Talks:

A. R. Collins (University of Cambridge, UK) Green-to-Blue Photon Upconversion for Solar Energy Harvesting using Organic-Inorganic Polymer Hosts 

H. Tunstall-Garcia (University of Cambridge, U.K) Polymer-POSS Composites as Hosts for Luminescent Solar Downshifters

Congratulations to Bea Jones whose work on light-responsive cubosomes has been published in JACS! We created nanoparticles with an internal, cubic liquid crystal phase, suitable to entrap small molecules. Using UV light, the release of these entrapped molecules could be triggered by squeezing the cubic lattice. These stimuli-responsive release systems may have huge potential as next-generation nanodelivery devices for drugs and catalysts. This work is supported by a joint EPSRC/ Diamond Light Source studentship.

You can read the paper here: Light-Responsive Molecular Release from Cubosomes Using Swell-Squeeze Lattice Control, Beatrice E. Jones, Elaine A. Kelly, Nathan Cowieson, Giorgio Divitini, and Rachel C. Evans*, JACS, 2022.

Congratulations to Dr Junxin Wang who has been selected as a finalist in the 2022 Chris Abell Postdoc Business Plan Competition!

Congratulations to Kieran whose work on light-responsive Pickering (particle-stabilised) emulsions has been published in Soft Matter. We identify a series of design rules to enable the preparation of light-responsive Pickering emulsions. Using a model system based on silica particles functionalised with a photoresponsive azobenzene chromophore, we demonstrated that reversible emulsification/demulsification can be achieved through the application of light.

Congratulations to Dr Junxin Wang who has been selected as one of 10 applicants to go through to the semi-final stage of the 2022 Chris Abell Postdoc Business Plan Competition where he will present future plans for his project on Smart Windows.

Dr Wang has also been awarded a Global Incubator Network Austria (GIN) Fellowship for this year’s 2022 IECT Summer School.

Congratulations to Bolong, Morton and Elaine for their recent review article on Förster resonance energy transfer in Luminescent Solar Concentrators. This work was funded by the European Research Council grant SPECTRACON.

The PAM group have won one of the university’s first LEAF (Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework) awards.

LEAF is a new tool developed by researchers at University College London to help improve the carbon footprint of lab-based research. The PAM group’s efforts have been led by Dr Bethan Charles and we have been hard at work over the past few months to implement energy-saving ideas, such as replacing our wasteful oil baths with aluminium heating blocks. We won a Bronze LEAF award for our efforts, and we’re currently working towards Silver.

Huge congratulations to 3rd year PhD student Abi Collins (2nd from left) who won a silver medal for her poster presentation at this year’s STEM for Britain event, which took place at the Houses of Parliament on March 7th 2022.

Abi presented a poster and video of her PhD research into the design of novel of solid-state upconverters for solar energy harvesting to a diverse audience which included Members of Parliament, civil servants and eminent scientists. This research is kindly funded by the European Research Council (SPECTRACON).

Find out more about STEM For Britain here: https://stemforbritain.org.uk

We’re delighted to welcome visitors to the group. Kathryn Benincasa is a PhD student from McMaster Uni who has a @MitacsCanada globalink research award to support her 3-month stay to work on our collaborative @EPSRC NEW Horizons project with Prof. Kalai Saravannamuttu
Jonathan Hoare joins the group for his MPhil in Energy Technology research project on 3D printed LSCs. Jonathan was a Part II student in 2021 before moving to engineering for his MPhil. Welcome both – we hope you enjoy your visit!