UK materials science institution eyes cooperation with Chinese partners

As the Barrer Center at the Imperial College London was launched on Monday to promote ground-breaking research in materials science and engineering, the center's leading researchers expressed their willingness to work with companies from outside of Britain, especially those from China.

The newly established center will focus on paradigm changing membrane and absorption science and technology.

The researchers at the center will develop innovative nanomaterials, including porous polymers, metal-organic frameworks, two-dimensional nanomaterials and ceramics. These novel materials could be fabricated into membranes and adsorbents for applications in industrial separation processes, according to the Imperial College London.

The center hopes to work closely with international industry partners so that they can use the newly developed technology platforms to enhance production efficiency and lessen pollution.

The team at the center is working with companies from Europe and the United States, and they also see companies from China as potential partners.

"We have a particular expertise and particular strength in our center, and we will be very open to working with companies from China, who would like to come and work with us on the challenges they face using the technology platforms that we provide," Professor Andrew Livingston, director of Barrer Center, told Xinhua.

The team at the center include a number of Chinese researchers, and some of them are key members who lead the center's ongoing scientific programs.

"It's also fair to say that the quality of the Chinese research, its standard, is very high, and of course we aim to have the best possible people working in our groups. Many of these people will be Chinese," said Livingston. Endit