University of Liverpool Awarded £1.5M for Electrochemical Research Facility

The University of Liverpool has been awarded £1.5 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to establish a new laser facility for electrochemical interface research.

The facility, called ULSOMEI (Ultrafast Laser System for the Operando Study and Mapping of Electrochemical Interfaces), will be based in the University's Stephenson Institute for Renewable Energy. It aims to help UK researchers investigate how electrochemical interfaces function at the molecular level and under real operating conditions.

What the facility will study

Electrochemical interfaces are fundamental to clean energy technologies including batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells and electrolysers. They are also key components in sensors, displays and catalysts.

Professor Alex Cowan, Academic Director from the Department of Chemistry, said: "Electrochemical interfaces determine the performance, efficiency and lifetime of technologies ranging from batteries and electrolysers to catalytic reactors. Yet, despite their importance, they remain notoriously difficult to study under operating conditions. ULSOMEI will change this by allowing researchers to directly observe where chemical intermediates form, how they evolve across an electrode surface, and how local electric fields influence their behaviour."

Access for researchers

The new centre will be available through the Liverpool Shared Research Facilities (LIV-SRF) scheme, which offers flexible access to over 25 specialist facilities with more than £60 million worth of state-of-the-art equipment and more than 100 experienced professional staff.

Dr Adrian Gardner, the new Centre Manager and Senior Research Technical Professional, added: "For the first time, we will be able to spatially correlate interfacial chemistry with electric fields in real time, providing the comprehensive mechanistic understanding needed to design the next generation of energy and catalytic materials. By making these capabilities openly accessible via the Universities Shared Research Facilities scheme Liverpool will establish a national hub for operando electrochemical interface science."

ULSOMEI is supported through the UKRI EPSRC Strategic Infrastructure Fund, which seeks to improve the UK's scientific capability and enable cutting-edge research in priority areas.