Soft matter

CONTRABASS is the third in a series of Horizon Europe MSCA doctorate network grant awards for the SCBMP group focused on sustainability. CONTRABASS comprises a consortium of 9 institutions and 10 PhD students across Europe and the UK studying the fundamental physico-chemical processes governing the carbonation of cement products. The objective is to reduce the CO2 emissions from the cement cycle, currently the third largest contributor to CO2 emissions worldwide.

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We use soft materials to confine and contain metabolically-active bacteria for sustainable processes. We are encapsulating bacteria in hydrogels and confining it in waterborne coatings (to make a type of ‘living paint’). We have demonstrated the use of the confined bacteria for applications in carbon capture and oxygen generation, wastewater treatment, and hydrogen production. This theme of research, in collaboration with microbiologists at Surrey, has benefited from funding from The Leverhulme Trust, JM, Syngenta, and the SCENARIO Doctoral Training Centre.

• Wastewater treatment
• Hydrogen production
• Carbon capture and oxygen evolution

We are investigating how soft materials can be used sustainably in soft adhesives, such as used in tapes, labels and graphics. We are collaborating with polymer chemists at Surrey to develop polymeric adhesives that can be debonded on demand via UV radiation or that are degraded with benign chemical treatment to allow easy recycling. We have also designed self-stratified adhesives in which the surface has different properties than near the interfaces with a backing layer. This research has received funding from the Malaysian Rubber Board, Synthomer, Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability, and a Fortune 500 company.

• Debond-on-demand adhesives
• Degradable adhesives
• Self-stratifying adhesives

Glass bottles have a high carbon footprint because of the energy requirements for their manufacture. Plastic bottles have a lower carbon footprint but rely on fossil fuels, and have a negative environmental impact when they escape into the environment. We are addressing this pressing environmental concern by exploring alternative materials, including wood fibres and biopolymers, for the packaging of liquids. This research line has benefited from funding from Innovate UK, Pulpex Ltd., EPSRC, and the Royal Society (via an Industry Fellowship). This line of research aligns with “Plastics in the Circular Economy” programme of the Insitute for Sustainability.

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Colloidal particles in liquids are found in many ordinary items, such as foods, paints, inks, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Colloids in liquid are not static but constantly moving in random directions because of Brownian motion, which opposes simple separation, sorting or assembly processes. It is well known already that charged colloids will diffuse either up or down a one-dimensional concentration gradient of ions, with the direction depending on the particular anions and cations, in a process called electrophoresis. In our research, colloids were exposed to gradients of two different ion pairs acting in directions at right angles to each other. Our experiments provided the first evidence for a nonlocal current throughout the solution with an associated electric field. The colloids travel along non-linear trajectories. The speed of and direction of travel are a complex function of the position in the crossed gradient, which is well captured by theory. Our new knowledge of electrophoresis in crossed ionic gradients will allow particles to be sorted and separated by their charge in a simple way, at low cost and without a need for an external power supply. This project was funded by an EPSRC New Horizons grant.

Vaccines save up to 3 million lives a year globally, with over 20 life-threating diseases being preventable with vaccinations. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that up to 50% of vaccines are wasted globally due to lack of temperature control and the logistics to support an unbroken cold-chain, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Vaccine vial monitors (VVMs), small stickers that adhere to vaccine vials can change color as the vaccine is exposed to excessive heat.

In collaboration with a leading packaging manufacturer for pharmaceuticals and health care we have developed thermochromic, low-cost photonic crystal-based VVM that can undergo a clear, irreversible visual color change making them suitable for global vaccine supply chains and end-users with no training needed.

Our VVMs prevent heat-damaged vaccines to be used and good vaccines to be thrown out; enable the health workers know whether the vaccine can be safely used for immunization, can save the global community millions of dollars per year, enables to extend the reach of immunization programs by taking the vaccine beyond the cold chain (e.g. for polio-eradication efforts in war-torn and inaccessible regions of the world).

This work has been funded by Advanced Material Development Ltd, and also financially supported by UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship awarded to Dr. Izabela Jurewicz. Recently this technology has also won a research and innovation prize.