Chemistry is at the heart of many of the great technological transformations of the modern era. The urgent transition away from energy-dense but environmentally-damaging fossil fuels presents a new grand challenge for chemistry, centred on the design of materials associated with the conversion, distribution and utilisation of energy. In particular, the rapid expansion of solar and wind power will necessitate the use of large-scale energy storage, spanning wide ranges of energy, power and storage duration in diverse applications including domestic power, transportation and grid management. In order to meet this challenge, we must leverage existing technology while simultaneously developing new materials with enhanced properties. The research programme contained within this Fellowship application details a plan to develop a new family of inorganic metal-nitrogen-hydrogen (M-N-H) materials, with an emphasis on their application to sustainable energy storage. At the core of this project is a synthetic programme which aims to significantly expand the range of M-N-H materials, moving beyond these first examples to systems which display a wider range chemical bonding types and metals. Consideration of the application of M-N-H materials has been largely restricted to the Group I and II metal amides and imides (NH2- and NH2- bearing inorganic salts) in the context of lightweight hydrogen storage materials. More recently, these same materials have been identified as effective ammonia decomposition catalysts, and have been implicated in the enhanced ammonia synthesis activity of hydride-based composite catalysts. Ammonia is increasingly considered as a viable high energy density fuel and hydrogen carrier, and the catalytic activity of M-N-H materials may help promote its use. One theme of this fellowship will therefore be the expansion of the relatively small number of materials have been tested for their catalytic activity. Screening of the new M-N-H materials would not only result in the development of more active catalysts, but also a more complete understanding of the properties which govern their catalytic action. Many functional materials are based on oxides, and property variation comes from varying the array of cations in the oxide material. Imide anions are similar to oxide, and so offer a path to creating analogous materials. For example, lithium oxide and lithium imide are isostructural, yet lithium imide shows ionic conductivity which is dramatically enhanced compared to the oxide. This part of the programme will seek to elucidate the relationship between imides and oxides, and to use this principle as a guide for the design of new imide-based functional materials. In particular, synthesis of imides with high ionic conductivity and electrochemically-active components (e.g. cathode materials) will be pursued with the goal of developing a concept imide battery material. The aim is to provide new insights into the fundamental chemistry of the M-N-H family and illustrate new approaches for the design of energy storage materials.

Biomembranes lie at the heart of most biological function, and lipid membranes are increasingly finding a wide range of novel applications in biotechnology and nanomedicine. Such self-assembled amphiphilic interfaces can adopt an astonishing range of complex shapes and liquid-crystalline structures ordered in 1, 2 or 3 dimensions, over length scales stretching from 2 - 3 nanometres, to microns. Gaining an understanding at a molecular level of how interface structure, ordering, dynamics and micromechanics depend upon chemical structure and composition, and thermodynamic variables such as temperature, hydration, and pressure, is the key to learning how we can manipulate such self-assembled soft interfaces to create novel and useful structures and new technologies, and this is the main aim of this Programme. We have identified three key underpinning basic science challenges: 1) asymmetry; 2) patterning; 3) curvature, long-range organisation and symmetry. There are four main aspects underlying these challenges which we consider are of crucial importance: i) compositional asymmetry and dynamics of amphiphile flip-flop across bilayers; ii) lateral segregation, line tension and microdomain formation; iii) membrane curvature and curvature elasticity; iv) charge and dipolar interactions between lipid headgroups. Furthermore, there is a complicated coupling between all of these four aspects, and this is where we will focus much of our attention. We have assembled a team of five leading UK University research groups, spanning Chemistry, Physics and Biophysics. The groups have complementary expertise covering laboratory-based and synchrotron time-resolved X-ray diffraction, neutron scattering, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, calorimetry, biomolecular force microscopy, Langmuir trough and microfluidics technologies, linear and non-linear spectroscopies, atomic force microscopy, spectroscopic and optical imaging, optical tweezers, microrheology, and theory. These approaches will be used to attack different inter-related aspects of the three key basic science challenges. We will ensure an efficient translation and synthesis of all of the findings, by a tightly- regulated management structure, and by regular meetings and staff exchanges between the five research groups. Building on the engineering rules and technologies developed previously in the programme, we will integrate the earlier work to develop lipid structures into active lipid systems such as: self-encapsulated droplet interface bilayer networks in water; patterned asymmetric vesicles of defined size: coupling microfluidics with smart droplet microtools; phospholipid phases and vesicles in thermal gradients. We will then use this knowledge to develop three demonstration systems: i) Artificial Organelles. The development of artificial organelle machines which mimic some of the remarkable functions and properties of biology will lead to new approaches for personalized healthcare. ii) Rapid drug-membrane binding screen. A compartmentalised, rapid drug screening device will allow parallel measurements of drug interactions with a number of artificial plasma membrane mimics (PMMs) formed by an array of parallel droplet interface bilayer or vesicle networks. iii) In-Cubo Crystallization of Large Membrane Proteins. Learning how to swell lipid cubic phases will unlock our ability to construct cubic scaffolds with unit cell dimensions of the order of tens or hundreds of nanometres, allowing incorporation of large membrane proteins (>50kD), which are major drug targets for the pharmaceutical industry. Further biological and biotechnological applications will be developed during the course of the Programme by the current Investigators and a wider group of industrial and academic collaborators, who will be brought into the Programme as appropriate.

There is an urgent need for the development and manufacture of advanced batteries for the electrification of vehicles in order to enable long, energy efficient trips on a single, fast charge with minimal loss of capacity and exceptionally high safety standards. Critical to achieving this aim is improving the capability of battery technology. The UK requires a home-built industry in lithium ion batteries. To achieve this objective, the UK government has initiated the Faraday Challenge (£246M over 5 years) and Faraday Institution, which have highlighted materials innovation as an essential ingredient for realising batteries of the future. During my career to date, I have developed a transformative new technology which allows for the scalable production of novel layered compounds from undamaged liquids containing undamaged, individualised 2-dimensional (2D) materials that can act as building blocks to achieve engineered battery electrodes with significantly improved capacity, durability and power to enable the widespread electrification of vehicles. Importantly, and in contrast to most competing methods, the process of fabricating the single layered materials is truly scalable. Part of the innovation process of this project will be to accelerate commercialisation of these 2D materials through creation of a UCL spin-out company to manufacture 2D materials on a large scale. The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has set targets for electrical energy storage, to increase energy and power density whilst reducing price. Novel Lithium-ion and sodium-ion electrodes with increased capacity and kinetics that are cost efficient can contribute to this goal. In this project, working in the Department of Chemical Engineering, UCL, I will create new layered material constructs for battery electrodes, which will be tuned to the needs of the electric vehicle manufacturers. These novel layered material electrodes will be developed from lab scale to pilot scale in collaboration with Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG). Novel in-situ characterisation techniques will be developed for advanced characterisation of battery materials. Thomas Swan Ltd. will assist with knowledge in the scale-up of solutions of 2D materials, and provide commercial materials. IP will be developed in both the synthesis of the novel layered materials and the scaled-up processing steps required for optimised electrode performance in a car battery.

Future fossil power generation plant will have to operate at higher temperatures to increase its thermal efficiency and reduce its carbon footprint. High-chromium martensitic steels (such as P91, P92) have been developed for elevated temperature applications and are being used increasingly in supercritical power stations, but there are early signs of cracking around weldments in service. The underlying physics and micro-mechanisms contributing these failures needs to be understood and quantified so that new design and life assessment methods can be developed. The aim of this training research proposal is to exploit the potential of neutron and synchrotron radiation measurement techniques at Central Facilities. The techniques will be applied to measure fabrication residual stresses at multiple length-scales in high Cr weldments and quantify how they relax during service high temperature exposure, to measure and spatially resolve plastic and creep deformation across weldments, and to quantify volumetrically the evolution of creep cavitation leading to cracking. The project will use ENGIN-X, LOQ and SANS_2D instruments at ISIS and JEEP at Diamond and involve the student spending four training placements these instruments. The project fits closely with a programme of high temperature materials for energy research at the Open University where the student will have access to complementary test facilities. Welded test specimens will provided by European Technology Development Ltd whose involvement will facilitate dissemination of the results and capabilities of advanced measurement techniques to the power generation industry worldwide.

Realization of new technologies that are able to minimize energy consumption and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels depends critically on the development of novel materials. For example, the most immediate obstacle to the widespread use ofhydrogen as a clean energy carrier is the practicality of hydrogen storage for on-board applications: no existing materials satisfy the required specifications. Superconductors can also have a major impact on numerous technologies in transportation, medicine, electronics etc., provided that they can operate at relatively high temperatures and carry significant current.I plan to explore an important class of materials, metal borides, that have a wide range of potential applications: superconductors, hydrogen stores, batteries, catalysts, and hard coatings. My main goal is to perform an extensive ab initio analysis of metal boride properties that will reveal binding mechanisms across a wide range of structures and compositions. I will use the acquired fundamental knowledge to develop an efficient compound prediction method - a new method is required because the complexity of metal borides' morphologies prohibits the use of automated compound prediction methods recently developed for metal alloys. Development of such a tool will speed up the design of multi-component metal borides for specific applications.I have already attempted to use this strategy for rational materials design during my postdoctoral work and demonstrated its effectiveness on particular examples. I have revisited a few selected binary and ternary metal-boron systems and identified several previously overlooked promising candidate compounds with appealing properties. This gives grounds for optimism that a more large-scale systematic search for stable phases will reveal new materials of great practical importance. My main focus will be on metal borides with potential for superconductivity or hydrogen storage, as I have expertise in these fields. As part of my career development I also plan to extend my research to other areas, such as battery applications. I believe that consideration of such a broad range of applications in one combined study is not only a sensible but also the most efficient work plan. Indeed, as described in the proposal, metal borides with very different properties may have an underlying structural link and their stability regions can be investigated investigated in one set of carefully planned simulations and experiments.