Functional Materials

Functional materials underpin many aspects of our modern lives, from health care, energy and the environment to communications and security applications.

These materials are often characterised by complex atomic and electronic structures, and they react to an external stimulus to start or provoke an active response. 

To understand and improve the way a material responds to diverse stimuli such as temperature, electric or magnetic fields requires experimental and theoretical expertise in the areas of basic, computational and materials science.

Our existing research programme include:

• catalysis - linking synthesis, characterisation and funtionality of supramolecular and nanostructured assemblies
• spintronics - using the quantum mechanical spin of the electron to provide new functionality in a new generation of electronic devices
• nanostructures - applying nanscale techniques to complex functional materials
• materials for accelerators - development of functional materials  such as photocathodes to underpin the next generation of accelerators
• multifunctional emergent and strongly-correlated electron materials

STFC has a diverse range of skills and facilities to meet these challenges.  For more information, please contact Dr Sean Langridge