Our Projects

Nina's PhD project will focus on designing, testing, and fabrication of microreactors specifically for photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction (PCR) reactions. PCR is a chemical process that uses light energy and a catalyst to convert CO2 into fuels or chemicals. These products can include methanol, propane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which can all be used as fuels in different applications.  A microreactor, also known as a micro-structure or microchannel reactor, is a device in which chemical reactions occur within a confined space with lateral dimensions typically smaller than 1 mm. Using microreactors for this PCR reaction can provide a higher efficiency of the reaction, by enhancing the movement of molecules to the catalyst to start a reaction more quickly. In turn, this can allow the production of the products more efficiently, hence providing a sustainable route for producing fuels.

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are quickly becoming one of the most favoured industry choices for sustainable transport options in our current society due to their zero tailpipe emissions. However, BEVs have a major issue with weight due to the sheer number of batteries required to provide a suitable driving range. This is made worse by the current trend towards larger, heavier vehicles. Traditionally, BEVs have utilised stainless steel structures as casing for the battery packs and modules. Stainless steel is a heavy material and adds further weight, leading to reduced travel range and also elevating the fire damage risk due to the metal’s superior thermal conductivity. Because of this, alternative material options are already being researched.

Composite materials (materials made of two or more component materials) have excellent mechanical properties whilst remaining lightweight. They are highly customisable, which enables a variety of different manufacturing methods and starting materials to be used. However, traditional composite materials such as carbon fibre still require a lot of energy and resources to manufacture, making them less desirable from an environmental standpoint.

Bio-derived materials are a continually growing area, with natural fibre reinforced composites of particular interest. Natural fibres such as flax are capable of matching the performance of glass fibre at a lower density and a lower cost. Bio-derived materials can also be engineered to be biodegradable, whereas conventional composite materials are extremely hard to dispose of at end of life. Natural fibre materials uptake in automotive manufacturing in the past was mainly for non structural applications, but more structural applications have been seen in recent years. One such case of a high performance structural application has been seen in F1, with McLaren replacing their carbon fibre seats with a flax composite version said to reduce the CO2 equivalent by 85%. There is great potential for natural fibre composite materials to replace traditional materials and reduce the environmental impact of automotive manufacturing.

This project will look into using natural fibres to design and develop novel sustainable composite materials for EV battery module casing using a holistic approach to take into consideration numerical, analytical and experimental approaches with the objective of minimising environmental impact whilst maximising performance.

Carbon emissions from fossil fuelled road vehicles are a major contributor to climate change, internal combustion also has negative effects on local air quality. Green hydrogen is a renewable, zero-emissions fuel which could replace fossil-fuelled combustion engines thereby reducing carbon emissions. A major challenge is storage, refilling a hydrogen car’s fuel tank is difficult due to the high pressures and temperatures requiring specialist equipment to store, compress and dispense fuel in a conventional manner. This equipment represents a barrier due to the high costs of construction and operation refuelling station. One way to solve this challenge is to swap out a fuel tank meaning it can be refilled remotely away from the vehicle in bulk instead of the conventional ‘petrol-pump’ style approach.

William's project will look at developing a concept system and analysing what kind of benefits can be expected from this new approach as well as how well such a system would work when brought into practice. It is expected that a swappable fuel approach could improve well-to-wheel energy efficiency, lower the cost of fuel, remove barriers to station construction and improve customer safety while helping bring the environmental benefits from hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to market.

The aim of Sarah's PhD is to view the system of car dependency through a local, national and international lens to investigate the social, economic and built environment factors that influence car ownership amongst two age cohorts – “Millennials” and “Gen Z” – with a particular focus on gender differences. The insights from initial research will be used to generate and test a range of scenarios for future car use, ownership and travel demand.

To deliver the surface transport carbon reductions needed to achieve climate goals, the incumbent system of (auto)mobility needs to move away from private car ownership being the inevitable social norm or aspiration. This is the key to reducing people’s habit of driving as their default mode choice, even for short trips. If a car (which you have already paid for) is not available outside your front door it makes it easier to choose to walk or cycle for short trips and to use public or shared forms of mobility for longer trips.

A shift away from the current norm of private car ownership will require a socio-technical transition where bold policies on urban sustainable transport, land use planning and place-making are combined with new societal attitudes and norms towards car ownership.

There are weak signals of change in the system that some people are already voluntarily choosing not to own a car, or to "shed" one or more cars from a multi-car household. If these behaviours are supported and amplified, they could result in a tipping point away from private car ownership towards a new transport system where walking, cycling, public transport and (electric) shared forms of mobility are the norm.

Modern car interiors and displays are shifting to, and increasingly rely on OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes), which are thin, flexible sources of light that create brilliant colours at lower energy cost than traditional lighting. The current state-of-the-art materials used in OLEDs to produce light, however, are often made from rare, expensive metals such as iridium or platinum.

Chloe's project aims to explore a greener, cheaper alternative utilising copper, a much cheaper, earth abundant metal. Chloe is developing a new class of copper-based compounds that can be made simply, with minimal or no solvent, by utilising mechanical mixing instead of traditional methods to be more sustainable.

These compounds can emit different colours of light, by changing different parts of their structure, and certain changes can impact their brightness. If successful, this project could lead to a new class of low-cost, environmentally friendly materials for use in car lighting, screens, and other future electronics.

With the increasing use of batteries in various industries, ensuring their safety and reliability has become critically important. While current methods, such as battery management systems, provide valuable functionality, there remain significant challenges in accurately measuring the State of Charge (SoC). Traditional approaches, including coulomb counting and open-circuit voltage (OCV) measurements, are prone to issues such as error accumulation over time or flat readings in certain operating conditions. These limitations underline the need for improved techniques that can provide more precise and reliable SoC estimations to support safer battery usage.

This research investigates the application of ultrasound as a non-invasive, cost-effective, and innovative tool for enhancing SoC estimation. The mechanical properties of the battery are probed using ultrasound measurements, such as Time of Flight (ToF) and signal amplitude (SA), which offer key information into the internal condition of the battery. The compact size of ultrasound transducers makes this method practical for use in confined environments, such as battery modules in electric vehicles, further increasing its applicability. The potential for ultrasound to complement existing SoC estimation methods demonstrates its promise as a tool for advancing battery safety and monitoring technologies.

Mac's study focuses on three key areas of investigation. First, it examines SoC inhomogeneities in lithium-polymer (LiPo) batteries through ultrasound immersion testing, analysing variations in wave speed and attenuation to identify structural defects or material inconsistencies. Second, it explores the aging behaviour of LiPo batteries, with an emphasis on uncovering unique features at low SoC levels that are not yet documented in the literature. Finally, the research extends to nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries, comparing their aging characteristics to LiPo findings. It also evaluates ultrasound’s effectiveness in monitoring a module of three stacked batteries under various C-rates and temperatures, offering novel insights into module-level battery behaviour. Together, these efforts demonstrate the potential of ultrasound to enhance battery safety and improve performance monitoring leading to more reliable and efficient energy storage systems

Transitioning to a sustainable transport system is going to require substantial changes to infrastructure. Effective delivery of such transport projects is often contingent on gaining and sustaining public support. Evidence from other sectors suggests that the emotions people experience are important to understanding public. However, this area has been neglected in the transport sector, with little research considering how emotions might influence public acceptance. Better understanding these emotions can allow stakeholders to respond to public concerns in a more effective way, ensuring success of sustainable transport projects.

Ruth’s research will be focused on understanding emotional experienced in response to sustainable transport infrastructure projects. She will consider the types of emotions that these projects may elicit, how emotions relate to acceptance of transport projects and whether emotions relate to engagement with the project. Additionally, she will consider individual factors (e.g., trust, values) and project related factors (e.g., novelty, community involvement, transparency) that predict different emotions.

Lois's PhD aims to understand which groups of individuals may face barriers to accepting environmental transport policies, the reasons for this, and suggest how support may be increased.

Climate change poses an urgent threat to ecosystems, human health and safety, placing it at the top of political agendas across the globe (Biesbroek et al., 2022). Despite international treaties such as the Paris Agreement (2015) seeking to limit global warming, temperatures are projected to surpass the current 1.5°C target within the next few decades if no further action is taken (IPCC, 2022), and air pollution remains a leading environmental health risk, causing ~6.5 million premature deaths per year (European Environment Agency, 2018). It is widely agreed that to mitigate the effects of climate change and air pollution, profound behaviour change is required (Whitmarsh et al., 2021). This behavioural change is often narrowly conceptualised as an individual-level consumer activity, for example recycling or taking the bus. For effective mitigation however, people must also engage in collective actions. Environmental policies are a key way of incentivising transformational collective action. For policies to be successful however, they must be accepted by the public (Steg et al., 2006). Indeed, much research has demonstrated that public resistance creates reluctance amongst politicians to implement ambitious environmental policies, which often results in the termination or re-design of proposed policies (Steg et al., 2005), or withdrawal of existing policies (Fairbrother, 2022). Such terminated plans are costly and not conductive to effective climate change mitigation, making it a priority to understand why certain people may accept or reject a future policy.

Objectives:

Study 1: To understand which predictors are most important in determining the acceptability of a Low Emission Zone, in the general population

Study 2: To understand the reasons for lack of acceptance of Low Emission Zones in the general population, and across particularly low-acceptance groups (identified in [1])

Study 3: To understand if acceptability levels, and reasons for lack of acceptance, are consistent after Low Emission Zone implementation (from [2])

Study 4: To develop a measure of environmental knowledge, suitable for controlling for this covariate in Study 4

Study 5: To understand the predictors of acceptability of a Low Traffic Neighbourhood in general population and minority groups

Study 6: To design an intervention, based on studies 1, 2, 3, and 5, that facilitates the acceptance of climate transport polices

Potential Applications and Impacts:

This research will directly inform the implementation of climate policy at local, nationwide and international levels. Specifically, the outlined theoretical work will inform the types of people who may face barriers in accepting environmental transport policies, as well as the reasons why. Once understood, these challenges can be addressed to facilitate the successful introduction of policies such as Low Emission Zones (also known as Clean Air Zones) and Liveable Neighbourhoods. Methodologically, this PhD will determine if large, readily-available datasets are suitable to understand the support of policies, to enable the efficient and cost-efficient analysis of large sets of public opinion data. Conceptually, it will be understood how we can not only predict, but also encourage acceptance. Drawing upon the student’s awarded public engagement grant, existing links to local councillors, and community connections, this work will be disseminated to various stakeholders.

Relevance to the Research Council

The current project is in line with the ESRPC’s mission to deliver research with genuine economic and societal impact, on a local and globally level. In particular, exploring policy support in both general and minority populations contributes to the ESRPC’s goal of delivering social prosperity, by giving under-researched populations the support they require to engage with climate policy. In this way, the current work also promotes the ESPRC’s diversity and inclusion goals.