Energy, Environment and Bio-sensing

Research in EEBG focuses on developing new low carbon energy sources (solar, marine and nuclear) and sensing鈥痮f biological and environmental effects. The group develops Internet of Things (IoT) wireless sensor networks for鈥痳eal work problems such as monitoring the effects of climate change. Bangor has been successful with the award of a number of鈥痬ajor grants, including via the European Commission (e.g. H2020 funded SUMCASTEC听project鈥�(www.sumcastec.eu)), Welsh Government (e.g. SPARC II) and the UK government (e.g. the EPSRC CDT in Nuclear鈥疎nergy Futures. The group works closely with the School of Natural Sciences in 吾爱吃瓜 and students鈥痮ften work on inter-disciplinary research activities and themes. Research collaborators in the UK include the鈥疷niversity of Cambridge, Imperial College London, Cardiff, Swansea and Manchester Universities. The group also鈥痟as international links in the USA, Israel, Spain, Germany, France, Brazil, China and Portugal. A number of our鈥痵tudents have also participated in research exchanges to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. EEBG鈥痗omprises of four laboratories and one institute: the solar, marine, biosensing, and environmental sensing鈥痩aboratories, and the nuclear futures institute.鈥赌�

Solar鈥赌�听

Whilst new generations of PV technologies offer promises of lower energy production and possibilities to鈥�integrate into building integrated applications or for energy harvesting such as for phone charging, the stability鈥痳emains a critical issue for commercialisation as they have to survive for 20+ years outdoors, without maintenance. 吾爱吃瓜 uses material analysis techniques to study causes of failure and use accelerated鈥痶esting to predict stability in the future. For undertaking such work, 吾爱吃瓜 has a suite of testing鈥痚quipment and reliability software dedicated for studying reliability and performance of solar cells.

吾爱吃瓜 is a member of the SPARC II consortium, a 拢7m WEFO funded project to develop new themes in鈥痵olar/photovoltaic (PV) energy research. 吾爱吃瓜 also works closely with UK industry, in particular in鈥痶he area of concentrated PV (CPV). Funding from UKRI is being used to study how large concentrator optics can鈥痓e used to focus light up to 1000 times onto a small semiconductor solar cell (typically less than 1 cm虏).听

Marine鈥赌�听

The School works closely with the School of Ocean Sciences to develop tidal and wave power sources. The鈥痳esearch provides insight into the best locations for marine energy production, but also provides developers an鈥痠n-depth understanding of energy production technologies and their performance, potential impacts from sea-level change on generators, and the impact proposed schemes will have on their surrounding marine鈥痚nvironments, such as the seabed, marine animals and clients.鈥赌�听

Biosensing鈥�鈥�听

The school develops laboratory-on-chip technologies for diagnostics and biological cell treatment. Notably, our鈥痝roups approach pursues the integration of high frequency microelectronics (Bi-CMOS), microfluidics and鈥痬icroimaging technologies onto a single chip (Fig. X). This is being applied听forl听sorting鈥� and听neutralization of鈥痗ancer stems cells. This is expected to enable integration of the technology into electrosurgical probes for cancer and鈥痳egenerative medicine in collaboration with an听industry leader in endoscopy surgery technology鈥� such as Creo鈥疢edical Ltd. ().

Microelectronics/microfluidics lab-on-chip integrating biological cell sensing and exposure module in a听BiCMOS听platform.听

Environmental sensing鈥赌�

The department develops bespoke real-time sensors for monitoring of pollution levels, environmental鈥痗onditions and manufacturing processors. For example, our group has introduced the world first self-sustained鈥痳adio-tracking device (Fig. X) that can be attached to a honey bee (). Such device harnesses the wing power generated by honey and bumblebees,鈥痺hich can be converted into a suitable signal for detection by drones flying above the target insect. The group is also working with the鈥�agritech鈥痵ector to develop solutions to support the integration of Internet of鈥疶hings wireless sensor networks in smart hives, farms or greenhouses. Therefore, Low Range Wide Area Network鈥�(LoRaWAN) boards will be deployed in conjunction with self-powered Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)鈥痵ensors to autonomously monitor temperature, light level, humidity, CO2, hive infrared imaging and鈥痸ibroacoustic signals.鈥赌�听

Bumblebees tagged with Bangor’s energy harvesting/transmitter devices in a smart greenhouse environment.听

Nuclear Futures Institute听

The School is also home to the Nuclear Futures Institute. With nuclear decommissioning and nuclear new-build projects on its doorstep, and an increasing number of businesses from the nuclear supply chain becoming active in the area, the University is听focussing听on existing and emerging nuclear power generation technologies including听Pressurised听Water Reactors (PWR), (Advanced) Boiling Water Reactors ((A)BWR) and Small Modular Reactors (SMR). researchers to help develop future generations of Boiling Water Reactor technology.听

Nuclear expertise and academic capacity at 吾爱吃瓜 is expanding rapidly with the appointment of international research ‘stars’, plus their supporting research teams, funded by the Welsh Government’s听厂锚谤听Cymru听programme听and the European Regional Development Fund.听听