Research at Glasgow University into new ways of using sun and water as clean and sustainable sources of renewable energy has been boosted with a 3 year funding grant.

The £156,000 grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council will fund collaborative cross-disciplinary research between two chemists and a chemical engineer from the Universities of Glasgow, Cambridge and Bath.

Dr Justin Hargreaves, a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at Glasgow University said: "The idea is to pool our expertise to see if we can improve the synthesis and develop new materials which will catalyse transformations using sunlight as an energy source.

"A number of such materials are currently known and there are potential widespread applications. One major goal would be to use sunlight to split water, generating the hydrogen necessary for the hydrogen economy from a non-carbon based source. But photocatalysis can be also be used to decontaminate water - removing pesticide residues and killing harmful bacteria."

The other partners involved in the research are: Andy Burrows (Chemistry, Bath) and Markus Kraft (Chemical Engineering, Cambridge).

Further information: Dr Justin Hargreaves, Chemistry Adviser of Studies, University of Glasgow. Telephone: 0141 330 5947

Martin Shannon, Media Relations Officer 0141 330 8593

First published: 19 July 2006