ISIS Neutron and Muon Source recognises a collaboration between Infineum and the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh Professor Peter Dowding, Chief Research Scientist and Innovation Lead at Infineum, and an Honorary Professor in the School of Chemistry, accepted the 2025 ISIS Economic Impact Award at the recent Neutron and Muon Source Users Meeting. The award is for collaborative work on organic friction modifiers (OFMs) carried out between Infineum technologists, ISIS scientists, and the research groups of Professor Alex Routh and Professor Philip Camp. OFMs are lubricant additives that reduce friction and wear in engines, hybrid and electric motors, turbines, and robotics. They increase energy efficiency and decrease gaseous emissions into the environment. New additives must be developed to cope with changing energy sources and engineering demands. The Infineum, Cambridge, and ISIS teams developed a ‘beamline tribometer’ that allows the behaviour of thin films of OFMs on solid surfaces to be investigated under operando conditions using neutron reflectometry. The Edinburgh team carried out molecular-dynamics simulations to help interpret the experimental measurements and provide new insights on OFM performance. A paper from this collaboration was recently published in Nanoscale. © STFC The powerful combination of experiment, simulation, and real-world testing will lead to the development of new additives that increase fuel efficiency and device lifetimes, and decrease costs and CO2 emissions. Professor Dowding provides a compelling vision and outstanding leadership for this award-winning collaboration between industry, academia, and central facilities. I am immensely proud of my research group’s contributions to this work. Philip Camp Professor of Theoretical Chemistry Publication date 21 Mar, 2025
