic industrial chemicals have been developed and informed the development of materials for applications at partner organisations, reflecting the development of new design motifs for guest recognition by porous hosts in the project. Materials with high selectivities, for example for separating isomers of organic molecules or for separating radioactive gases, are being developed with partner organisations, partly via EPSRC impact acceleration account funding. A spin-out company, CageCapture Ltd (company no. 12188284; https://cagecapture.com), was formed on Sept. 4th 2019. The CEO was initially Dr Ming Liu, a postdoctoral research associate on the Programme Grant. This company is developing a new class of materials, porous organic cages (Nature Mater. 2009, Nature 2011) that arose from this grant. Specifically, the company is targeting molecular separations such as rare gas separations (Nature Mater. 2014), isotope separations (Science, 2019), and capture of pollutants such formaldehyde. The company has raised almost £1 M of commercial projects in these areas. This project provided the key academic foundations for an extended series of academia-company co-investments at UoL: • Centre for Materials Discovery (CMD, 2006-2017: £16M) • High Throughput Formulation Centre (2011-2013: £9.3M) • Materials Innovation Factory (MIF, 2013-present: ~£82M). The project defined a vision for computationally-accelerated materials discovery that was shared by Unilever, who made their largest-ever investment in a single partner academic collaboration, the Materials Innovation Factory (MIF), with the University of Liverpool (UoL), further supported by Research England's UK Research Partnership Investment Fund. The MIF (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/materials-innovation-factory/) contains over 300 co-located academic and industrial researchers, and features one of the world's largest concentrations of automated equipment for materials chemistry. The MIF opened in 2018 and reflects the digitally-enabled research vision developed in this Programme Grant. The EPSRC work therefore was a crucial underpinning of the strategic partnership between Unilever and the University. Several hundred Unilever R&D employees are actively involved in this collaboration on a day to day basis. The collaboration has global scale, a broad, deep vision, and is strategic to the long-term goals of both Unilever & the University. Specifically, during this period the collaboration between EPSRC funded investigators and Unilever and other commercial partners in the CMD provided small, medium, and large industries with supported access to state-of-the-art high throughput chemistry technology and the associated academic expertise funded by EPSRC. For Unilever the impact of this combination of world leading academic science, funded by EPSRC, and the wider translational infrastructure led to a 2X increase in productivity of its R&D staff at CMD, more than 7 major product innovations delivered to market with molecules invented by Unilever at CMD. Other impacts from the EPSRC funded science available at the CMD included 70 SME assists, 122 new jobs, £7M Net Value to the region. Several patent filings were made by other key corporate partners based on the science e.g., catalysts for Johnson Matthey discovered by high-throughput methods. Crucially, it was the combination of CMD infrastructure and the scientific excellence at University of Liverpool that was funded by EPSRC that led to the MIF co-investment. The initial investment in the MIF was £70M (UoL £37M, Unilever £22M & UKRPIF £11M). This was Unilever's largest ever global investment into a single partner academic collaboration. Follow-on co-investment has included: 9 new UoL academic appointments, £10M from Royce Institute, and Unilever investment of ~£12M in its own labs at MIF. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
| Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Chemicals,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Energy,Environment |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Leverhulme Research Centres |
| Amount | £10,000,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Leverhulme Centrer for Functional Materials Design |
| Organisation | The Leverhulme Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2016 |
| End | 10/2026 |
| Title | Accelerated discovery of two new structure types in a complex inorganic phase field |
| Description | Today, we find new materials by systematic experimental investigation of the phases that form by combining the elements. But this is too slow in the face of the vast number of possible materials compositions. "Big data" computational approaches calculate possible materials based on known crystal structures, but can only find analogues, not truly new structures. We have developed a computational tool that combines ab initio prediction with chemical understanding to efficiently direct experimental work into a region of a five-element composition space where two new structures are then found. This approach is applicable to materials discovery across the periodic table, now. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | No known impacts |
| URL | http://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/82 |
| Title | Interface control by chemical and dimensional matching in an oxide heterostructure |
| Description | Interfaces between different materials underpin both new scientific phenomena, such as emergent behaviour at oxide interfaces, and key technologies, such as the transistor. Control of interfaces between materials with the same crystal structures but different chemical compositions is possible in many materials classes, but less progress has been made for oxide materials with different crystal structures. We show that dynamical self-organisation during growth can create a coherent interface between the perovskite and fluorite oxide structures, which are based on different structural motifs, if an appropriate choice of cations is made to enable this restructuring. Integration of calculation with experimental observation reveals that the interface differs from both the bulk components and identifies the chemical bonding requirements to connect distinct oxide structures. This dataset contains XRD, AFM and RHEED data |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | No known impacts |
| URL | http://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/74 |
| Title | La3Li3W2O12: Ionic diffusion in a Perovskite with Lithium on both A- and B-Sites |
| Description | Data relating to the discovery and characterisation of La3Li3W2O12 (LLWO), a perovskite with lithium on the A- and B- sites. The data has contributions from both experimental and computational techniques, including: Diffraction NMR DFT calculations EDX / ICP-OES chemical analysis And relates to the structure, composition and lithium ion dynamics of this new material. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | No known impacts |
| URL | http://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/162 |
| Title | Nano-structured rhodium doped SrTiO3 - visible light activated photocatalyst for water decontamination |
| Description | A modified hydrothermal synthesis, avoiding high temperature calcination, is used to produce nano-particulate rhodium doped strontium titanate in a single-step, maintaining the rhodium in the photocatalytically active +3 oxidation state as shown by X-ray spectroscopy. The photoactivity of the material is demonstrated through the decomposition of aqueous methyl orange and the killing of Escherichia coli in aqueous suspension, both under visible light activation. A sample of SrTiO3 containing 5 at% Rh completely decomposed a solution of methyl orange in less than 40 minutes and E. coli is deactivated within 6 hours under visible light irradiation. This dataset contains X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron, X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy, UV/visible spectroscopy, cell counting data, thermogravimetric and infra-red spectroscopy |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | No known impacts |
| URL | http://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/155/ |
| Title | Oxygen permeation and stability of Mo-substituted BSCF membranes |
| Description | The oxygen permeation performance of Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8-xFe0.2-yMox+yO3-d (x+y=0; 0.025; 0.05; 0.25; 0.375 for Co/Fe=4 and x+y=0.125 for Co/Fe=2) ceramic perovskite materials was studied. The effects of the composition, structure, morphology and membrane thickness on permeation flux were investigated. We demonstrate how Mo substitution significantly improves the stability of BSCF membranes not only under static but also dynamic conditions by depressing the degradation rates at 750 oC. The highest permeation flux among the studied membranes was measured for a 1 mm thick Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.78Fe0.195Mo0.025O3-d as 1.55 ml min-1 cm-2 at 950 oC which is very close to the flux measured for BSCF (1.65 ml min-1 cm-2) under the same conditions |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | No known impacts |
| URL | http://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/48 |
| Title | Self-assembled dynamic perovskite composite cathodes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells |
| Description | Electrode materials for intermediate temperature (500 - 700 °C) solid oxide fuel cells require electrical and mechanical stability to maintain performance during the cell lifetime. This has proven difficult to achieve for many candidate cathode materials and their derivatives with good transport and electrocatalytic properties because of reactivity towards cell components, and the fuels and oxidants. Here we present Ba0.5Sr0.5(Co0.7Fe0.3)0.6875W0.3125O3-d (BSCFW), a self-assembled composite prepared through simple solid state synthesis, consisting of B-site cation ordered double perovskite and disordered single perovskite oxide phases. These phases interact by dynamic compositional change at the operating temperature, promoting both chemical stability through the increased amount of W in the catalytically active single perovskite provided from the W-reservoir double perovskite, and microstructural stability through reduced sintering of the supported catalytically active phase. This interactive catalyst-support system enabled stable high electrochemical activity through the synergic integration of the distinct properties of the two phases. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Patent, related to this work and assigned to Ceres Power has been granted |
| URL | http://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/231 |
| Title | Stable and Ordered Amide Frameworks Synthesised Under Reversible Conditions which Facilitate Error Checking |
| Description | Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) are network polymers with long-range positional order whose properties can be tuned using the isoreticular chemistry approach. Making COFs from strong bonds is challenging because irreversible rapid formation of the network produces amorphous materials with locked-in disorder. Reversibility in bond formation is essential to generate ordered networks, as it allows the error-checking that permits the network to crystallise, and so candidate network-forming chemistries such as amide that are irreversible under conventional low temperature bond-forming conditions have been underexplored. Here we show that we can prepare two- and three-dimensional Covalent Amide Frameworks (CAFs) by devitrification of amorphous polyamide network polymers using high-temperature and -pressure reaction conditions. In this way we have accessed reversible amide bond formation that allows crystalline order to develop. This strategy permits the direct synthesis of practically irreversible ordered amide networks that are stable thermally and under both strong acidic and basic hydrolytic conditions |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | No known impacts |
| URL | http://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/386 |
| Description | Collaboration with ORNL |
| Organisation | Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Teams at Liverpool and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in United States of America collaborated to carry out studies on new material and publish a paper in 2022. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Teams at Liverpool and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in United States of America collaborated to carry out studies on new material and publish a paper in 2022. |
| Impact | Paper published in Chemistry of Materials in 2022; Complex Structural Disorder in a Polar Orthorhombic Perovskite Observed through the Maximum Entropy Method/Rietveld Technique, Chem. Mater. 2022, 34, 29-42. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | High resolution Electron Microscopy of thin films (Antwerp) |
| Organisation | University of Antwerp |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Preparation and supply of thin film samples |
| Collaborator Contribution | high resolution electron microscopy and analysis |
| Impact | Publication in Nature Chemistry (2016). Publication in Chemical Science (2011), publication in Angewandte Chemie (2007) |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Title | Lanthanide-based MOF |
| Description | The present invention relates to compounds capable of forming metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), particularly f-block metal MOFs which selectively sorb one component (e.g. para-xylene) from a mixture of components (e.g. m-/p-xylene mixture). The invention also relates to methods of producing and using said compounds. |
| IP Reference | GB1215693.1 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2012 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | The separation capability of this and related materials, plus the associated concept of guest-driven restructuring, are likely to influence the broad ranging selective sorption field. |
| Title | Layered Perovskites |
| Description | The present invention relates to a mixed metal oxide exhibiting perovskite-type structural characteristics in which there are cations of Ba, Ca or Sr, a rare earth metal and Fe, Cr, Cu, Co or Mn present in three different coordination sites or a composition thereof, to a cathode composed of the mixed metal oxide or composition thereof and to a solid oxide fuel cell comprising the cathode. |
| IP Reference | GB1019156.7 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2010 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | - |
| Title | Multiferroic Materials |
| Description | The present invention relates to new multiferroic materials. More particularly, the present invention relates to new multiferroic single phase ceramic materials as well as to thin films formed from these materials, methods of preparing these materials and their use as multiferroic materials in electronic components and devices. |
| IP Reference | GB1504418.3 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2016 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | Not yet published hence inappropriate to comment further. |
| Title | POROUS MATERIALS |
| Description | Porous materials (such as organic polyamine cage compounds) and methods of stabilising porous materials which are otherwise prone to pore-collapse are described. Such stabilisation is accomplished through the use of molecular ties to create bridges between reactive groups of a (potentially) porous material to thereby strengthen and stabilise the porous structure. The chemistry involved in, and the results of, the stabilisation of porous materials to provide a new sorption composition comprising the very materials which are generally prone to pore-collapse are also described. |
| IP Reference | WO2016174468 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2016 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | too early to say |
| Title | STRUCTURE |
| Description | A perovskite structure comprising a first element X, strontium, iron, cobalt, oxygen and tungsten; wherein the first element X is barium and/or a lanthanide and wherein the structure comprises a region of single perovskite and a region of double perovskite. An electrode and fuel cell comprising the structure together with a method of forming a perovskite structure according to any of claims 1 to 9, comprising mixing starting materials, wherein the starting materials comprise a first element X, strontium, iron, cobalt, oxygen and tungsten to form a mixture; heating the mixture to a first temperature for a first period of time to form a single perovskite; and heating the mixture to a second temperature for a second period of time to form a double perovskite; wherein the first element X is barium and/or a lanthanide. |
| IP Reference | WO2016083780 |
| Protection | Patent granted |
| Year Protection Granted | 2016 |
| Licensed | Yes |
| Impact | Further EPSRC Impact Accelerator Account funding resulting from this technology. |
| Title | Separation using solid organic molecular cages |
| Description | This invention relates to chemical separations using porous materials |
| IP Reference | GB1411515.8 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2014 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | We are collaborating with other academics and Public Health England to test properties and applications of the materials |
| Title | Soluble Conjugated Microporous Polymers |
| Description | Polymers exhibiting solubility, conjugation and microporosity are processable and useful for a variety of applications. The polymers comprise repeating units which are linked together to form rigid macromolecular structures which do not exhibit space-efficient packing. The polymers may comprise aromatic structures, e.g. fused aromatic structures and/or multiply bonded aromatic structures, and may comprise solubilising groups such as for example branched alkyl groups or silyl groups. |
| IP Reference | GB1219783.6 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2012 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | - |
| Title | TWO-DIMENSIONAL CARBON NITRIDE MATERIAL AND METHOD OF PREPARATION |
| Description | Graphitic carbon nitride has been prepared and its structure confirmed by extensive characterization. This material has useful electronic, in particular semiconducting, properties. Crystalline thin films have been prepared. Synthesis may be carried out by condensation of unsaturated carbon- and nitrogen- containing compound(s) in inert solvent such as a salt melt, forming graphitic carbon nitride at a gas-liquid or solid-liquid interface. |
| IP Reference | WO2016027042 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2016 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | this material will most probably have impact in the electronics industry and we have been approached by a multinational company |
| Title | synthetic method and materials for ion separation and recovery |
| Description | Japan patent application Synthetic method and materials for ion separation and recovery T.Nankawa, M.J.Rosseinsky, D.Stewart, A.Katsolidis |
| IP Reference | JP2016-161059 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2016 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | - |
| Company Name | Porous Liquid Technologies Ltd |
| Description | Porous liquids-liquids with permanent holes in them-are a fundamentally new and counterintuitive state of matter, first described in 2015 in a joint Nature paper co-authored by researchers at Queen's University of Belfast and the University of Liverpool. This attracted much interest from academic teams and the media worldwide. Porous Liquid Technologies Ltd (PLT) was formed in July 2017 by the inventors to commercialise these materials (http://www.porousliquidtechnologies.com). The first porous liquids were hard to scale up, involving both complex chemistry and toxic solvents. Since 2015, we have solved both of those problems. Our most recent liquids have porosities of around 20%; a huge increase compared to our first-generation materials, opening up a range of applications. PLT has five directors - Prof. Stuart James (Belfast), Prof. Andrew Cooper (Liverpool), Dr Barry Murrer (ex Johnson Matthey), Mr David Moore (QUBIS) and Mr David James. |
| Year Established | 2017 |
| Impact | The company is in discussion with a number of potential commercial partners in sectors spanning oil and gas, catalysis, and food and drink. |
| Website | http://www.porousliquidtechnologies.com/ |
| Description | Seminar at Physics Department, Imperial College London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The project and latest results related to photocatalysis were presented to staff, students and potential collaborators by Dr R.S. Sprick in an invited seminar at Imperial College London. This resulted in a collaboration on ultra-fast spectroscopy with materials made in Liverpool. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |