The UK's maritime sector directly contributes £14.5bn GVA to the UK economy a year. However, emissions in UK ports are expected to grow four-fold by 2050 unless solutions are implemented to decarbonise the maritime sector a fact recognised by the Clean Maritime Plan supporting transition to net zero carbon by 2050\. Shipping is considered one of the most efficient modes of transport but represents a substantial source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (UK-\>13Mt CO2e/year). Air pollution for NOx, SOx and particulates contributes to major public health risk (contributing to asthma symptoms, heart disease and lung cancer) and known to affect biodiversity (DEFRA reporting that 10% of UK NOx and 7% SOx is from shipping). \>90% of cargo handling vehicles within a port environment are diesel-powered (Euro 3 compliant using grade A2 gas oil) and are responsible for ~36% emissions within a port. Therefore, there is a **need** to develop zero-emission energy storage/electrification solutions which can replace diesel-power for powering cargo handling vehicles in an effort to reduce emissions and air pollution. According to Schneider Electric reducing portside emissions in UK ports could save up to £483m/yr. Westfield and 2-DTech (collaborating with CPI and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) are jointly developing new high-performance energy storage system (ESS) technology specifically aimed at enabling the electrification of vehicles/vessels based on the use of novel high-power, high-energy density **supercapacitors.** The supercapacitors overcome the limitations of batteries (Lead-acid/lithium-ion) such as long downtimes for charging, high maintenance and are not environmentally-friendly. Westfield are developing the control systems and integration of the 2D-Tech supercapacitors within electric vehicles such as Heathrow airport passenger transit POD and have engaged with PSA International (one of the world's largest port operators) and Ports of Antwerp, Milford Haven and Belfast Harbour to develop a new electrified zero-emission energy storage system which can be easily retrofitted into an existing cargo handling vehicle to replace the incumbent diesel-powered engine. SUPPORTIVE will **further develop the ESS** and **will focus** on: 1.Scaling up our proprietary functionalised graphene material, 2.Demonstrating small batch production of the specialised electrodes and their integration into pouch cells; 3.Reconfiguration of the battery management system, 4.Charging infrastructure required to meet operation of the vehicle which can reduce downtime and number of vehicles required for safe operation. 5.Testing and validating within a cargo handling tow vehicle to validate capability to tow 30t a distance of up to 1mile, 14 times/hr at both Port of Milford Haven and Belfast Harbour.

The aim of F4 PAEK is to produce novel nano-composite materials for additive manufacturing. These new materials will offer multifunctional capabilities including lightweighting, thermal and electro-magnetic properties. The initial target applications are focussed on the defence and aerospace industry but the developments have potential implications and benefits that are far reaching, bringing together the advantages of improved material properties with the design freedom and lightweighting potential of additive manufacturing.

When polymer powders are selectively laser sintered (SLS), they have a microstructure that contains a significant amount of porosity conferring inferior mechanical properties – particularly elongation and toughness compared to conventionally processed materials such as injection mouldings or extrusions. We have shown that for conventional Nylon PA12 SLS powders, Rapid Powders’ novel compounding process can improve the elongation and toughness of PA12 significantly and we propose to develop ranges of other materials. The consortium consists of Rapid Powders who compound the powders, 2-dTech who are a graphene manufacturer, Euriscus and IMI Rapid Prototyping who manufacture SLS components and Ultra Electronics who is a potential end user. If this project is successful it will generate additional business and improve their collective productivity and competitiveness considerably.

A problem regularly faced when trying to incorporate graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) into systems such as thermoplastics and epoxy resins is achieving a good dispersion of the GNPs within the target medium without re-agglomeration occurring which leads to poor and inconsistent final materials performance in the graphene composite systems. This, along with a lack of reliable materials characterisation are key barrier to adaptation of these materials in markets such as motorsport and construction. Functionalisation of GNPs can help improve the dispersion within systems, however the processes used to impart the functional groups upon the GNPs can damage the basal plane of the materials, thus decreasing materials performance in areas such as mechanical reinforcement and electrical conductivity. Here 2-DTech (2DT) will work closely with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) to produce a range of functionalised GNPs via wet chemical and plasma approaches with an aim of improving GNP dispersion within target polymer systems. The expertise and instrumentation available at NPL will be used to determine that the correct functional groups are present within the final functionalised materials and that the basal planes remain defect free via a suite of high-end instrumentation and measurement techniques. This will allow for the development of optimised functionalised GNPs which will be incorporated into polymer systems and be tested to show consistent final performance, thus elevating two of the key barriers to adoption for these materials.

The project will explore the development of a robust manufacturing route for graphene-using technologies in the UK, in order to translate the unique material properties of graphene to composite materials used in dental prostheses. This is motivated by the requirement for novel materials used in dental restorations, which are to be resistant to mechanical failure, exhibit high levels of biomimicry and bacteria-inhibiting. The project will optimise the synthesis of these materials as well as evaluate their compatibility for function in ther oral environment. A successsful project will develop technology critical to reducing the increasing level of global edentulism as well as being transferrable to a further range of applications in the wider medical and materials science fields.

The high electrical and thermal conductivity, and manufacturability of copper means it is widely used for electrical connections/casings, conducting channels and heat sinking of electronic systems used in demanding, failure-critical applications. Many of these, such as petrochemical processing, oil and gas, paper mills, effluent treatment plants and aerospace, create corrosive atmospheres rich in moisture, hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide. Copper corrosion can lead to malfunction and overheating within 4 weeks in these industries and failure rates following introduction of RoSH directives have increased by up to 6 times. Graphene is chemically inert and theoretically impermeable, having the potential for atomically thin corrosion inhibiting coatings. 2-DTech aim to develop a novel manufacturing process for graphene, using dopants introduced during large area deposition to fortify domain boundaries, realising a step change in corrosion-resistant, conducting films. The project therefore seeks to prove the feasibility of an enabling technology for coating electronic and thermal management hardware used for failure-critical operations in corrosive environments.

The photovoltaic (PV) market is currently dominated by crystalline silicon solar cells (c-Si SC), with < 21 % power conversion efficiency (PCE), but widespread use of this technology is cost-limited. Alternatively, thin film solar cells (TFSC) can be manufactured cheaply but do not perform comparably and degrade more quickly than c-Si SC. Although recent advances in TFSC technology have been made using perovskite absorbing layers, a principle challenge in PV cell design is optimising charge collection and a significant breakthrough is required to achieve the theoretical maximum PCE. It has therefore been proposed that the unprecedented electronic and structural properties of graphene offer a unique opportunity for a step change improvement in TFSC efficiency and surface stability, through carefully engineered incorporation of graphene into TFSC. The project aims to prove the concept of graphene incorporation into thin film solid-state Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (ssDSC) based on perovskite, fully exploring the possible efficiency gains, as well as improvements to the surface properties of graphene encapsulated devices. The outcomes of a successful project can be developed to produce a step change in SC performance, providing higher PCE at lower cost than existing c-Si SC technologies, with reduced degradation.