A multidisciplinary team from The Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford has demonstrated that hybrid ceramic-polymer electrolytes can have superior mechanical properties without significantly compromising ionic conductivity, thereby addressing one of the key challenges for all-solid-state batteries.
Batteries with a lithium-metal electrode promise a step-change in energy content per unit volume, making them interesting for application in electric vehicles. However, there are many challenges to overcome. One such challenge is the electrolyte, which is typically volatile and flammable, posing safety and longevity challenges. One solution is to create an all-solid-state battery by replacing the liquid electrolyte with a non-flammable solid electrolyte. Solid ceramic electrolytes have been shown to have sufficiently high ionic conductivity, but they are mechanically brittle.
The researchers used 3D printing techniques to create hybrid solid electrolytes consisting of 3D bicontinuous ceramic and polymer microchannels. The basic idea is that the continuous ceramic channel provides high ionic conductivity, whereas the continuous polymer channel renders the hybrid electrolyte mechanically robust. 3D printing allowed for precise control over the microarchitecture, as demonstrated by the four 3D structures considered: cubic, diamond, gyroidal and spinodal (bijel) structures. The results suggest that the bicontinuous gyroid structure provides the best properties, outperforming a (conventional) dense ceramic disk during charge/discharge cycling in contact with lithium metal electrodes.
This new design concept for solid electrolytes "may offer a way forward in the quest for an all-solid-state battery" and demonstrates that soft materials have something interesting to offer in energy applications.
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This cross-disciplinary work brings together physics and biology in order to understand how the genetic code determines the rate of protein production in the cell.
Proteins are of paramount importance to normal cell functioning, and their production consumes a very large proportion of the cell's total energy. Despite the evident role of evolution in shaping accurate and fast protein production in fast-growing organisms such as bacteria and yeast, identifying the traits of the genetic code controlling the amount of proteins in cells has so far remained elusive.
The authors solve a mathematical model for the motion of ribosomes, molecular machines that assemble proteins according to a specific gene sequence. The process resembles a single-file traffic, in which the flow of ribosomes may be hindered by a stalled ribosome in front. Physicists have been studying this model for more than forty years, but until now, the lack of its mathematical solution has delayed any significant progress on predicting protein production rates.
The solution, which is valid in the biologically relevant regime, allows identifying regions of the gene sequence that may affect ribosome traffic and thus the overall rate of protein production in the cell.
Congratulations to Professors Philip Best and Catherine Heymans of the School of Physics and Astronomy, who today were among the 66 distinguished individuals elected to become Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE).
Catherine is Professor of Observational Cosmology at the Institute for Astronomy. She specialises in observing the dark side of our Universe and co-leads the European Southern Observatory Kilo Degree Survey, using deep sky observations to test whether we need to go beyond Einstein with our current theory of gravity.
On her election Catherine said: “I am delighted to be joining the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. I am looking forward to working within the society and building upon the accomplishments we made as part of the RSE's Young Academy of Scotland."
Philip is Professor of Extragalactic Astrophysics, also in the Institute for Astronomy. His research focuses on understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies, and the role of supermassive black holes and active galactic nuclei in this process.
On his election Philip said: "It is an honour to have been elected to the Fellowship and I look forward to working with colleagues across a very wide range of disciplines to help support the important work of the RSE.”
Commenting on the new fellows, current President of the RSE, Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE, reported:
"Each year we welcome a selection of nominated extraordinary individuals into the Fellowship and this year is no exception. The diverse range of achievements of these individuals will be an asset to the RSE and I am sure they will strengthen the RSE’s standing as a national academy committed to providing public benefit to Scottish society.”
The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE)
The Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy, is an educational charity established in 1783. Unlike similar organisations in the rest of the UK, the RSE’s strength lies in the breadth of disciplines represented by its Fellowship. Its membership stands at approximately 1600 Fellows from across the entire academic spectrum – science and technology, arts, humanities, social sciences, business, and public service. New Fellows are elected to the RSE each year through a rigorous five-stage nomination process. This range of expertise enables the RSE to take part in a host of activities such as: providing independent and expert advice to Government and Parliament; supporting aspiring entrepreneurs through mentorship; facilitating education programmes for young people, and engaging the general public through educational events.
Researchers use genetically modified bacteria to produce light-induced patterns as a potential route for engineering smart materials.
Micro- and nano-fabrication can revolutionise many areas of technology, including personalised medicine. There are two conceptually distinct ways to construct such structures: ‘top-down’ techniques such as lithography use ‘scalpels’, while in ‘bottom-up’ techniques, microscopic ‘Lego components’ move themselves into position and self-assemble. The University of Edinburgh team demonstrated a novel method whereby arbitrary patterns can be assembled in a fluid environment and reconfigured in real time using light-controlled motile bacteria as the ‘Lego’ blocks.
The researchers demonstrated this method by constructing a bespoke mutant of Escherichia coli bacteria and used it to assemble the initials of the University of Edinburgh as well as a smiley face.
The method is shown to be programmable, that is the self-assembled patterns can be switched in real time. The physics and biology controlling the rapidity of switching and the sharpness of the patterns is investigated in detail, allowing the team to ‘tune’ the pattern formation.
This protocol provides a new paradigm for self-assembly of structures on a scale (10-100μm) which presents difficulties for many if not all current fabrication methods. At the same time, this methodology has significant implications for the burgeoning field of ‘active matter’ science.
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Inspired by the ‘Harry Potter: A History of Magic’ exhibition at the British Library, The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh Complex Fluids Partnership and Edinburgh Libraries joined forces to deliver some magical classes and demonstrations for muddles (non-gardening folk) at the Hogweed’s School of Botany & Magical Horticulture.
For one night only, local garden wizards and witches got the change to attend an Alchemy class where they learned to create their own baby boggart (made from slime), discover how light can interact with different potions in spectacular ways (fluorescence with tonic water, photochromism with a special dye solution), and how a magnet can make an ordinary looking potion become alive (ferrofluid solution).
We received about 100 student wizards; they also got the chance to attend drop-in activities which included experimenting with the devil’s snare (using corn starch to demonstrate the viscosity of non-Newtonian fluids), putting thoughts into a pensieve (created using visually dynamic rheoscopic fluids) and looking into their future using divination potions (made from a model dragon’s blood to demonstrate the Marangoni effect)!
Visitors also attended classes on Charms, Herbology, History of Magic Plans, Potions and Transfiguration.
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These prestigious awards support highly talented early career researchers from across the world to develop their careers.
The School of Physics and Astronomy invites applications in the following areas:
- Space and Satellite Analysis: covers the area of satellite downstream services and applications are welcome from data scientists whose work is applicable to one or many academic disciplines.
- Digital Technologies: covers the broad areas of data collection, processing, analysis, and application.
About the Fellowships
To support the next generation of academic research and innovation, lead in data sciences and artificial intelligence, and drive the outcomes of the City Deal opportunity, the College of Science and Engineering proposes to appoint up to 10 new Chancellor’s Fellows in Data Driven Innovation (as part of a cohort of 30 across the University). These prestigious awards are aimed at early career individuals of the highest potential and attainment who have begun to establish a reputation for the highest quality research at the forefront of their discipline and who have a commitment to learning and teaching at university level.
Selection criteria
Applicants to the School of Physics and Astronomy must have a PhD in Physics or Astronomy and present clear evidence of their potential to undertake leading research in collaboration with industrial partners. Successful candidates will demonstrate scientific excellence, capacity to contribute to knowledge exchange, and a track record in obtaining external funding for such projects.
A commitment to excellence in undergraduate teaching is essential for all academic posts as Chancellor's Fellows will be expected to teach and to contribute to curriculum development at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Holders of personal Fellowships are welcomed.
Applying
Follow the links below to see the particulars of each position.
All applications should include a completed Application Form, a Curriculum Vitae, a Statement of Research Interests, and names and contact details for three referees.
Further information
Congratulations to Dr Anne Pawsey who has been awarded as ambassador for her public engagement work.
Beltane Fellows are researchers who have been selected to act as ambassadors for public engagement. Anne works as an Impact Acceleration Associate in the School of Physics and Astronomy. Her research is in the field of soft matter physics, or the ‘physics of things that are squishy’, and she has been doing public engagement activities for a number of years.
During their Fellowship, Fellows work on a specific public engagement activity and act as local advocates for public engagement. Anne plans to use her fellowship to connect with artists about the soft matter physics properties of materials they use, such as paint and clay, and by co-developing demonstrations and engagement activities. She will also share her expertise with physics colleagues and support others to think strategically about their public engagement endeavours.
'Results from a search for dark matter in the complete LUX exposure'
INSPIRE is the high energy physics information server, providing publication and citation data for papers published in particle physics and cosmology. It reveals that one paper – and one paper only – published in 2017 has already received over 500 citations: 'Results from a search for dark matter in the complete LUX exposure', in Physical Review Letters 118 (2017) 021303.
LUX is the Large Underground Xenon experiment, an instrument designed to provide direct evidence for the existence of dark matter, the mysterious material that is believed to make up some 85% of the mass of the solar system and about 26% of the total energy density of the Universe. This paper reported the project’s results in searching for the leading candidate for what dark matter might be, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). The interest in the paper reflects that the search is probing the ‘sweet spot’ of theories for physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, that is, the theory of truly fundamental particles and their interactions, and that a positive detection might have reasonably been expected. No evidence for such a signal was seen, providing deeply meaningful constraints for what the nature of dark matter might be.
The LUX experiment has now been decommissioned, making way for its successor, LUX-ZEPLIN. This is presently being installed in a laboratory over a kilometre underground at the Homestake mine in South Dakota, USA, and which will be about 100 times more sensitive than LUX. The School of Physics and Astronomy Particle Physics Experiment group is strongly involved in both LUX and LUX-ZEPLIN, with the group leading periods of the LUX data taking, contributing to the analysis and leading the experiment’s management committee.
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Professor Charles Cockell has been awarded the 2017 Chancellor’s Award for Teaching.
The Chancellor confers four Awards annually, recognising innovation, relevance, creativity, personal dedication and impact in teaching and research. The Award for Teaching honours a colleague who has recently enhanced the University's teaching reputation through a significant contribution to improving or invigorating student learning at any level.
Professor Charles Cockell is Course Director on the Astrobiology course which seeks to give students a grounding in interdisciplinary science and the diverse disciplines including physics, astronomy, geology, biology and chemistry relevant to astrobiology. He oversees and teaches half of the Astrobiology and Search for Life SUPA course, a graduate course in astrobiology. He also teaches and runs a Massive Open On-Line Course (MOOC) on Astrobiology. This course has attracted 120,000 students since it began.
He is also directing a program of science education in prisons. Life Beyond is a four-week course that involves inmates in the design of a station for the surface of Mars with the purpose of engaging them in the future exploration of space. Next year the inmates will publish their first set of original research from HMP Glenochil and Edinburgh. Since he started at Edinburgh, he has also been running the Astrobiology Academy, a teacher training initiative which writes science lesson plans and curriculum for primary and secondary schools using astrobiology as the core material.
His research in Astrobiology seeks to understand the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the Universe. In particular, work takes place investigating life in extreme environments and understanding the diversity, processes and biosignatures of life in extremes. His work is conducted within the UK Centre for Astrobiology, a virtual astrobiology centre established in 2011 that is affiliated with the NASA Astrobiology Institute.
Professor Cockell commented "I’m very delighted to receive this award, which I hope will raise the profile of astrobiology as a useful subject to advance science education, whether that be among undergraduates or people serving terms in prison."
Research suggests that life on our planet might have originated from biological particles brought to Earth in streams of space dust.
Fast-moving flows of interplanetary dust that continually bombard our planet’s atmosphere could deliver tiny organisms from far-off worlds, or send Earth-based organisms to other planets, according to the research. The dust streams could collide with biological particles in Earth’s atmosphere with enough energy to knock them into space. Such an event could enable bacteria and other forms of life to make their way from one planet in the solar system to another and perhaps beyond. The finding suggests that large asteroid impacts may not be the sole mechanism by which life could transfer between planets, as was previously thought.
The research from the School of Physics and Astronomy calculated how powerful flows of space dust – which can move at up to 70 km a second – could collide with particles in our atmospheric system. It found that small particles existing at 150 km or higher above Earth’s surface could be knocked beyond the limit of Earth’s gravity by space dust and eventually reach other planets. The same mechanism could enable the exchange of atmospheric particles between distant planets.
Some bacteria, plants and small animals called tardigrades are known to be able to survive in space, so it is possible that such organisms – if present in Earth’s upper atmosphere – might collide with fast-moving space dust and withstand a journey to another planet.
The study, published in Astrobiology, was partly funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
Professor Arjun Berera, who led the study, said: “The proposition that space dust collisions could propel organisms over enormous distances between planets raises some exciting prospects of how life and the atmospheres of planets originated. The streaming of fast space dust is found throughout planetary systems and could be a common factor in proliferating life.”