Scientists’ £7.25m project could help UK to reach net-zero carbon target

RESEARCH BY scientists in Yorkshire who are leading a £7.25m project could help achieve the Government’s ambitious net-zero carbon target for the UK.

Academics at the University of Sheffield are working to create new sustainable carbon-based materials which could be used in making products for solar energy, medical sensors and other industries.

The new materials will enable highly efficient capture and transport of light energy and experts say the research could help in the Government’s net-zero carbon ambitions by 2050.

Solar cells are powered by silicon semiconductors absorbing sunlight and converting that sunlight into electricity.

For organic materials to match the efficiency of silicon, scientists need to control the behaviour of excitons, formed when light is absorbed by molecules, much more effectively.

Professor Graham Leggett, the head of the university’s Department of Chemistry and project lead, said the control of excitons is essential for many new and emerging technologies.

He added: “An unsolved grand challenge has been to develop design rules for the long-range transport of excitons. Our goal is to solve this grand challenge.”

Dr Jenny Clark and Professors Steve Armes, Julia Weinstein, Nick Williams and Neil Hunter from the Faculty of Engineering are also involved along with Dr Dan Lambert from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health, as well as academics from Bristol and Exeter universities.