Accelerating the development of sustainable surface technologies

Every product we rely on, from offshore wind turbines and aircraft to medical devices and infrastructure, depends on its surfaces. Coatings, thin films, and functional interfaces determine how long things last, how safely they perform, and how much energy and resource they consume over their lifetime.

The UK has world-leading science in this area, and the sector contributes £45 billion to the economy and supports over 635,000 jobs. Yet despite this strength, coatings remain among the least sustainable components of modern products, and the UK’s ability to turn its scientific excellence into industrial impact is being held back by fragmentation, slow adoption of digital tools, and an innovation system that is not yet fit for the challenges ahead.

Most high-performance coatings today rely on petrochemical feedstocks, and hazardous chemistries, including fluorinated compounds, isocyanates, and chromium-based systems, many of which face tightening regulatory restrictions in the UK and internationally. These materials are technically difficult to replace, with entire supply chains, qualification systems, and maintenance regimes built around them.

At the same time, complex multilayer coating systems are rarely designed to be repaired, removed, or recycled, making them a significant barrier to the circular economy. Meanwhile, expertise across academia, industry, and government remains dispersed, shared data infrastructure is limited, access to pilot facilities is uneven, and promising technologies routinely stall between the research stage and real-world deployment.

Surfaces for a Sustainable Future (S4SF)

To address these challenges, Surfaces for a Sustainable Future (S4SF) EPSRC Network+ has been recently launched.

Led by Newcastle and Northumbria Universities, in partnership with Sunderland Software City and supported by 20 project partners so far, it will act as a national coordination platform, connecting the UK’s dispersed expertise in coating chemistry, surface engineering, tribology, corrosion science, digital materials, and sustainable manufacturing. It will align this expertise with industrial needs and national priorities, accelerating the transition to high-performance, low-environmental impact surface technologies.

The network will support the development of sustainable alternatives to hazardous legacy chemistries, promote low-energy manufacturing and coating processes, and advance coating systems designed from the outset to be repaired, reused, or recycled.

Professor Elizabeth Gibson, Dean of Post Graduate Research, Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, and Professor of Energy Materials, leads the project.

She said: "I'm extremely excited to launch our Network+ that will build and train a community of experts across materials science, surface engineering, digital technologies and circular manufacturing to help transform how surface technologies are designed, manufactured and deployed.

“We will be connecting academia, industry, government and innovation organisations to deliver the full ambition of the National Materials Innovation Strategy, ensuring that future materials systems can simultaneously deliver performance, durability and sustainability while strengthening the UK’s resilience and global competitiveness.”

Professor Matt Unthank, School of Geography and Natural Sciences, and Professor of Chemistry, co-leads the project.

He adds, “having led coatings and surfaces research projects for many years, from both industrial roles and as an academic at Northumbria University, I have seen first hand the challenges involved in forging long-lasting, open research collaborations between industry and academia. This Network+ will create, support and nurture these collaborations, strengthening this critical UK industry into the future.”

Digital innovation, including AI-assisted formulation, digital twins of surfaces and interfaces, and automated experimentation, will be embedded throughout, helping to qualify new materials faster and reduce the time and cost of bringing innovations to market. Practical benefits are tangible and wide-ranging; advanced corrosion-resistant coatings could extend the working life of offshore wind turbines by ten to twenty years, repairable coatings could cut waste in high-value component refurbishment by up to 70%, and tailored surface treatments could improve the safety and reliability of hydrogen infrastructure.

S4SF will also invest directly in people, opening skills programmes, industrial secondments, and training opportunities to early career researchers, technicians, industry practitioners, and groups historically underrepresented in materials science and engineering. Flexible funding will enable new collaborations, support early career researchers, deliver feasibility studies, and help small and medium-sized enterprises access specialist facilities and expertise they could not otherwise reach.

By creating a cohesive, digitally enabled, and inclusive national ecosystem for sustainable surface technologies, S4SF will help close the gap between world-class UK research and real-world industrial impact, strengthening competitiveness, supply chain resilience, and the country’s capacity to meet its sustainability and net zero commitments.