Research Projects – EPSRC CDT in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (NanoDTC)

A wide range of research projects have been supported by our centre over the years. Brief descriptions of projects can be found below.

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Computing on a diamond cluster

Quantum computing and communication is a highly exciting technology, capable of changing the current information paradigm. Instead of having to run expensive, time consuming, clinical

A Collaborative Approach in Tackling Dementia

Interdisciplinary science paves the way toward solving many of our most complex problems. And broadening our academic network yields some of the most significant advances

Bringing Magnetism and Electricity Together

Electricity and magnetism have always been closely linked in science. The coupling of electrical and magnetic properties of certain materials is what’s known as the

Spying and tagging cancer to attack it first!

Although there have been great developments in the field of cancer diagnostics and treatment, cancer has still sustained its position as a leading cause of

Documenting the lifespan of electrons, from birth till death

Gallium nitride (GaN) based semiconductors, perhaps the most important semiconducting materials family since silicon, has revolutionized the electronics industry. These can emit a bright blue

Look for the light!

Approximately 25% of the global electricity demand is used for lighting, which accounts for 1.9GT of CO2 emissions and 5% of the annual planet carbon

Using Electronic Noise to Speed Up Machine Learning

All computers contain millions of electronic switches known as transistors. Traditionally these transistors switch on and off to perform the operations required to run a

Cell Membrane-on-a-Chip for Drug Interaction Studies

Our microbiome consists of 100 thousand billion microbes that live inside our gut. These are both helpful and potentially harmful, and often have a symbiotic

Converting CO2 into Useful Chemicals

Carbon dioxide is a well-known greenhouse gas industrially produced by the combustion of fossil fuels for the generation of heat and electricity. The accumulation of

Create a world that is flat

Is this world flat? For us, it’s certainly not! For some materials, however, the world is flat. The discovery of graphene made human beings, the

Using Supercapacitors to Capture Carbon Dioxide

Climate change is the largest problem faced by our planet on a global scale. We need to make sure that there is an increase of

Chloroplasts: a platform for vertical biopharming

For centuries, scientists have turned to nature to serve as inspiration on how to tackle some of the world’s most challenging scientific problems. Plant cells

Making computers more brain-like

Imagine you’re doing your homework in your bedroom, but you don’t have any of your schoolbooks. To get the answer to each question, you have

Sensors for Detecting Cancer Biomarkers

The aim of my PhD project is to develop a sensor capable of detecting cancer biomarkers (biological molecules that may indicate the presence of cancer).

Photobatteries: Harvesting and storing solar energy at the same time!

It’s the year 2050 and you’re awoken by a soft humming near your ear. You slowly open your eyes and see Herbert, your robotic assistant

A flexible shuttle to fight intracellular infections

A little prick and a shuttle loaded with antimicrobials is injected into the patient’s blood circulation. The antimicrobial delivery vehicle targets infected cells, inactivates microorganisms

Playing with light

The ability to “play” with light can enable many things such as increasing the efficiency of solar panels, improving biomedical imaging and transferring data faster

Looking inside lithium-ion batteries

Alice Merryweather (c2018) is the lead author on a paper published in the journal Nature, reporting an a new optical technique called interferometric scattering microscopy

Sounds of Sustainability: Building International Relationships

On 27 and 28 May 2021, the NanoDTC hosted a sustainability themed podcast workshop for students for students from Colombian Universities and Cambridge. The workshop

The Adventures of Ellie the Electron

To mark the Cambridge Festival, Taylor Uekert (c2016) brings us The Great Escape of Ellie the Electron, a children’s book exploring photocatalysis on the nanoscale.

Spectroscopy and Electrocatalysis for a Sustainable Future

Demelza Wright (c2016) and co-authors use plasmonic nano-junctions to learn about catalysis. Climate change is a constant, yet multifaceted, threat. One of the issues we

From waste to fuel: quantifying sustainability

Taylor Uekert (c2016) and co-authors highlight key steps for taking a solar waste-to-hydrogen technology from the lab to the real world. With 70% of global

Novel spin states discovered in silicon-based artificial atoms

Electronic states with high amounts of spin are central to the understanding of novel physical phenomena such as energy collection in organic photovoltaics and unconventional

Batteries to power a sustainable future

Over 800 million people worldwide currently live without access to electricity. For others, unreliable supplies of energy continue to affect quality of life and hinder

Making sense of a sea of atoms

We all end up sitting at a desk at some point in our lives, but not all desks are made equal. A desk might be

Green chemical synthesis using vitamins and light

Many chemical synthesis techniques used in industry to create pharmaceuticals and consumer goods are extremely energy intensive and produce large amounts of toxic by-products. What

Lipids: The Missing Key to the Parkinson’s Puzzle?

Lipids, at first glance, seem like simple molecules. They have some degree of insolubility in water and have long hydrocarbon chains. While some types of

Studying membrane transport electrical ‘colour’

Cells are the building blocks of all living things. Contained within the cell membrane is all the machinery and information required to sustain and create

Solar Power on a Roll

One of the most promising renewable energy sources available is solar power. The sun produces enough energy in an hour to satisfy global energy needs

A touch screen for cells: establishing a new method to communicate with biology

Some of the most remarkable material properties occur in biological materials. Bone, for example, is a phenomenal composite material with an outstanding combination of stiffness,