Strategic Equipment Award

Dr Wayne Nishio Ayre was Co-I on a successful EPSRC Strategic Equipment Bid led by Prof Phil Davies from the School of Chemistry. The award worth £1M will allow the purchase and installation of a Photo induced Force Microscopy (PiFM) system, the first in the UK. The equipment will be installed in the new Translational Research Facility in April 2022. Photo induced Force Microscopy (PiFM) provides an infrared spectrum whilst simultaneously recording the topography of a surface at resolutions of less than 10 nm. Thus molecular identification of surfaces can be achieved at the nanoscale whilst capturing topography and force data simultaneously, similar to atomic force microscopy, but combined with powerful infrared spectroscopy for chemical characterisation.