INFUSE: Interface with the Future - Underpinning Science to Support the Energy transition

气候变化是当前和未来几代人面临的最大单一威胁：要实现英国政府根据《巴黎气候协定》设定的实现净零二氧化碳的雄心勃勃的目标，需要史无前例的技术动员--在快速开发和部署新方法方面需要采取行动。英国的研发能力需要发生范式转变，以缩短能源生产和消费的新颖和可持续解决方案的上市时间。成功的快速翻译需要学术界和产业界之间的合作伙伴关系，具有共同的愿景和承诺。拟议的二氧化碳减排技术战略-无论是在源头(你不生产它)还是燃烧后缓解(你捕获并使用它)-在效率、稳定性或寿命方面存在限制，与系统中材料界面的行为以及这些界面在操作环境中如何随时间变化有关。这种动态系统的例子从地质上的碳捕获和储存，到新型电动汽车的接口，再到用于催化剂或能源收集的纳米材料。如果我们能够理解和控制这样的接口，它将使我们创造、优化和部署激进技术解决方案的能力发生转变，既能应对气候变化，又能创造清洁能源系统。在壳牌、伦敦帝国理工学院和英国国家同步加速器设施-钻石光源的这项联合计划中，我们的目标是开发全新的能力来研究复杂现实条件下界面的行为--例如高温、流动、应力、电场等，并能够在时间和长度尺度上关联测量结果，以便我们建立界面属性及其变化的完整图景。我们将把这些实验与最先进的计算技术结合起来，为界面行为提供新的见解。这一机械平台代表了支持新材料和工艺合理设计的基础，这些新材料和工艺具有更少的能源需求、更长的使用寿命或更坚固的完整性。

Climate Change is the single biggest threat to present and future generations: to meet the ambitious targets for net zero CO2 set out by the UK government and in line with Paris Climate Agreement requires technological mobilization on an unprecedented scale - with action required in rapid development and deployment of new approaches. A paradigm shift in the UK's research and development capabilities is needed to reduce time to market for novel and sustainable solutions for energy production and consumption. Successful rapid translation requires partnership between academia and industry, with a shared vision and commitment.Proposed technological strategies for CO2 reduction - either at source (you don't produce it) or post combustion mitigation (you capture and use it) - have limitations in efficiency, stability or lifetime associated with the behaviour of material interfaces in the systems, and how these interfaces change with time in the operating environments. Examples of such dynamic systems range from geological carbon capture and storage, to interfaces in new electric vehicles, to nanoscale materials for catalysts or energy harvesting. If we were able to understand and control such interfaces it would provide a transformation in our ability to create, optimize and deploy radical technological solutions to both combat climate change and create clean energy systems. In this joint programme between Shell, Imperial College London and the UK National Synchrotron Facility - Diamond Light Source - we aim to develop entirely new capabilities to study the behaviour of interfaces under complex real world conditions - such as high temperature, flow, stress, electric fields etc. and to be able to correlate the measurements in time and across length-scales so that we build up a complete picture of interface properties and how they change. We will combine these experiments with state-of-the-art computational techniques to provide new insights into interfacial behaviour. This mechanistic platform represents the foundation that will underpin the rational design of new materials and processes with reduced energy demand, better lifetime or more robust integrity.