I am working on producing a new class of “smart materials” based on proteins, the complex molecules that are the building blocks of life. While proteins have evolved over billions of years to perform a huge range of functions, from digestive enzymes to tiny yet powerful motors, designing new functional proteins from scratch is still […]
Next generation solar cells by splitting packets of blue light in two Solar energy is one of the fastest growing renewable energy sources in the UK and the government has recently forecast that it could provide 4% of the UK’s energy in a decade. This growth has been driven by rapid reduction in the cost […]
How a pair of speeding electrons can dance for us Can a computer work for its entire lifetime without ever being recharged? Working in the Device Materials Group at the University of Cambridge I am developing how special materials known as superconductors can make this possible and revolutionise the future of information technology. Unlike typical […]
New materials that reproduce our body tissues may heal joint injuries and other conditions The human body is not made to last for the increasingly longer times we are now able to live an active life. As the global population increases at unprecedented rates, rapid advances in medical technology have allowed the number of elderly […]
Making electric vehicles a viable alternative, using magnesium Over the last few decades lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries have become ubiquitous, powering everything from laptops and mobile phones, to electric vehicles. Their ballooning popularity is due to their ability to store more energy than previous technologies while also being smaller and lighter.However, electric vehicles are not […]
If light is music then matter is the orchestra, and each instrument is just a different form or structure of that matter. However, in everyday life, we’re stuck listening to the classics; the optical equivalents of Mozart and Beethoven. So if, as physicists and engineers, we would instead like to “listen” to something else, to […]
Using tiny vibrating magnets to destroy cancer cells I am developing a targeted therapy for brain cancer, and while biochemists have used various cocktails of drugs to destroy cancerous cells, the cells have proved frustratingly resilient to date. The present treatment for brain cancer often involves a combination of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, and yet […]
How to double the power from light, by breaking electron pairs in half. I work on the development of highly efficient silicon solar cells. To achieve this, I combine classical solar materials, with a peculiar family of organic materials which are capable of making better use of blue photons. The process which enables this is […]
Highly pitched sound could be used to make molecules dance on a surface and help us discover their identity. What happens with molecules when a liquid comes in contact with a solid surface is crucial in many areas of nanotechnology, such as catalysis, developing new energy materials and biosensing. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is the […]
The build-up of global CO2 levels has well-known environmental consequences. It is also a great waste of a potential resource. I am aiming to close the carbon loop by connecting the air to a fuel tank. When we burn fossil fuels, CO2, water and energy are released. My research is into how to efficiently reverse […]