The funds have been awarded to a consortium of six UK Universities - Warwick, Lancaster, Liverpool, Nottingham, Southampton and St Andrews - through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund.
Researchers are currently using NMR technology to improve green infrastructure by expanding their knowledge of how to make more efficient plant biofuels, and to improve batteries and solar cells. The instrument will also be used in research on anti-microbial resistance and drug design and delivery.
In a statement, Professor Steven Brown, from Warwick University's Solid State NMR Group, said: “It is exciting that Warwick has been selected as the site for this world-class NMR instrumentation. I look forward to working with the consortium partners and the UK community to deliver this world-class resource for UK science.”
Scientists from around the country will be able to use the facility along with students at Warwick and other universities who will gain experience on the NMR instrument.
Jane Nicholson, research base director at EPSRC, part of UK Research and Innovation said: “This national facility, one of only seven 1.2GHz magnets in the world, will advance the study of all types of molecules.
“The applications will be many and varied with the potential for new insights into areas such as materials for energy applications, catalysis, pharmaceutical research, synthetic biology and antimicrobial resistance.”
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance instruments are used to analyse complex materials to work out their structure. This is done using magnets that are about one million times more powerful than the earth’s magnetic field. They work on the magnetic field of each atom in the material being investigated and provide detailed information on the atomic-level structure of that material.
The 1.2GHz NMR spectrometer will be housed in a new building and will create two new jobs for scientists. It builds upon current capability at 1.0GHz at the Warwick-hosted UK High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility.
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