About Opportunity:

Tightening consents and treatment standards & regulations in recent and future years will result in the need to remove greater and greater concentrations of recalcitrant organic contaminants from water and waste streams, such as organics, pesticides and endocrine disruptors. This is occurring within a backdrop of increasingly energy intensive water treatment processes, and strong energy saving drivers.

The photoelectrocatalytic fuel cell (PECFC) oxidises complex pollutants into harmless products at an enhanced rate whilst simultaneously producing an electrical current. It is possible to monitor the toxicity of the water by built-in biosensor technology.

Although sunlight can drive the water purification process, broad spectrum incandescent light or low power optimised wavelength sources such as Light Emitting Diodes are equally effective.

The PECFC was developed with the support of the Technology Strategy Board under the Technology Programme

The University is seeking to engage industry, manufacturers and investment partners to co-develop PECFC-based products and services.