The applicant is an experienced energy researcher with particular expertise in polymer electrolytes and fuel cell testing using combined d.c. and a.c. electrochemical methods. He has made a major contribution to the establishment of enviable facilities at Surrey for energy research. The anion-exchange ionomers and membranes developed by the applicant have led to a significant increase in the (international) profile of anion-exchange membrane based energy systems. Important breakthroughs include novel alkaline polymers (membranes and ionomers) with high ionic conductivities (some developments deemed highly significant and led to the filing of a Patent). The applicant will use this opportunity to develop a broad range of interrelated disruptive technologies, to establish a focused portfolio of protected intellectual property and to further stimulate team-working between local, national, and international researchers in the associated fields; this is to draw together complimentary strands in disparate areas in a coherent manner where the commonalities are not readily obvious (a step-change move away from research that is targeted on a limited area).The proposed research (managed risk profile) is focused at the highlighted research theme of Energy (renewable generation) and fully addresses the training and supply of skilled people agenda. The background research will be to continue development of novel materials (including polymer electrolyte materials, ionomers and hybrid proton-/anion- membrane systems) for clean energy generation and storage (e.g. fuel cells and redox flow batteries). However, the principal aim of the Fellowship is to extend the above technologies and link them to water technologies and the utilisation of atmospheric CO2 [this latter is highly speculative but will address the grand challenge of utilising CO2 in synthesis and transforming the chemicals industry].The first specific work package will be to investigate low temperature metal-free carbonate-conducting anion-exchange membrane systems: Utilisation of these carbonate-containing AAEMs in fuel cells with hydrogen fuelled anodes and air/CO2 mixed feed cathodes can set up a carbonate cycle, where the CO2 is effectively pumped from the cathode to the anode to form a potentially useful carbon dioxide/hydrogen mixture for chemical synthesis [with concomitant generation of electricity]. This approach has a high impact potential, that is timely due to the only recently developed (by the applicant) high performance anion-exchange ionomeric materials; it is initially aimed at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1 - 4 in the innovation pipeline. The second specific research focus (targeted at TRLs 1 - 5) is to directly link energy technologies (biological and chemical) to water technologies by: (1) extending the biological fuel cell technologies and knowledge being developed in the Supergen programme [led by Surrey] to self powering desalination systems; and (2) by applying current membranes to, and developing new biofouling resistant electrolyte membranes for, reverse electrodialysis systems. The first involves three chamber cells containing both anion- and cation-exchange systems that can be used for desalination of aqueous salt solutions using biological catalysts and organic waste water streams to self power the systems and where the waste water is also treated with potentially zero grid electricity consumption. The second involves reverse electrodialysis where gradients in salinity are directly utilised to generate renewable electricity (i.e. UK electricity potential where river, brackish and sea waters meet).The research will also benefit from already established UK-China collaborations (resulting from an EPSRC funded Interact grant in 2006) and a newly established cross-disciplinary collaboration with the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India.

Automated, data-driven, and high-throughput experimentation is already revolutionising materials exploration and optimization. While great strides have been made in using this approach to optimize bulk properties of materials, functional nanomaterials remain poorly understood due to the complex and often non-linear relationship between material quality, geometry, and performance. In the first part of my fellowship, I have developed and demonstrated a unique experimental and statistical methodology to study individual nanomaterial performance at huge scale, with tens of thousands to millions of measurements. This has provided unique insight, robust statistical evidence, and industrially useful yield analysis. In the renewal period I will lead a world-class team to tackle urgent challenges in nanotechnology, namely scale-up for quantum photonic technologies, and ultra-high-throughput for novel materials. My program will draw on the expertise and capability of 10 international academic and industrial partners to maximise the impact of the research.

Arsenic in groundwater is causing severe detrimental impacts on human health in the Indian sub-continent. In the Gangetic River Basin, which supports a population of over 500 million people, tens of millions of people are exposed to groundwater arsenic, resulting in more than 15,000 premature deaths each year, as well as enhanced morbidity and reduced economic productivity. Whilst many remediation/mitigation schemes have been implemented to reduce groundwater arsenic exposure, there exist pressures that may partly counteract these efforts. These include: [i] increased reliance on groundwater arising from increased population and affluence coupled with decreased recharge of surface water reservoirs, and [ii] future secular increases in groundwater arsenic which we hypothesise may arise from (a) ingress of surface-derived organic carbon, thought to be strongly implicated in the microbially-mediated biogeochemical processes leading to arsenic mobilisation; or (b) injection of oxygenated waters in managed aquifer recharge (MAR) leading to oxidative dissolution of arsenic-bearing pyrite In this project, we will quantify the vulnerability of shallow urban or rural aquifers to secular increases in groundwater arsenic stimulated by enhanced oxygen or organic carbon supplies. Efficiently and effectively building on existing core research and field and laboratory infrastructure of the highly complementary team of India and UK research and water resource management investigators, this study will combine unique field studies of sedimentologically distinct natural laboratories in the upper, mid and/or lower Ganga/Hooghly as well as contrasting naturally recharging and managed aquifer recharging systems such as river bank filtration (RBF). We will evaluate the biogeochemical processes controlling arsenic mobilisation in key zones, including the hyporheic zone, of surface water-groundwater interactions. We will build upon existing detailed hydrogeological knowledge of the field areas, much built up by the project partners , supplemented by further sampling and analysis of key tracers including CFCs, SF6, tritium, and indicators of provenance, organic biomarkers, including emerging organic contaminants, and redox species ratios. Our developed understanding of these systems will be incorporated into reactive contaminated transport models to (i) facilitate the prediction of groundwater arsenic hazards in the Ganga River Basin over the next 50 years; (ii) inform selection of remediation technologies and approaches, including indirect approaches, such as improving management of near surface urban and rural organic carbon sources. Establishing workable frameworks for considering due diligence, long-term maintenance and sustainability of solutions, social integration of technology using community participatory approaches will be a key element of project outreach and knowledge transfer. The results will inform risk assessment and remediation/mitigation of groundwater vulnerability both elsewhere in India and globally, including in many ODA countries and the UK. We have established a broad and inclusive network of researchers, NGOs, government organisations and other stakeholders with strong interests in mitigating the impacts of human activity on secular increases in the concentration of arsenic and other contaminants in vulnerable groundwaters in India. This network will aim to both transfer knowledge of the hazard, risk and potential remediation/mitigation of these hazards as well as drive for further networking, integration, knowledge transfer and co-funding to better understand the natural and anthropogenic processes controlling these critical public health risks and effective ways to mitigate against them. The partners have substantive and complementary track-records in this area of research and water resource management and will bring significant co-funding to the project, through staff time and/or lab & field infrastructure.

This research network would bring together key research groups that are in the vanguard of developing novel technologies and algorithms for spectrally efficient wireless networks in the UK and India. The researchers in the proposed groups in the UK and India have long-standing international reputation in the fields of digital signal processing and wireless communications. The proposed research is motivated by the fact that the Indian economy is growing at the second largest rate in the world due to expansion of commercial and services industries. One of the main facilitators of such commercial and services industry is the ubiquitous and seamless access to information and communications whenever and wherever needed. As two-thirds of India's one billion population live in rural areas where infra structure for landline connection is inadequate, the Ministry of Telecommunication in India has set targets to provide with wireless connections and mobile coverage for 85% of the country. At the same time, the demand for mobile Internet access with high quality of services to support multimedia and interactive services is still increasing in the UK. This has opened up new opportunities in the research and development of wireless and multimedia devices. One of the main impediments of supporting large populations over wireless networks and meeting high quality of services for multimedia and interactive applications is the scarcity of spectrum. This proposal aims to build networks and promote interactions between India and UK to develop radically new techniques and approaches for spectrally efficient wireless networks, i.e. cognitive wireless systems for universal access, one of the underlying factors for the growth of commercial and services industries. It requires intelligence at the transmitter and receiver to identify spectrum opportunities for transmission. This will bring together the expertise on mobile computing, signal processing algorithms development, efficient spectrum management and systems-on-chip technology from both the UK and India.

We will develop novel photonic devices by bonding two different semiconductor substrates with different spacing between atoms. It was very difficult to ensure an excellent quality at the interface, because the atoms cannot connect perfectly, if the lattice spacing is different. We will overcome this problem by making nano-scale tiny trenches to allow atoms to expand for releasing the strain accumulated at the interface. The quality of the interface is very important to make sure to reduce defects in the atomic scale. We will use the interface for making a highly sensitive detector to identify even just single photon (quantum of light), which is impossible to realise with defects due to the noise from additional carriers created by defects. This detector will be useful for future quantum technologies to enable secure communications and powerful commutations. We will also develop a novel laser and high speed optical switches by using this interface. Our project is summarised as follows: 1. Novel Manufacturing Technologies for Enabling Heterogeneous Integrations: We will develop new wafer-scale bonding process technologies to allow excellent interface qualities without defects. Our challenges to overcome the difference of lattice constants and thermal expansion constants for bonded materials. We will accumulate comprehensive knowledge for new bonding techniques. 2. Si/Ge Avalanche-Photo-Diodes and Si/Ge Lasers: The strain engineered interface will enable us to reduce dark currents of Si/Ge Avalanche-Photo-Diodes (APDs) to the level useful for detecting single photons at room temperature. Si/Ge APDs are also useful for LiDAR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging). The improved interface quality also enables to achieve lasing of Ge on a Si substrate towards monolithic integrations. 3. Si/LiNbO3 Hybrid Optical Modulator and Second-Harmonic-Generators: We will also bond LiNbO3 on a Si substrate, which allows us to utilise the electro-optic and nonlinear effects of LiNbO3, while keeping the advantages of nanoscale patterning of Si. The hybrid optical modulator with a slot waveguide will be operated at attojoule power consumption by removing the 50 Ohm-termination. The hybrid Second-Harmonic-Generators (SHGs) will convert various wavelengths to generate green and UV lights for much denser data-writing on DVDs. We think our approach will establish a new way of making heterogeneous interface with improved quality. Wafer-scale bonding of a patterned substrate is certainly well-known, but the nano-scale patterning to form perfect bonding in atomic-scale has not yet been achieved, yet. We will accumulate comprehensive knowledge on the developed interface, in terms of various physical parameters such as strains, voids, adhesions, and defects for researchers in nanoelectronics and photonics.