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Prof Silver's research on the development of the technology to fabricate 3D electro-optic circuits via ink-jet and screen printing has provided a more sustainable solution to conventional back-lit posters (energy saving up to 75%) and printed displays. Due to the flexibility of the components (they can be printed in any shape or design) and low maintenance (battery operational), the technology has been commercially exploited by several industrial collaborators. Johnson Matthey have used Brunel research to gain knowledge of the market and supply chain, to sell silver and palladium nano-particles for ink-jet printing and to inform the investment of around £2M on R&D in this area. Intrinsiq Materials Ltd successfully marketed copper-based inks for ink-jet printing of ACEL displays, allowing the company to employ 22 additional staff. In addition, they have secured $4M of venture capital investment to develop the technology. Printed Electronics Ltd have secured £8.6M of investment to develop a high-volume supply chain for printed electronics, and have employed an additional 9 staff within the company. As a result of working with Brunel, Keeling and Walker have begun to sell ink that contains antimony-doped tin oxide nano-powders.
Collaborative research with Tata Steel has delivered significant economic impact, maintaining leading-edge business performance with new functionally coated metal construction products carrying 40 year warranties, and research contributing to global competitiveness for Electrical Steels. In addition partner company performance through skilled people has been improved through the delivery of 61 highly trained doctoral level coatings leaders and technologists, the majority of whom are now running their own research groups or are director level technologists.
Public interest and engagement activity has focussed on the application of research techniques and in functional coatings for energy through the `Buildings as Powerstations' concept and `Materials Live' events.
A manufacturing process developed by Bradford researchers has revolutionised the way endodontists perform root canal treatments. When coated with a hydrophilic polymer, the highly-filled hygroscopic material has enabled UK company DRFP to develop SmartPoint — a new endodontic technique that dramatically reduces failure rates of root canal treatments from 11-30% over five years to approximately 1%, and gives lower levels of post-operative pain when compared with conventional techniques. The technology has won three awards for innovation and DRFP has expanded significantly, with a dedicated production facility and sales team offering visits to dentists to demonstrate the benefits of the technology.
This case study describes the creation and use of advanced simulation technology by international mining corporations to optimise high value metal recovery. The technology involved the development of advanced novel computational methods and software tools to model industrial scale heap leach processes for large scale industrial application at major mining operations. This focus on the development of optimised operational strategies has produced considerable economic benefits measured in the $multi-millions to industrial sponsors, including $58 million dollars in additional revenue for one multi-national corporation over one year following the adoption of engineered heaps based upon the advanced simulation tools from Swansea.
The Centre for Fine Print Research (CFPR) invented a novel method of 3D printing digitally generated ceramics which has enabled different manufacturing companies to improve their product development cycle, processes and economic performance. The method has wider applicability in making rapid model development tools or unique ways of creating large surface topographies that were previously impossible.
As a result of this industrial impact, CFPR has been invited to work with the AHRC and the Technology Strategy Board to influence government policy through the wider dissemination of innovative practice integrating artistic experimentation and industrial methods.
Research carried out by Professors Hinch and Rallison at the University of Cambridge determined how ink jet printer fluids behave when emitted from the printer head. The research findings have been used by industry to optimise the design of the printer. Xaar, the world-leading independent supplier of industrial inkjet printheads which uses a drop-on-demand mode, has used the results of this research to improve the design and operation of its ink-jet printers to its own commercial benefit and to the benefit of the users of its printers.
Impact: Economic The light-emittingdendrimers are a new class of materials for organic light-emitting diodes, a major display technology. They have been commercialised by Cambridge Display Technology (CDT), the leading developer of polymer light-emitting diodes.
Significance Light-emitting dendrimers provided a breakthrough in the efficiency of organic light emitting diode (OLED) materials deposited from solution. This enabled the convenience of solution-processing to be combined with high efficiency, and enabled solution-processed materials to compete with evaporated materials.
Beneficiaries CDT, display manufacturers around the world and display users.
Attribution The research was performed by Professor Samuel in collaboration with Professor Burn of the University of Oxford.
Reach Materials based on light-emitting dendrimers are manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical in Japan and supplied to global displays manufacturers.
Fundamental research in collaboration with Royal Mail into luminescence molecules constrained within a water-soluble acrylic polymer matrix has led to the development of novel, water-soluble, ink-jet printable, luminescent inks. These inks are employed by Royal Mail for printing coding patterns on envelopes that can be read by automatic letter-sorting machines. The inks offer excellent performance in humid environments, on coloured paper, and on paper containing optical brighteners, and are safer. Royal Mail delivers, on average, 58 million letters each day, representing annual revenue of £5.2 billion. The research at Lancaster enabling the innovation has a direct impact on the commercial performance of Royal Mail, the safety of its employees and the public, and everyone (commercially and/or privately) using Royal Mail services to send and receive mail correctly, quickly, and at a low cost.
The company Ossila Ltd has developed a range of products targeted at developers of organic electronic devices, with products based on know-how derived from research within the Soft Matter Physics (SMP) group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The company also supplies research-based services to technical markets around the world. Since its establishment in 2010, the company has grown organically, and now has a growing revenue stream that makes it a sustainable profit-making entity, with 85% of its products sold to overseas markets. The company enjoys rapid growth and currently employs 10 people (~7 FTE equivalent). Ossila's financial turn-over has increased by between 50-100% annually, [text removed for publication].
Researchers in QUB developed the first commercial process control system (Rotolog) and simulation software (RotoSim) for the Rotomoulding Plastics Industry. There has also been recent commercialisation of a new energy-saving system, the Rotocooler.
The fundamental understanding of the process that was developed also enabled the moulding of new materials for new application areas, notably motorcycle fuel tanks (now used by BMW, Ducati, Harley Davidson and Honda) and the world's first concept car made from sustainable polymers.
Global economic and environmental impact arises from a significantly more efficient process, better product quality, a greater selection of processable materials and thus increased sales.