Energy Futures Bulletin Q3 2021
Grant Successes
Energy Futures @ COP26
Adventurous Manufacturing Prof. Neil Beattie, Prof. Guillaume Zoppi and Dr Vincent Barrioz from the Northumbria University Photovoltaics (NUPV) research group have received nearly £1M from EPSRC to work with industry to enable a design-led approach to photovoltaics manufacturing which will result in much tighter aesthetic integration of PV with products in the built environment and automotive sectors. e
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• Prof. Neil Beattie and the Northumbria University Students’ Unions President drove to COP26 in a Tesla and had a Carpool Climate Change question time on the drive up – footage to follow! • Dr Zaid Alwan and his team exhibited their research on embodied carbon in the Green Zone at COP26
Self-powered Switchable Glazing (SPSG) for Sustainable Energy in Buildings Dr Kunyapat Thummavichai has been awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship under the supervision of Prof. Guillaume Zoppi to tackle the challenges contributing to the development of SPSG devices. Three work packages include materials, degradation mechanisms and device fabrication – all aimed at solving key SPSG challenges.
A calculated approach to solar cells For solar cells to work, charge carriers must avoid trap sites. Dr Lucy Whalley and collaborators provide key theoretical insights in their latest publication in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. You can read a Q&A piece with Lucy here.
• Neil also chaired a session at the Newcastle Green Economy Summit
• Northumbria Un ve s ty’s Vice-Chancellor hosted an energy roundtable
EPSRC CDT in ReNU ReNU recently welcomed its 3rd Cohort of of 18 PhD students including two in collaboration with Northumbrian Water. You can find out more about these new projects and our latest annual report on ReNU’s website. Follow us on Twitter @CDT_ReNU
New Fluorolog-QM Arrives The UK’s first HORIBA Fluorolog-QM arrived at the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering over the summer. This piece of equipment will be used by Dr Marc Etherington and other members of the Faculty of Engineering and Environment for the characterisation of new lightemitting materials. To hear more about some of the research Dr Etherington is involved in please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV6rwpQSdo8 For more details please contact neil.beattie@northumbria.ac.uk