The University of Liverpool has been awarded £1.5 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to establish a state-of-the-art laser facility to accelerate advances in clean energy, catalysis and sensing technologies.
The new ULSOMEI (Ultrafast Laser System for the Operando Study and Mapping of Electrochemical Interfaces) facility will enable UK researchers to investigate how electrochemical interfaces function at the molecular level and under real operating conditions.
Electrochemical interfaces are fundamental to clean energy technologies including batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells and electrolysers. They are also the key component of many common technologies on which we rely including sensors, displays and catalysts.
Based in the University’s Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy ULSOMEI will bring together the University’s internationally recognised expertise in advanced spectroscopy with its electrochemistry research community, to provide UK researchers with access to specialist instrumentation and equipment as well as unique technical expertise currently unavailable elsewhere.
The Centre is led by Professor Alex Cowan, the Academic Director from the Department of Chemistry, and Dr Adrian Gardner, the new Centre Manager and a Senior Research Technical Professional.
Professor Alex Cowan said: “Electrochemical interfaces determine the performance, efficiency and lifetime of technologies ranging from batteries and electrolysers to catalytic reactors. Yet, despite their importance, they remain notoriously difficult to study under operating conditions. ULSOMEI will change this by allowing researchers to directly observe where chemical intermediates form, how they evolve across an electrode surface, and how local electric fields influence their behaviour.”
Dr Gardner added: “For the first time, we will be able to spatially correlate interfacial chemistry with electric fields in real time, providing the comprehensive mechanistic understanding needed to design the next generation of energy and catalytic materials. By making these capabilities openly accessible via the Universities Shared Research Facilities scheme Liverpool will establish a national hub for operando electrochemical interface science.”
The new Centre will be available through the Liverpool Shared Research Facilities (LIV-SRF) which offers flexible access to over 25 specialist facilities, with more than £60 million worth of state-of-the-art equipment including more than 100 experienced professional staff.
Dr Gardner is supported by the Research Technical Pathway, a sector leading career progression route which supports development opportunities for specialist staff at the University of Liverpool.
ULSOMEI is supported through the UKRI EPSRC Strategic Infrastructure Fund which seeks to improve the UK’s scientific capability and enable cutting-edge research in priority areas.