PIONEERING university chemist Dr Bruce Alexander has been invited to join a top level international knowledge transfer partnership mission to Germany and Switzerland.
Dr Alexander, of the University of Greenwich at Medway, is developing innovative ways of generating clean fuel to cut UK carbon emissions through using nanotechnology to create hydrogen for electricity by using water, solar energy and tiny particles from chemicals such as titanium dioxide - found in paints and toothpastes.
He said: “Nanotechnology has been around since the Middle Ages, we just haven’t called it that. It is essentially the science of the very small.
“Our medieval ancestors applied nanotechnology when they used tiny particles of gold to make stained glass red and some claim that Indian craftsmen used nanotechnology to make weapons nearly 2,000 years ago.
“In the UK, if we are to meet our target of an 80 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, this is exactly the type of technology we need to be developing.
“More than a quarter of our current carbon emissions come from transport. We need to electrify our transport system across the board. Nanotechnology promises to provide the key to doing this.
“Taking advantage of small chemical particles and sunlight, we can extract hydrogen from water with zero carbon emissions.
New forms of power generation, such as fuel cells, can convert the hydrogen into electricity and use it to power many forms of transport, again with no carbon emissions or pollution. Transport for London currently has five buses that run on hydrogen.”
Dr Alexander will join a select group of nanotechnology specialists from a number of UK organisations such as the Carbon Trust and Technology Strategy Board for the Continental visit.
The exercise is designed to help nanotechnology experts share information and knowledge about turning their research into commercial applications and is backed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network.
Steve Loader