The power of conversion

CEEM’s energy conversion research involves close collaboration with other leading European institutes whose complementary skills are helping to develop new materials with the power to create a step change in energy efficient technologies – from electric cars, to novel ways of treating cancer using magnetic nanoparticles to target tumours.

Our researchers are playing a key role in a global research consortium working on a ten-year project with international vehicle manufacturers. If successful, this project has the potential to improve the performance of existing electric powered vehicles by a factor of two: giving Toyota a powerful market advantage over its competitors.

In addition, a rare earth element which is currently essential to this technology – and is being mined in China using environmentally damaging methods – would be replaced by an atomically engineered solution based on readily available, and less harmful, materials.

CEEM’s atomistic simulation of magnetic nanomaterials’ program, Vampire, which is now used by more than 200 companies around the world, gives us much deeper insights into the properties of magnetic materials than conventional micromagnetics.

Our researchers are using Vampire as part of €400,000 pan European project into how nanomagnetism, nanophotonics and nanochemistry can be harnessed to create an entirely new unit for data storage. “Vampire is a very versatile program that enables us not only to understand what happens at the nanoscale, but also at extremely fast/short timescales, which is vital to the computer industry,” said Professor Roy Chantrell.

- Professor Roy Chantrell, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology

The program had its origins when Chantrell was a research Director at Seagate in Pittsburg but has been developed and refined by CEEM’s Assistant Professor, Richard Evans, to the point where it is now setting the industry standard.

Vampire can calculate the equilibrium and dynamic magnetic properties of magnetic materials and phenomena, including ferro, ferri and antiferromagnets, core-shell nanoparticles, ultrafast spin dynamics, magnetic recording media, heat assisted magnetic recording, exchange bias, magnetic multilayer films and complete devices.

This is why some of the leading players in the automotive and semiconductor industries are keen to use Vampire.

It is also why medical therapy companies are interested in working with CEEM in developing novel, nanoscale treatments for cancer. “We are part of a European group that is exploring how magnetic hyperthermia could be used to accurately target and potentially eradicate, cancer tumours,” says Professor Chantrell. “This is a project that would benefit greatly from the support of clinical collaborators.”