2022 Longstaff Prize Winner
Professor Peter Bruce, University of Oxford
Awarded for pioneering research on the chemistry of materials with applications in renewable energy, leading to fundamental changes in our understanding of solid-state electrochemistry.
The main focus of Professor Bruce’s work is to develop a fundamental understanding of the properties of materials and the processes taking place in batteries and use this knowledge to improve performance.
The Li-ion battery has revolutionised the consumer electronics market, making devices smaller, lighter and more portable. Batteries are now playing a key role in the electrification of transport, with an increasing number of electric vehicles on the road, as we transition away from petrol and diesel engines. It is not just on the roads that batteries are being used in the battle against climate change, they are being added to the electricity grid to support the adoption of renewable sources.
Professor Bruce’s research is concerned with new materials and chemistries that have the potential to deliver a step-change in performance, for example increasing the range of an electric vehicle.
In the solid-state battery, the flammable electrolyte is replaced by a solid which presents the possibility of using a lithium metal anode. Doing so increases the energy of the battery (i.e. driving range) but also improves safety (fire risk). However, there are issues with cell failure that must be addressed. His group’s recent work has revealed the fundamental mechanisms at the interfaces between the solid electrodes and the solid electrolyte: solid-solid interfaces are particularly challenging to understand and control in electrochemical devices. They are now using this knowledge to devise strategies to overcome the processes that lead to failure in solid state batteries.
| Year | Name | Institution | Citation |
| 2019 | Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff | University of Nottingham | Awarded for outstanding contributions to green chemistry and for participating centrally in the creation of the Periodic Table Videos. |
| 2016 |
Professor Paul O'Brien | University of Manchester | Awarded for his work in the development of novel chemical methods for materials synthesis, especially chalcogenide containing thin films and quantum dots, shaping the international research field and establishing a highly successful spin out company. |
| 2013 | Professor Steven Ley | University of Cambridge | Awarded for his outstanding record in developing innovative solutions to advance the science of chemistry that have substantially contributed to this field on a global level. |
| 2010 | Lord Jack Lewis | University of Cambridge | Awarded for his remarkable contributions to inorganic chemistry and for his leadership on scientific issues facing the nation, in particular through the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and the Select Committee on Science and Technology of the House of Lords. |
| 2008 | Sir Jack Baldwin | University of Oxford | Awarded for his distinguished contributions to natural product chemistry and synthetic methodology. |
| 2005 | Professor Alan Carrington | University of Southampton | Awarded for his outstanding research career covering ESR of free radicals in the liquid phase, EPR of gas phase free radicals and more recent work on ion beam spectroscopy of simple ionic species. |
| 2002 | Professor Robert J P Williams | University of Oxford | Awarded for the sustained excellence of his work in inorganic and bio-inorganic chemistry. |
| 1999 | Professor Ray Freeman | University of Cambridge | Awarded for his dominant international role in NMR developments over four decades and, in particular, in the innovations of double resonance, Fourier transform methods, sophisticated pulse sequences and two-dimensional NMR, strongly impacting on all branches of chemistry. |
| 1996 | Sir John Meurig Thomas | ||
| 1993 | H Kroto | ||
| 1990 | F G A Stone | ||
| 1987 | Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson | ||
| 1984 | A R Battersby | ||
| 1981 | Sir George Porter | ||
| 1978 | D M C Hodgkin | ||
| 1975 | J S Anderson | ||
| 1972 | Sir Derek Barton | ||
| 1969 | R G W Norrish | ||
| 1966 | J Monteath Robertson | ||
| 1963 | Lord Todd | ||
| 1960 | Sir Eric Rideal | ||
| 1957 | E L Hirst | ||
| 1954 | Sir John Lennard-Jones | ||
| 1951 | Sir Christopher Ingold | ||
| 1948 | Sir Cyril Hinshelwood | ||
| 1945 | N V Sidgwick | ||
| 1942 | H S Taylor | ||
| 1939 | I M Heilbron | ||
| 1936 | G Barger | ||
| 1933 | W N Haworth, Sir James Irvine | ||
| 1930 | W H Mills | ||
| 1927 | R Robinson | ||
| 1924 | F G Donnan | ||
| 1921 | J F Thorpe | ||
| 1918 | A W Crossley | ||
| 1915 | M O Forster | ||
| 1912 | H B Baker | ||
| 1909 | F S Kipping | ||
| 1906 | W N Hartley | ||
| 1903 | W J Pope | ||
| 1900 | W H Perkin, Jnr | ||
| 1897 | W Ramsay | ||
| 1894 | H T Brown | ||
| 1891 | F R Japp | ||
| 1888 | W H Perkin | ||
| 1884 | C O'Sullivan | ||
| 1881 | T E Thorpe |
Re-thinking recognition: Science prizes for the modern world
This report is the result of an independent review of our recognition programmes. Our aim in commissioning this review was to ensure that our recognition portfolio continues to deliver the maximum impact for chemical scientists, chemistry and society.