Advanced Materials to Combat Crime

Work on advanced materials includes the discovery of new materials with novel properties as well as modifying existing ones to alter structural and/or functional properties in order to obtain superior performance for specific applications. These include metal and alloys, ceramics, glass, semiconductors, polymers, composites, nanostructured materials, graphene and hybrid materials, for example. The field of advanced materials is multidisciplinary involving materials science, chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, engineering and/or nanotechnology.

This project will consider the potential of various advanced material technologies to combat crime. The intention is to work out what is feasible, over what timescales, and what is required to make the exploitation of advanced materials for crime prevention feasible. The suggested strategy for this scoping study would be to identify current approaches used in crime prevention and to discuss these with relevant stakeholders and industrial partners involved in their production to identify user-need, potential developments and the likely timescales required for production.