NanoSynth will develop a synthesis platform to deliver industrial quantities of graphene-filled epoxy resins. This will have a significant effect in a wide range of markets where improvements are needed in strength, toughness, electrical conductivity and thermal performance of epoxies. Graphene is usually obtained industrially by expanding and separating graphite layers using combined thermal and chemical methods. These methods are typically energy-intensive, low yield and use large amounts of solvent. Attempts to produce and disperse graphene in situ (in the polymer) focus on viscous thermoplastic systems but little attention is being paid to low viscosity epoxy resins, despite a need to improve their properties and a world market of £9.8bn. NanoSynth will therefore develop methods for producing large-scale quantities of graphene-filled epoxy resins, using combinations of mechanical and non-contact methods to exfoliate graphite and disperse the resulting graphene directly into resin.

Awaiting Public Project Summary

Awaiting Public Project Summary

Motivation Energy storage systems play an important role in the sustainable energy program worldwide as they enable more efficient use of energy generated, which in turn, supports the stabilization of energy market and reduces the environment impact. Efficient power conversion and management is essential for the operation of hybrid and electric vehicles (HEV), with automotive power electronics representing an emerging £40 billion global market. Current technology requires cooling of the power electronics because of limitations in the temperature rating of the components, particularly capacitors. Today’s capacitors in HEV employ electrolytic-based capacitors which cannot tolerate temperatures usually above 70 °C and voltages above 450 V and suffer from short lifetime. This is a major limitation to HEV, as it requires capacitors to operate up to 600 V and temperatures up to 140 °C. Aims This project aims to develop a new generation of high temperature stability, high energy density lead-free capacitors that will enable power electronics to operate at significantly higher temperatures (up to or above 200 °C). This will be achieved as follows: • Develop and optimize high energy density thin film compositions with high temperature stability up to 200 °C with low loss and low leakage. • Process ceramics of the developed compositions and optimize their energy density, loss and leakage properties. • Develop scaleable processes for high energy density ceramics. • Produce capacitors based on the selected composition and evaluate part properties. Impact: New high temperature and energy density capacitors would support the fast development of HEV and energy harvesting sector and thus reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. As well as the market for automotive power converters major opportunities also exist for high temperature, high energy density lead-free capacitors for emerging pulsed power applications and high voltage capacitors. General electronics applications would also benefit from a reduction in size through improved energy / capacitance density and reduced voltage coefficient of capacitance.

Awaiting Public Summary

The public description for this project has been requested but has not yet been received.

Awaiting Public Summary

Periodontal diseases are inflammatory conditions that affect the supporting tissues of teeth and can lead to destruction of the bone support and ultimately tooth loss if untreated. The condition is treated locally by scaling and root planing. Progression of periodontitis is usually site specific but is not uniform, and currently there are no accurate clinical methods for distinguishing sites where there is active disease progression from sites that are quiescent. This results in a significant number of, unnecessary and costly treatments of non progressing periodontal sites, which potentially cause additional damage to the tooth attachment. In this project, a generic low cost non-invasive sensor system capable of more accurately identifying periods of active inflammation at point of care, has been developed. The work has resulted in a disposable sensor strip and a prototype meter capable of measuring, within a few minutes, the activity of four newly identified host and bacterial biomarkers of active inflammation in a fluid volume of 1.5 ul. The biosensor developed in this project is designed to significantly improve the efficiency of periodontitis targeted treatment options.

Awaiting Public Summary