Professor Steven Dunn

My research interests include developing fundamental understanding of carrier lifetime enhancement in functional metal oxide systems. We are currently working on processing of low Currie temperature ferroelectric materials, modifying the surface of ferroelectric materials with oxygen and hydrogen evolution catalysts as well as novel ways to form carbonaceous nanostructured islands.
My work has been funded by RCUK, InnovateUK and industrial collaborators, such as Samsung and Bosch with a total career research income that exceeds £10m since 2003. Prior to joining LSBU I spent some time as Head of Materials in an industrial environment where we were developing powder and materials processing for capacitors, super-capacitors and batteries. In 2013 i was awarded the ‘researcher of the year’ for Science and Engineering at Queen Mary and is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining with a CEng.
I lead the Energy Materials Engineering research group at LSBU with interests in novel processing or applications of ceramic materials for energy storage and conversion technologies.
The areas of research that most excite me are those that find new applications for functional materials and he has a special interest in sustainable use of materials for energy storage and generation. Most recently collaborations with Professor Chris Bowen (Uni Bath) and Dr Haixue Yan (QMUL) have led to some fascinating discoveries regarding the use of pyroelectric materials for water splitting.
These systems can harness low grade ambient waste heat to form hydrogen and oxygen from water. These early results are leading to a variety of new discoveries in the way that functional materials are viewed and the range of applications that they can be used in. In addition to the development of functional metal oxides I have established expertise in a wide variety of materials processing techniques to produce materials appropriate for energy storage in capacitors and batteries.
See my publications at Google Scholar ~ https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=jyUAvyMAAAAJ&hl=en