Originally from Leicester, Matthew joined the University of Nottingham in 2013. An industrial placement year at 3M (Atherstone) developing coated abrasives for the automotive aftermarket taught him that there is more going on with sandpaper than anyone would imagine.
His Master’s research project was with Professor Robert Mokaya investigating activated carbons for CO2 storage with potential application in CCS systems. Porous activated carbons with surface areas up to 3000 m2 g-1 were synthesised and tested, some showing very favourable CO2 uptake properties.