Every time a laptop heats your lap, that wasted heat is lost energy—and this project uses quantum mechanics to find materials that stop that waste before it starts. The problem is that many promising materials for clean energy exist only in theory or under extreme conditions. Superconductors could carry electricity with zero loss, but only at temperatures colder than outer space. Organic semiconductors could make solar cells far cheaper and more efficient, but the right molecules have not yet been identified. Experimentally searching for these materials is slow, expensive, and relies on luck. This project replaces trial-and-error with computation. By solving the equations of quantum mechanics in a virtual laboratory, the team can predict which materials will work before anyone tries to make them. In the first phase, this approach already produced record-breaking energy materials and the best X-ray detector known, which could reduce radiation exposure from CT scans. If successful, the next phase could deliver superconductors for low-power electronics and organic semiconductors for better solar cells and LEDs. The work is fundamental science—it does not build a device—but it turns materials discovery from a gamble into a prediction, and that shift could accelerate the entire transition to sustainable energy.
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Sustainability is the great challenge of our generation. We produce energy in an unsustainable manner, with green energy sources still in the minority. Once this energy is produced, most of it is wasted due to inefficient use, something everyone has experienced when their laptop heats their lap rather than harnessing all available energy to run faster. The only way to maintain our standards of living while making sure that we do not create cataclismic changes to Earth's climate and environment, is to provide a science and technology-driven solution to the energy challenge. Some say that we live in the silicon-age, the material that powers computers and solar cells, and humanity has lived through multiple other "material ages", such as the stone or iron ages, that powered earlier human technological developments. This project asks: what materials will power the next sustainable age for humanity? We know of exotic materials, called superconductors, that can carry currents without energy losses. These materials could dramatically reduce energy waste. What is the challenge? The currently known superconductors only exist at extremely cold temperatures or extremely high pressures, precluding applications. We also know of materials, called organic semiconductors, that could be used to dramatically improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of solar cells and light emitting diodes compared to conventional materials like silicon. What is the challenge? We are yet to identify optimal organic semiconductors that can be properly integrated in solar cell or lighting devices. In this project we propose to discover the "sustainable age materials" for the next stage of human development. The experimental discovery of materials is a slow, costly, and often serendipitous process. Instead, we propose to discover new materials in a virtual laboratory, powered by the solution of the equations of quantum mechanics, which describe the fundamental microscopic behaviour of matter. The computational design of materials provides microscopic insights at small cost and with fast turnover, making materials discovery a predictive, rather than a lucky, process. As quantum mechanics is a theory that describes all of visible matter, from a single hydrogen atom, to a strand of DNA, to a complex material, the computational tools we develop for materials discovery are applicabable to all sorts of materials science problems. In the first stage of the Future Leaders Fellowship, we have discovered several record-breaking materials for energy applications, as well as the best X-ray detector material to date, which could help minimise the negative side effects of CT scans in hospitals. During the Fellowship Renewal, we propose to extend our work to other energy materials, highlighting superconductors for low-power electronics applications and organic semiconductors for solar cells and light emitting diodes. These developments will help accelerate the transition to the new sustainable age.
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