Building the Energy Systems of Tomorrow
We bring together scientific, technological, and engineering excellence with strategic partnerships. We accelerate the transition to clean, resilient, and commercially scalable energy systems.
Energy innovation across the whole system聽
Our work spans the full energy system, including:
- hydrogen and electrification
- carbon removal
- batteries
- advanced materials that underpin future energy infrastructure
The breadth of our work allows us to connect breakthroughs across disciplines and deliver solutions at scale. Research and innovations include:
- developing next鈥慻eneration technologies to make carbon capture more scalable and less energy鈥慽ntensive
- advancing energy conversion, fuel cells, batteries and membrane technologies to enable cleaner energy generation
- working on process intensification and green chemistry, replacing fossil petrochemicals and advanced materials for electrification
- rethinking transport systems as the lead for the UK’s National Hub for
Underpinning our work in energy are national and international collaborations. We also utilise doctoral training, education and skills, industrial partnerships and our Centres of Research Excellence.
International partnership for clean hydrogen
Hydrogen presents challenges across production, storage, transport and use. We want to overcome these barriers through international partnerships and large鈥憇cale research programmes.
We’re leading an international programme that aims to translate hydrogen research into real鈥憌orld, commercial solutions. This work makes clean hydrogen a reality.
We're helping build the foundations for a global hydrogen economy. We work with academic, industrial, and governmental partners across the UK and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Our expertise covers the full hydrogen value chain, including:
- low鈥慶arbon hydrogen production
- transport and storage infrastructure
- industrial applications and demand stimulation
Together, these efforts support the development of a globally competitive hydrogen economy. This accelerates industrial decarbonisation and creates long鈥憈erm economic value.
Translating research into scalable, commercial聽clean-tech solutions聽
When a discovery shows commercial potential, we turn it into real鈥憌orld impact. We create a new spin鈥憃ut company or license our intellectual property to organisations who can take it further.
We work together with industry, investors, and entrepreneurs. We help transform breakthrough ideas into products, services, and technologies that make a meaningful difference worldwide.
Commercialising emerging energy technologies
Each year researchers make new discoveries that could be breakthrough technologies. We support organisations to license IP, co鈥慸evelop solutions, and bring innovations to market quickly and responsibly, including:
- real鈥憈ime water鈥憅uality monitoring
- high鈥慹fficiency AC/DC/AC power converters
- water鈥慴ased adhesives enabling circular鈥慹conomy recycling
- cost鈥慹fficient hydrogen production innovations
- membrane鈥憀ess electrolysers
- non鈥憈hermal plasma systems to reduce combustion particulates
- smart coatings for thermal鈥憆unaway detection in batteries
Creating new, investment-ready spin-out companies
Among our spin-out and start-up companies are several working in clean technology and sustainability, including:
- Advanced Electric Machines: industry-leading electric powertrains
- Dragonfly Insulation: exceptional thermal insulation from silica aerogels
- Kinewell Energy: reducing costs and boosting efficiency in offshore wind
- METZero: recovering energy and resources from wastewater
- Recovolt: reducing risk and recovering energy from battery recycling
Materials and chemical innovation for a low-carbon world
A low鈥慶arbon economy depends on radical new ways of designing, making, and using the materials that underpin modern life.
We combine chemistry, engineering, bioscience and materials science to rethink industrial processes from the ground up. The aim is to cut emissions, reduce waste, and support cleaner, more resilient supply chains.
Our research and industrial partnerships focus on four priority areas:
- process intensification and green chemistry
- replacing fossil petrochemicals with sustainable alternatives
- advanced materials for electrification and lightweighting
- bio鈥慴ased innovation for consumer products
