Latest Events

Speaker: Chris Coleridge (Judge Business School)

EPRG Energy & Environment Seminars Easter Term 2024 Tuesdays fortnightly at 12.30-1.30pm (in-person)

Please contact EPRG Administrator (eprgadm@jbs.cam.ac.uk) for further details

A free one-hour tour of the capabilities of the Royce Institute's Battery Suite within the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. Discover more about this open access equipment and Royce funding opportunities for your research.

This suite of equipment is available for the manufacturing and processing of battery materials for commercial and academic researchers. This comprehensive suite can accommodate a variety of materials and overcome difficult processing operations including microwave manufacture, digestion, separation, drying, purifying, mixing and washing. It includes a glove box, planetary mixer, centrifuge, freeze dryer, shear mixer, reactor synthesis, digestion reactor and rotary evaporator.

The Royce Battery Suite uniquely allows for the exploration of scalable manufacturing and safe processing of battery materials, for the translation of novel energy materials into application, bridging the gap between research and industry.

For more information about Royce Facilities at Cambridge please contact royce@maxwell.cam.ac.uk and see our full equipment listing at: https://www.maxwell.cam.ac.uk/programmes/henry-royce-institute

Speaker: Professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Professor of Natural Sciences and Director of the Center for Macromolecular Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University

Conventional free radical polymerization is among the most frequently employed polymerization procedures to prepare over 100 million tons of commercial polymers. However, these polymers are ill-defined with high dispersity, uncontrolled molecular weight, topology, or composition. This is due to a very short lifetime of propagating radicals (<1 second) and slow initiation. New controlled radical polymerization (CRP) procedures (also called reversible deactivation radical polymerization) dramatically changed the control of polymer microstructure, enabling concurrent growth of polymer chains within minutes, hours, or even days, resulting in well-defined polymeric materials. Copper-based ATRP (atom transfer radical polymerization) catalytic systems with polydentate nitrogen ligands are among the most efficient CRP systems. Recently, by applying new initiating/catalytic systems, Cu level in ATRP was reduced to a few ppm. ATRP of acrylates, methacrylates, styrenes, acrylamides, acrylonitrile and other vinyl monomers was controlled by various external stimuli, including electrical current, light, mechanical forces, and ultrasound, also in the presence of air.

Profile

We are delighted to host Professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski for the 2024 Melville Lectureship. Professor Kris Matyjaszewski is the J.C. Warner University Professor of Natural Sciences and director of the Center for Macromolecular Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. In 1994, he discovered Cu-mediated atom transfer radical polymerization, which was commercialized in 2004 in US, Japan and Europe. He has synthesized many advanced materials for biomedical, environmental, and energy-related applications and has co-authored >1,300 publications, (>192,000 citations, h-index 209) and has 69 US patents. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, European, Australian, Polish, Hungarian, and Georgian Academies of Sciences. He received the 2023 NAS Award in Chemical Sciences, 2021 Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, France, 2017 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry, 2015 Dreyfus Prize in Chemical Sciences, 2011 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, and thirteen doctorates honoris causa.
 
Professor Matyjaszewski will be visiting our department for the week of 13 May and delivering two lectures.
 

Humanity’s quest for better materials has evolved from stone tools to plastics and beyond, mirroring our progress and challenges. 

At the next Enterprise Tuesday, we delve into the forefront of sustainable material innovation where entrepreneurial spirit meets environmental stewardship. Discover how cutting-edge developments are paving the way for materials that not only outperform their predecessors but do so with a minimal ecological footprint, highlighting the critical role of innovation in our sustainable future. 

Join our panel of experts as they unveil the latest breakthroughs from the lab, showcasing the power of computational modelling and AI in predicting stable material structures and discuss other innovative areas in the ‘frontiers of material science’. 

Prepare for an evening of enriching discussion, networking, and the chance to further engage on this vital topic over drinks. Let’s explore together how today’s innovations are shaping a sustainable tomorrow.

This event will be chaired by Daniela Lobo, Senior Scientist at Cambridge Display Technology Ltd.

Register: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/events/enterprise-tuesday-innovating-for-the-e...

A free one-hour tour of the Royce Institute's 12T Wide Bore Magnet Facility in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge.

The wide bore magnet is a 12T solenoid fitted with a VTI with a 100mm usable bore supplied by Oxford Innovative Cryogenic Engineering. Temperature control is possible from 325K to < 2K . The system will have a field homogeneity of 0.05% over a 1cm DSV and 0.5% over a 4cm DSV. The system is entirely cryo-cooler operated with a He gas filled cooling loop. The VTI will operate in static, dynamic and one-shot modes.

This system is intended to facilitate materials characterisation and process development across the full range of Royce areas. While the system is provided with a generic fixed sample probe and a 100 A transport probe technical support will be available to exploit the large internal bore of this magnet by designing custom measurement probes. A wide range of standard laboratory equipment is available in the host laboratory to use in conjunction with this system.

This system is ideal for facilitating developments in processing of mesoscopally ordered materials, superconductors and low loss high permeability materials.

This tour will give an overview of the capabilities of the Wide Bore Magnet Facility as well as information on booking, funding opportunities and the work of the Royce Institute.

For more information about Royce Facilities at Cambridge please contact royce@maxwell.cam.ac.uk and see our full equipment listing at: https://www.maxwell.cam.ac.uk/programmes/henry-royce-institute