We seek to expand the facilities offered by the National Research Facility in photoelectron spectroscopy (HarwellXPS, www.harwellxps.uk) to address the needs of communities not currently fully engaged with the centre and thereby improve the impact of the service. The equipment selected is based upon a variety of sources of evidence that have identified three areas of need:
(1) Energy materials, including batteries and capacitors. With the increasing electrification of all aspects of technology, there is an urgent need to develop new materials to improve clean energy production and storage. This is a research area served by the Faraday Institute and the upgrade of HarwellXPS will enable greater engagement between the two institutions.
(2) New materials for new technologies: As our technology grows more sophisticated it is placing increasingly stringent demands on the materials employed. Developing new materials to meet these demands depends on improving our understanding of the nature and behaviour of the materials concerned. The new facilities will allow HarwellXPS to offer researchers a significantly enhanced array of tools to study materials.
(3) Soft solids. These are materials in which structure is determined by relatively weak bonding and are therefore very sensitive to changing conditions of pressure and temperature. the field encompasses a huge variety of biological interfaces as well as polymer surfaces.