The FINESSE NanoBio team is proposing a new UK capability in imaging, cross-sectioning and patterning materials that are traditionally very difficult to examine at the nano and sub-nanometre scale without seriously effecting their structure or behaviour. It is important that the UK is placed at the forefront of this research, enabling start-ups, SMEs and large companies to drive innovation and growth with stronger underpinning scientific understanding. To address this, the team is requesting funding for a customised Zeiss NanoFab tool that consists of: 1. An ultra-high precision imaging capability (sub 0.5 nm) of conductive and non-conductive samples 2. An ultra-high precision patterning and TEM sample preparation capability (2 nm) of the same range of samples 3. A cryogenic sample handling system to enable imaging of biological materials and biological or fluid interfaces with materials and structures. The tool achieves this revolutionary performance by focusing a stream of helium ions onto the surface and measuring the subsequently released secondary electrons. Ions can also be used to remove material in their path for patterning or cross-sectioning materials. This system has three ion options, gallium for bulk removal, neon for additional polishing and cutting and helium for very careful polishing. This difference in behaviour is due to the lower mass of the ions. Direct writing of metals in 10nm feature sizes is also feasible with this system, which will enable electrical contacts to be fabricated to advanced functional materials to test, for example, their conductivity or electrochemical behaviour when making sensors. The requested support will have far-reaching impact through the projects and industrial partners of almost 50 research groups actively supporting this proposal in Cambridge, across 10 different Departments and 4 different Schools. This sphere of scientific influence is amplified by the strong support from 5 universities, 2 catapult organisations and 3 industrial network organisations, who represent an estimated 1500 companies. This incredible response by academics and industrial researchers means the facility will also drive new engagement and collaborations between these partiers and will foster collaboration, through for example the planned symposium and engagement events. The commissioning, access, outreach and management will be delivered by a small committee of experienced researchers and microscopy suite managers, with review and guidance from a larger steering group of EPSRC, industrial and academic partners to ensure fair access, an environment that fosters collaborations and postgraduate education.

The production of some of the simplest but most important chemicals manufactured by the chemical industry are made in complicated, indirect ways. Many chemicals derived from natural gas are synthesised through an intermediate known as "synthesis gas", a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The production of chemicals from synthesis gas is extremely well established and many processes have been operating for several decades. However, the production of synthesis gas requires high pressures (30 atm) and very high temperatures (800 C and above). The aggressive conditions used for the production of synthesis gas require expensive manufacturing plants and waste 25% of the natural gas feedstock to generate the high temperatures required for the reaction. An alternative route to produce chemicals from natural gas would be to employ catalysts that operate at lower temperature and are able to selectively oxidise the hydrocarbons present in natural gas. The direct conversion of natural gas would enable more sustainable and efficient utilisation of this valuable natural resource. However, despite progress in selective oxidation catalysis research, no industrially practised direct natural gas conversion process is in operation due to the overall poor performance compared to synthesis gas based routes. This is commonly due to the fact that the catalysts tend to over oxidise the hydrocarbons, resulting in the formation of large quantities of carbon dioxide. The development of direct natural gas conversion to chemicals would also provide an alternative to the flaring of associated natural gas (gas co-produced with oil) - it is estimated that 143 billion cubic metres of natural gas are flared per year, a quantity greater than the natural gas production of Kuwait. The goal of this research is to develop new, selective oxidation catalysts and new manufacturing processes for the partial oxidation of methane and ethane (the principle components of natural gas) for more sustainable production of essential, commodity chemicals. The catalysts utilised in this research will be based on zeolites, which are derived from sustainable, earth abundant materials and are already widely used in the chemical industry as green catalysts. The programme of this fellowship will modify zeolites to form new materials that can selectively oxidise hydrocarbons to valuable chemical products. A key aspect of the research is understanding how the structure of the catalysts affects the outcome of reaction, as this will enable the development of structure - function relationships, enabling the development of improved catalysts. Deactivation processes and catalyst lifetime, key aspects of industrial catalyst development, will be explored to ensure industrial relevance.

High-solid-content dispersions of solid particles of size about 1-50 microns in a liquid phase (HSCDs) occur ubiquitously in industrial applications, from cement and ceramic pastes to catalyst washcoats, paints, foods and drilling fluids. The reliable and efficient processing and manufacture of these diverse products presents 'grand challenges' to formulation technology because at high solids volume fraction process flow and product behaviour become increasingly unstable and unpredictable. But achieving high volume fraction is often desirable in many applications: in generic process flow, to maintain throughput and cut energy/materials costs; in ceramics manufacture, higher volume fraction green bodies sinter to mechanically stronger products; increasing volume fraction of a slurry for spray drying reduces drying time; higher volume fraction drilling fluids reduce problems of fluid and gas influx and collapse in bore holes. Conversely, unstable flow at large viscosity is sometimes actually desirable, as long as it is predictable, e.g., in breaking aggregates to disperse catalytic converter washcoats or pigments in a mixer. In all these applications and many others the ability to control and predict rheology for a given formulation--to 'dial up' required behaviour--would transform formulation science and practice with HSCDs. However, experience repeatedly shows that as volume fraction increases, the flow and stress become increasingly unstable, and characterization, measurement, control and prediction increasingly challenging and unreliable. Conventional rheological characterization of HSCDs is often poorly reproducible and also fails to predict correct flow behaviour in the complex, non-rheometric geometries encountered in applications. Notoriously, small changes beyond the manufacturer's control, e.g. due to unforeseen variations in processing conditions or a change in supplier, can have catastrophic effects (e.g. a normally flowable formulation can suddenly fracture rather than flow). On top of this, industrial applications span many length scales, from < 100-particle-diameter extrusion mouldings and printed films to kilometre-deep bore holes so that predicting and characterizing HSCD flow faces the simultaneous requirements of scale up and scale down. Faced with these ubiquitous challenges, and because the basic science of flow at high volume fraction is not understood and predictive engineering tools are not established, formulators often resort to accumulated experience and informal procedures such as 'finger rheology' (rubbing samples between fingers!) to guide their work. Thus, existing formulations are often sub-optimal, and problems arising from these formulations are solved mostly by trial and error, while the risk associated with formulation innovation severely limits development of new products and processes. Our vision, inspired by recent major scientific advances by members of the project team, is to transform practice in the formulation of HSCDs through a tight collaboration of researchers and major multi-sector industry partners. Our new scientific understanding will provide new methodology of characterization, measurement, prediction and control, leading to reliable process and manufacture of HSCD-based products. The project will enable manufacturers to formulate their products according to rational design principles, using parameters deduced from well-characterised reproducible flow measurements. This approach will yield step changes in control and predictability over multiple length scales and multiple application sectors.

The CDT in Molecules to Product addresses an overarching concern articulated by industry operating in the area of complex chemical products. It centres on the lack of a pipeline of doctoral graduates who understand the cross-scale issues that need to be addressed within the chemicals continuum. Translating their concern into a vision, the focus of the CDT is to train a new generation of research leaders with the skills and expertise to navigate the journey from a selected molecule or molecular system through to the final product that delivers the desired structure and required performance. To address this vision, three inter-related Themes form the foundation of the CDT - Product Functionalisation and Performance, Product Characterisation, and Process Modelling between Scales. More specifically, industry has identified a real need to recruit PGR graduates with the interdisciplinary skills covered by the CDT research and training programme. As future leaders they will be instrumental in delivering enhanced process and product understanding, and hence the manufacture of a desired end effect such as taste, dissolution or stability. For example, if industry is better informed regarding the effect of the manufacturing process on existing products, can the process be made more efficient and cost effective through identifying what changes can be made to the current process? Alternatively, if there is an enhanced understanding of the effect of raw materials, could stages in the process be removed, i.e. are some stages simply historical and not needed. For radically new products that have been developed, is it possible through characterisation techniques to understand (i) the role/effect of each component/raw material on the final product; and (ii) how the product structure is impacted by the process conditions both chemical and mechanical? Finally, can predictive models be developed to realise effective scale up? Such a focus will assist industry to mitigate against wasted development time and costs allowing them to focus on products and processes where the risk of failure is reduced. Although the ethos of the CDT embraces a wide range of sectors, it will focus primarily on companies within speciality chemicals, home and personal care, fast moving consumer goods, food and beverage, and pharma/biopharma sectors. The focus of the CDT is not singular to technical challenges: a core element will be to incorporate the concept of 'Education for Innovation' as described in The Royal Academy of Engineering Report, 'Educating engineers to drive the innovation economy'. This will be facilitated through the inclusion of innovation and enterprise as key strands within the research training programme. Through the combination of technical, entrepreneurial and business skills, the PGR students will have a unique set of skills that will set them apart from their peers and ultimately become the next generation of leaders in industry/academia. The training and research agendas are dependent on strong engagement with multi-national companies, SMEs, start-ups and stakeholders. Core input includes the offering, and supervision of research projects; hosting of students on site for a minimum period of 3 months; the provision of mentoring to students; engagement with the training through the shaping and delivery of modules and the provision of in-house courses. Additional to this will be, where relevant, access to materials and products that form the basis of projects, the provision of software, access to on-site equipment and the loan of equipment. In summary, the vision underpinning the CDT is too big and complex to be tackled through individual PhD projects - it is only through bringing academia and industry together from across multiple disciplines that a solution will be achievable. The CDT structure is the only route to addressing the overarching vision in a structured manner to realise delivery of the new approach to product development.

The bespoke Multiscale Metrology Suite, will combine powerful leading-edge detectors for measuring nanomaterial properties and transform the measurement of health nanotechnologies. We will build a modular system combining the latest in flow field fractionation technologies with mass spectrometry, Raman and light scattering detectors for the physical and chemical measurement of nanomaterial properties. The requested equipment will enable world-leading researchers at the University of Strathclyde, other UK academic institutions, and industry to accelerate their research into new technologies for healthcare applications and remain competitive in the global race for delivering new innovations in health. Moreover, this equipment will generate new research avenues and partnership opportunities that will create a step-change in the physical and chemical analytical capability and infrastructure for UK health nanotechnology research. This leading-edge suite will ultimately reduce the time and costs associated with delivering new diagnostics and drug treatments, improving quality of life and delivering much needed lifesaving drugs to patients. Strong partnerships with industry partners and government facilities will ensure that this national facility will remain globally-competitive and deliver innovations.