Research Highlights and Insights

Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding and overcoming the challenges associated with nickel-rich materials used in lithium-ion batteries. Nickel is already used in lithium-ion batteries, but increasing the proportion of nickel could significantly improve battery energy density, making them especially suitable for electric vehicles and…

Researchers have developed a new design for computer memory that could both greatly improve performance and reduce the energy demands of internet and communications technologies, which are predicted to consume nearly a third of global electricity within the next ten years. The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, developed a device that…

In 2022, a project titled "Normalising and integrating knowledge on sustainable residential buildings design and construction in Jordanian schools' curriculum" received a grant from the Energy IRC. This collaborative effort between Cambridge-based research teams, combining architectural and educational expertise aimed to explore students' perceptio…

Using X-rays to see inside the human body has revolutionised non-invasive medical diagnostics. However, the dose of X-rays required for imaging is far higher than background levels, due to the poor performance of the detector materials currently available. This can cause harm to patients, and in some cases even cancer.   A team of researchers, join…

Researchers have developed next-generation smart textiles – incorporating LEDs, sensors, energy harvesting, and storage – that can be produced inexpensively, in any shape or size, using the same machines used to make the clothing we wear every day. The international team, led by the University of Cambridge, have previously demonstrated that woven d…

Researchers have designed a low-cost, energy-efficient robotic hand that can grasp a range of objects – and not drop them – using just the movement of its wrist and the feeling in its ‘skin’.     Grasping objects of different sizes, shapes and textures is a problem that is easy for a human, but challenging for a robot. Researchers from the Universi…

Researchers have ‘hacked’ the earliest stages of photosynthesis, the natural machine that powers the vast majority of life on Earth, and discovered new ways to extract energy from the process, a finding that could lead to new ways of generating clean fuel and renewable energy.   An international team of physicists, chemists and biologists, led by t…

Iceland could help address Northern Europe’s food security issues with the scaling-up of its industrial production of Spirulina – an alternative protein source that is nutritious, sustainable and risk resilient. Under the most ambitious of estimations, Iceland could be protein self-sufficient and capable of feeding more than six million Europeans e…

Researchers have developed a system that can transform plastic waste and greenhouse gases into sustainable fuels and other valuable products – using just the energy from the Sun. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, developed the system, which can convert two waste streams into two chemical products at the same time – the first time t…

First study to look at long-term effect of home insulation in England and Wales finds fall in gas consumption per household was small and only lasts a few years.   Insulating the lofts and cavity walls of existing UK housing stock only reduces gas consumption for the first year or two, with all energy savings vanishing by the fourth year after a re…

Skelton, Alexandra, Allwood, Julian M., Horton, Philippa  University of Cambridge   As the government launched its Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) in July 2022, which focused on electricity supply, UK FIRES published its report detailing the even greater scale of opportunity for energy sector innovation on the demand side. Where ne…

Cambridge Zero recently held a Research Symposium on Economic & Societal Change at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. The session was opened by Emily Farnworth, Director of the Hughes Hall Climate Engagement Centre. Below is a summary of the presentations.   By Shafiq Ahmed blog-cz_symposium-image2-oct-2022.jpg Prof Anil Madhavapedd…

Sophus O.S.E. zu Ermgassen1, Michal P. Drewniok2,3,4, Joseph W. Bull1, Christine M. Corlet Walker5, Mattia Mancini6, Josh Ryan-Collins7 & André Cabrera Serrenho3 1University of Kent, 2University of Bath, 3University of Cambridge, 4University of Leeds, 5University of Surrey, 6University of Exeter & 7UCL    Highlights The primary government response…

Analysis of energy RD&D investment in major economies also found that commitments at COP21 yielded some positives. Ultimately, however, trends over this century are not consistent with the ‘cleantech’ funding levels needed to meet climate goals, say researchers. The first major study of driving forces behind government funding of energy RD&D – and …

A team from the University of Cambridge, working with colleagues from Austria, found a new way to make a possible replacement for rare-earth magnets: tetrataenite, a ‘cosmic magnet’ that takes millions of years to develop naturally in meteorites. Previous attempts to make tetrataenite in the laboratory have relied on impractical, extreme methods. B…