New Centre for Energy Materials Research

On 10 May 2023 we officially launched the Centre for Energy Materials Research (CEMR), housed in the Rex Richards Building.

'I am delighted that the Vice-Chancellor joined us to open the Centre for Energy Materials Research.  Materials are key to the transformation to new low carbon technologies and to a successful green economy.  The world-leading research carried out at the CEMR will provide the new materials and fundamental understanding that underpins these technologies.  To address global challenges, such as climate change, we must work collaboratively, and this centre brings together researchers from different disciplines, unifies experimentalists and modellers, and fosters interactions from Faculty members to postgraduate students'.

Professor Sir Peter Bruce

Our Wolfson Professor of Materials, Professor Sir Peter Bruce, had the vision to create a physical centre for energy materials by bringing together investment by the University, the Faraday Institute and the Sir Henry Royce Institute.  Building on the efforts of many here in Materials, the CEMR brings together experimental and computational scientists working on different aspects of energy storage and conversion.  With an extensive range of synthesis, characterisation and analytical equipment, the CEMR will enable a highly disciplinary approach to energy materials research.  Central to this is the ability to handle and process materials under an inert atmosphere, since many energy-related materials react with the oxygen and water found in air, and up to now the lack of such a capability had restricted research into this area.  We are deeply grateful for all the great efforts of the many others without whom the Centre would not have happened.