On Saturday 21st March, the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy was buzzing with excitement as it once again opened its doors to the public for Cambridge Festival 2026. The PAM group was thrilled to be part of this fantastic event, welcoming visitors of all ages for a day packed full of hands‑on science and discovery.

We proudly showcased our outreach toolkit developed through the EnLighten project, giving the public the chance to get stuck into interactive demonstrations exploring liquid crystals and luminescent solar concentrators. The activities sparked curiosity, lively discussions, and plenty of enthusiasm, proof that materials science continues to captivate and inspire!

Huge congratulations and thanks go to Georgie and Bea, who led the EnLighten project and made this outreach possible, as well as to everyone who contributed their time and energy to make this year’s Festival such a successful and enjoyable experience. It was a wonderful day of sharing science with the wider community, and we’re already looking forward to the next one!

We are delighted to announce that Dr Takashi Lawson, has been awarded an EPSRC David Clarke Postdoctoral Fellowship, a highly prestigious and competitive award that supports outstanding early‑career researchers as they establish independence and develop into future research leaders.

The fellowship will support Takashi’s independent research programme within the PAM group, providing the opportunity to pursue ambitious, curiosity‑driven research while strengthening collaborations and contributing to our research environment. This award is a major achievement and a testament to the strength and originality of Takashi’s research vision.

Takashi’s fellowship project, Luminescent Solar Microreactors for Photocatalysis, addresses a critical challenge in solar‑to‑chemical energy conversion: inefficient use of the solar spectrum by photocatalysts. The project will pioneer luminescent solar microreactors (LSMRs) that absorb sunlight and convert it into wavelengths better matched to photocatalytic processes through upconversion and downshifting of light. By identifying suitable light‑converting species and integrating them into polymer films, the research aims to significantly enhance photocatalytic efficiency and enable more effective solar fuel generation. This work has exciting potential to advance decentralised, low‑carbon chemical manufacturing and contribute to the transition to a net‑zero society.

Warm congratulations to Takashi on this fantastic achievement. We look forward to seeing the pioneering research outcomes that emerge from the fellowship and their continued contributions to the PAM group.

This summer, Larissa undertook an exciting research secondment at North Carolina State University, joining Prof. Felix Castellano’s group as Research Visitor. Together, they were exploring ways to control triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion in liquid crystal systems.  

Many thanks to Phil and his research group for the inspiring discussions, collaboration, and all the fun moments throughout her two and a half months at NC State. 

Congratulations to Jack and Bea, whose review paper on light-responsive emulsions and dispersions has been published in Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science!

In this review, we examine recent advances in light-responsive emulsions and dispersions, highlighting how photoactive surfactants, particles and lipids can be used to tune interfacial structure, stability and release. We also discuss the key mechanisms underpinning photoswitchable, photothermal and photodestructive behaviour, identify current challenges, and suggest future research directions.

You can read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cocis.2025.101935

Congratulations to Maggie Nelson, who passed her MPhil viva earlier this month! Maggie’s research explored the effects of polymer composition for luminescent waveguide encoded lattices (LWELs).

Maggie has now begun her studies for a PhD in Materials Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We wish her the very best of luck!

Congratulations to Bea whose work on the use of lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) for solar-energy storage has been published in JACS! In this work, we explore the solvent-driven self-assembly of azobenzene photosurfactants (AzoPS) into LLCs for molecular solar thermal energy storage (MOST) applications for the first time. Using a combination of in-situ differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), we were able to unpick the structure-photoswitch-energy storage relationships in these materials, paving the way for accelerated design of similar, amphiphilic systems for future MOST technologies.

Many thanks to all the collaborators who contributed to the success of this project: Zhihang Wang, Martijn Zwijnenburg, Charlotte Edwards-Gayle, Kasper Moth-Poulsen and Nathan Cowieson.

You can read the paper here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jacs.5c09267

In July, the 17th International conference on materials chemistry (MC17) was held in Edinburgh, with PAM group members contributing in numerous ways.

Massive congratulations to MPhil student Maggie Nelson for winning the prize for Best Poster at the Armourers & Brasiers Forum held in Cambridge in June! Great work Maggie!