Reducing the energy requirements and steering reactions to desired products in key chemical processes involved in the production of fuels and energy carriers for a net-zero economy and for environmental clean-up are some of the most pressing demands for a future sustainable society. This challenge is intimately linked to efficient use of the most abundant energy source available to us, light. Light also provides us with the means to control reaction pathways, opening in turn further opportunities to define new routes to the next generation of pharmaceuticals. We propose to develop a comprehensive research programme in order to understand, and harness, the application of a unified approach for harvesting light energy and channelling it to achieve required chemical outputs, with reduced generation of unwanted or hazardous by-products, using the extraordinary properties of surface plasmons, charge-density waves excited in metallic nanostructures by light. These excitations enable efficient use of electromagnetic radiation over a broad wavelength range from the ultraviolet to the infrared, while at the same time passing this energy on to energetic charge carriers and lattice oscillations, hence providing an efficient pathway from light to excited electronic states of molecules adsorbed at surfaces as well as to local heat. This combination can induce chemical transformations with lower activation barriers for chemical reactions and open up new paradigms for controlling chemical reactions switchable with light. It is here the research fields of plasmonics and catalysis meet. Our team, consisting of key experts from the UK plasmonics and catalysis communities, will explore new research directions enabled by applying plasmonic advances to catalysis (plasmo-catalysis) in order to achieve impact on technologies which are of enormous importance for a future sustainable society. The combination of superior light harvesting and tuning of reaction dynamics that this new field offers will open up a wealth of new possibilities to tackle key challenges in catalysis. In a unified approach based on fundamental research on plasmo-catalytic nanomaterials and nanostructures, we will develop common design and methodology principles and apply them to chemical reactions important in clean fuel production, environmental monitoring and clean-up, as well as pharmaceuticals manufacture. We will establish new strategies for light-driven chemical reaction pathways amenable to industrial scale-up, while at the same time educating a new set of highly interdisciplinary researchers equipped with a key set of skills needed for the advancement of a future sustainable society.

The chemical industry recognises the need to address the principles of sustainability and there is an urgent need to design processes as new paradigms in modern manufacturing residues or, if unavoidable, to recycle them. However, sustainability also requires the design of chemical processes that minimise the use of energy and direct the reaction towards the desired products, i.e. high selectivity at the required conversion with minimum energy consumption. Catalysis must be at the core of any new chemical process and the development of active, stable, and selective catalysts will be key for chemical sustainability. Most industrial chemical processes involve several chemical steps and each step often uses a different catalyst. Product separation and purification between each step also requires further equipment and energy consumption and hence it is highly beneficial to simplify the overall process. In this project, we aim to minimise the number of individual steps in chemical processes by tandem reactions with multifunctional heterogeneous catalytic systems that can perform the consecutive chemical reactions in one reaction, and we will achieve this using microchannel reactors. Moreover, we aim to achieve this for the preparation of key platform chemicals e.g. acetic acid is a major chemical intermediate that currently require several chemical process steps. The main objective of this project is to design and develop multifunctional catalysts combined with a microchannel structured reactor to convert methane into value-added oxygenate products including methanol and acetic acid via a tandem oxidative carbonylation process. The use of tandem heterogeneous catalysis represents an exceptionally novel approach to both catalyst and reaction design. We will explore the use of microchannel reactors for methane oxidation/carbonylation. Catalyst synthesis will be coupled with this reactivity testing and catalyst design will be driven by the reactor data. Catalysts will be characterised using state-of-the-art techniques. The engineering and science will operate in an iterative manner with each new step informing the overall programme. What will success look like? Success will be the demonstration of the potential of a bespoke combination of a microchannel reactor coupled with multifunctional catalysts, generating enhanced performance that could lead to a paradigm shift in the synthesis and application of catalytic tandem reactions.

The Cardiff Catalysis Institute, UK Catalysis Hub, Netherlands Centre for Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversion (MCEC, Utrecht), and the Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI, Berlin) will use a novel theory-led approach to the design of new trimetallic nanoparticle catalysts. Supported metal nanoparticles have unique and fascinating physical and chemical properties that lead to wide ranging applications. A nanoparticle, by definition, has a diameter in the range one to one hundred nanometres. For such small structures, particularly towards the lower end of the size range, every atom can count as the properties of the nanoparticle can be changed upon the addition or removal of just a few atoms. Thus, properties of metal nanoparticles can be tuned by changing their size (number of atoms), morphology (shape) and composition (atom types and stoichiometry, i.e., including elemental metals, pure compounds, solid solutions, and metal alloys) as well as the choice of the support used as a carrier for the nanoparticle. The constituent atoms of a nanoparticle that are either part of, or are near the surface, can be exposed to light, electrons and X-rays for characterisation, and this is the region where reactions occur. Our lead application will be catalysis, which is a strategic worldwide industry of huge importance to the UK and global economy. Many catalysts comprise supported metal nanoparticles and this is now a rapidly growing field of catalysis. Metallic NPs already have widespread uses e.g., in improving hydrogen fuel cells and biomass reactors for energy generation, and in reducing harmful exhaust pollutants from automobile engines. Many traditional catalysts contain significant amounts of expensive precious metals, the use of which can be dramatically reduced by designing new multi-element nanocatalysts that can be tuned to improve catalytic activity, selectivity, and lifetime, and to reduce process and materials costs. A major global challenge in the field of nanocatalysis is to find a route to design and fabricate nanocatalysts in a rational, reproducible and robust way, thus making them more amenable for commercial applications. Currently, most supported metal nanocatalysts comprise one or at most two metals as alloys, but this project seeks to explore more complex structures using trimetallics as we now have proof-of-concept studies which show that the introduction of just a small amount of a third metal can markedly enhance catalytic performance. We aim to use theory to predict the structures and reactivities of multi-metallic NPs and to validate these numerical simulations by their synthesis and experimental characterisation (e.g., using electron microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy), particularly using in-situ methodologies and catalytic testing on a reaction of immense current importance; namely the hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to produce liquid transportation fuels. The programme is set out so that the experimental validation will provide feedback into the theoretical studies leading to the design of greatly improved catalysts. The use of theory to drive catalyst design is a novel feature of this proposal and we consider that theoretical methods are now sufficiently well developed and tested to be able to ensure theory-led catalyst design can be achieved. To achieve these ambitious aims, we have assembled a team of international experts to tackle this key area who have a track record of successful collaboration. The research centres in this proposal have complementary expertise that will allow for the study of a new class of complex heterogeneous catalysts, namely trimetallic alloys. The award of this Centre-to-Centre grant will place the UK at the forefront of international catalytic research.

The future sustainable production of bulk and fine chemicals is an ever-increasing global challenge that requires a transformative scientific approach. We must develop new ways of efficiently exploiting valuable fossil-fuel resources and tools to exploit renewable resources such as CO2 and lignin. Catalytic methods, the heart of this CDT, are key to these transformations, offering the single most powerful and broadly applied technology for the reduction of energy demand, cost, environmental impact and toxicity. This CDT will drive forward a sustainable and resource-rich culture. This CDT in Critical Resource Catalysis (CRITICAT) combines the catalysis research collective of St. Andrews, Edinburgh, and Heriot-Watt Universities to create a new and unique opportunity in PhD training and research. CRITICAT will allow 80+ bright minds to be challenged in a comprehensive and state-of-the-art PhD training regime in the broad remit of catalytic science, transforming them into future scientific researchers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and policy makers. These will be people who make a difference in a technologically-led society. Our critical mass in critical resource catalysis will accelerate training, discovery, understanding, and exploitation within catalytic chemistry. We will focus our efforts on the future of catalysis, driving new advances for environmentally sustainable economic growth and underpinning current growth in the UK chemicals sector. The economic impact in this area is huge: in 2010, an EPSRC/RSC jointly commissioned independent report showed that the UK's "upstream" chemicals industry and "downstream" chemistry-using sector contributed a combined total of £258 billion in added value to the economy in 2007, equivalent to 21% of UK GDP, and supported over 6 million UK jobs. Sustained investment in PhD training within this area will provide the highest quality employees for this sector. The CRITICAT PhD students will be exposed to a unique training and research environment. Extensive taught courses (delivered by CRITICAT PIs and industrial collaborators) will offer fundamental insight into homogeneous, heterogeneous, industrial and biocatalysis coupled with engineering concepts and essential techniques to showcase cutting-edge catalysis. The CRITICAT partners will develop these core courses into a foundational textbook for graduate training across catalysis using critical resources as its cornerstone that will serve as a legacy for this programme. We will expand our pedagogical innovation to all PhD graduate students at our three partner universities, providing region-wide enhanced academic provision. Continuous growth and peer-to-peer learning throughout their research efforts will create graduates who are keen to continue learning. They will be equipped with business, management, entrepreneurial and communication skills synergistic with core science knowledge and research undertakings. In this way, we will ensure that our CRITICAT students will be able to innovate, think critically, and adapt to change in any technological career. We will prepare the next generation of scientists, managers and innovators for key roles in our future society. To support this broad developmental approach, industry and business leaders will contribute widely to CRITICAT. Industries will (i) provide scientific ideas and objectives, (ii) deliver new competencies through targeted courses ranging from entrepreneurship to intellectual property rights and (iii) provide laboratory placements to consolidate learning and exploit any scientific advances. Furthermore, our extensive collaboration with leading international academic institutions will engender PhD student mobility, expand impact and allow experiential learning. We will build on our existing public engagement frameworks to enable our students to deliver their research, impact and scientific understanding to a wide audience, exciting others and driving new scientific policy.

The vision of RM4L is that, by 2022 we will have achieved a transformation in construction materials, using the biomimetic approach first adopted in M4L, to create materials that will adapt to their environment, develop immunity to harmful actions, self-diagnose the on-set of deterioration and self-heal when damaged. This innovative research into smart materials will engender a step-change in the value placed on infrastructure materials and provide a much higher level of confidence and reliability in the performance of our infrastructure systems. The ambitious programme of inter-related work is divided into four Research Themes (RTs); RT1: Self-healing of cracks at multiple scales, RT2: Self-healing of time-dependent and cyclic loading damage, RT3: Self-diagnosis and immunisation against physical damage, and RT4: Self-diagnosis and healing of chemical damage. These bring together the four complementary technology areas of self-diagnosis (SD); self-immunisation and self-healing (SH); modelling and tailoring; and scaling up to address a diverse range of applications such as cast in-situ, precast, repair systems, overlays and geotechnical systems. Each application will have a nominated 'champion' to ensure viable solutions are developed. There are multiple inter-relationships between the Themes. The nature of the proposed research will be highly varied and encompass, amongst other things, fundamental physico-chemical actions of healing systems, flaws in potentially viable SH systems; embryonic and high-risk ideas for SH and SD; and underpinning mathematical models and optimisation studies for combined self-diagnosing/self-healing/self-immunisation systems. Industry, including our industrial partners throughout the construction supply chain and those responsible for the provision, management and maintenance of the world's built environment infrastructure will be the main beneficiaries of this project. We will realise our vision by addressing applications that are directly informed by these industrial partners. By working with them across the supply chain and engaging with complementary initiatives such as UKCRIC, we will develop a suite of real life demonstration projects. We will create a network for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in this field which will further enhance the diversity and reach of our existing UK Virtual Centre of Excellence for intelligent, self-healing construction materials. We will further exploit established relationships with the international community to maximise impact and thereby generate new initiatives in a wide range of related research areas, e.g. bioscience (bacteria); chemistry (SH agents); electrochemical science (prophylactics); computational mechanics (tailoring and modelling); material science and engineering (nano-structures, polymer composites); sensors and instrumentation and advanced manufacturing. Our intention is to exploit the momentum in outreach achieved during the M4L project and advocate our work and the wider benefits of EPRSC-funded research through events targeted at the general public and private industry. The academic impact of this research will be facilitated through open-access publications in high-impact journals and by engagement with the wider research community through interdisciplinary networks, conferences, seminars and workshops.