Professor Steven Dunn

My research background is in the processing of functional ceramics and hybrid systems and am currently Professor of Materials Engineering at London South Bank University, while also being the Director of the Energy, Materials and Environment University Research Centre. My first degree was in Chemistry from Edinburgh which was followed by a PhD in Materials Science at Cambridge in 2001.  I am the founder and Director of the spin out Potential Energy Group where we are developing structural health monitoring systems for rail networks.

Since then I have published over 150 publications, a high proportion in high-impact journals such as Advanced Materials and Energy and Environmental Science, supervised over 25 PhD students and ~200 3rd year project and MSc students.

My research interests include developing fundamental understanding of the change in performance of functional metal oxide systems when used for energy capture, transfer or storage. We are currently working on procesing materials for high capactity, low fade, batteries, using operando techniques to follow system properties changes illuminating  how materials performance change with time. We are also modifying the surface of functional materials for improved hydrogen evolution catalysis as well as developing novel process to improve the lifetime of functional materials when used.  

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. These systems were monitored for performance degradation over time and systemic improvements to the processing put in place to enhance energy storage capacity and stability.

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. 

The areas of research that most excite me are those that find new applications for functional materials where I can address key important isseus such as defence and security or sustainable efforts. Most recently collaborations with Professor Chris Bowen (Uni Bath), Dr Haixue Yan (QMUL) adn internally at LSBU have led to some fascinating discoveries regarding means to mitigate performance fade in functonal systems and imrove the lifetime of performance. We are ambitiously targeting systems that are resistant to ageing. 

These 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

Director Energy, Materials and Environment University Research Centre