M-Spin receives 25k Royce Access Grant to use facilities at Royce Imperial

M-Spin's high-surface-area materials have the potential to enhance electrolysers, fuel cells, and batteries, supporting the energy transition.

Following a £1.2 million award in seed funding last November, Imperial spinout company M-Spin is accelerating the transition to low-carbon energy with innovative materials.

Now, through a £25K grant from the Henry Royce Institute’s Royce Access Scheme, M-Spin will gain access to state-of-the-art facilities at Royce Imperial, a hub for start-ups, industry and academia to make, test and characterise materials, components and systems.

Next-gen research and new opportunities at Royce

M-Spin is developing a range of unique high-surface-area materials that can dramatically enhance the performance, and reduce the cost, of electrochemical devices, such as electrolysers for green hydrogen production, batteries for electric vehicles, and grid-based energy storage. These ultra-high surface area metallic meshes have already shown three to five times the performance of current materials in these applications, building on technology originally developed by Professor Nigel Brandon’s group at Imperial College London.

Dr Robin Francis, CEO/Commercialisation Lead of M-Spin, said: 

The grant, made via the Royce Access Scheme, will enable zero-cost use of world-class analytical equipment to further develop and characterise our next-generation materials for batteries and electrolysers. Dr Robin Francis CEO/Commercialisation Lead of M-Spin

"M-Spin is delighted to have been awarded a £25K grant from the Henry Royce Institute to utilise the advanced equipment available at the Royce facility at Imperial College London.

The grant, made via the Royce Access Scheme, will enable zero-cost use of world-class analytical equipment to further develop and characterise our next-generation materials for batteries and electrolysers.

We’re excited to be partnering with Royce for this research and thank them for their support."

The Royce Access Scheme can be vital for many start-ups and SMEs, providing access to state-of-the-art equipment at a fraction of the cost.

Dr Francis continues: "The Royce facilities will provide M-Spin with access to world-class analytical facilities that would be extremely expensive to acquire independently.

As an early-stage start-up, we don’t have the resources to purchase such equipment, so access to the facilities at Royce Imperial will expand the kinds of analysis we can do on our products."

For a company like M-Spin, the microstructure of its metallic mats is crucial to performance. M-Spin plans to use the grant to access various facilities at Royce Imperial, including Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), to understand how production parameters affect performance and to serve as a quality control tool. Additionally, they will use techniques like Raman Spectroscopy and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). However, M-Spin is also keen to emphasise that the benefits of Royce extend beyond just access to facilities.

Dr Francis adds: "Royce has a great network of companies from both large to small, and we have already had several productive discussions with members of this network.

We would expect these discussions to lead to formal collaborations in the near future. Royce also has many other funding streams other than the Royce Access Scheme and we would hope to benefit from these."

Find out more about the Royce Access Scheme

The Royce Access Scheme allows access expensive analytical equipment without the need for large upfront investments. We encourage all SMEs to explore the available support options. Dr Robin Francis CEO/Commercialisation Lead of M-Spin

As the National Institute for Advanced Materials, the Henry Royce Institute has an extensive catalogue of equipment including facilities to make, test and characterise materials.

Royce can provide funding to utilise its extensive portfolio of state-of-the-art materials science and engineering equipment at Imperial College London and within the entire Royce partner network.

Royce-funded access schemes are open to researchers and students based at UK academic institutions, Research Technology Organisations, and UK-based SMEs.

Find out more about Royce-funded access schemes.

Find out how Royce can support industry and companies.

Find out more about Royce at Imperial.