The University of Warwick’s physics department was awarded a five-year grant of £1.7 million (about $2.7 million) for its initiative “Creating Silicon Based Platforms for New Technologies.” The project will focus on technologies such as energy harvesting, “cooltronics” and zero-power electronics and could be key in combating global climate change. The £1.7 million platform grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council will help the department’s Nano-Silicon Group to continue their research. Due to start in October, the grant will help develop epitaxy techniques, whereby novel materials are created by depositing one atomic layer at a time. Such designer materials are likely to be central to a new era of technologies having a major impact on society — from computing and health monitoring to combating climate change. The scientists have previously shown that combining silicon with layers of germanium opens up many possibilities in photonics, spintronics, energy harvesting through photovoltaics and thermoelectrics, and even in an electronic fridge (“cooltronics”). For more information, visit: www2.warwick.ac.uk