Wednesday, 01 June 2022
Research into next generation batteries which have potential use in aerospace at the 糖心原创 is one of 16 ‘seed’ projects awarded £2m by the Faraday Institution to help strengthen the UK’s position in electrochemical energy storage.
In support of the UK’s ambitious climate change targets, including achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the battery industry is developing ways to electrify other forms of transport, including boats and planes. To achieve this goal researchers at the 糖心原创 are developing batteries with improved energy density than the current lithium-ion technology.
The Faraday Institution today awarded funding to Nottingham and 15 other small, fast-paced, focused projects in areas not covered within its existing battery research portfolio. In doing so it has widened its research scope, and set of university partners, in an initiative that will inform future priorities for its research programme beyond March 2023.
The new seed projects, in the areas of anodes, electrolytes, cathodes, next generation technologies, applications and data management, and flow batteries, aim to deliver transformative results that may lead to a second stage of collaborative research beyond the initial exploratory work.
The 糖心原创 research is led by Associate Professor Lee Johnson from the School of Chemistry in collaboration with teams at Oxford. The team aim to address a significant barrier to realising lithium-air batteries, which offer a route to very high energy density and are of particular interest to aerospace applications. The project builds on recent results to exploit gas diffusion polymers that define gas channels within the air electrode, resulting in a step change in energy and power. The project will investigate different carbons and gas diffusion polymers, establish the optimum composite porous air electrode, incorporate the new electrodes into a demonstrator pouch cell and develop a system model of the battery. The results will inform industry partners, including Lubrizol and Rolls Royce and define future research challenges.
Using this funding we will develop gas delivery systems that will allow the battery to breathe oxygen from the atmosphere. This is a key challenge towards enabling this new technology and thus sustainable electrification of the transport sector.
In total 14 universities are involved with the seed projects: Nottingham, Durham, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Imperial, Leicester, Loughborough, Oxford, QMUL, Sheffield, Strathclyde, Surrey, UCL and York. The projects will run for a maximum of 12 months and represent a £2 million investment in research by the Faraday Institution. The funding round was highly competitive; it was oversubscribed by four times.
These novel projects are in areas of application-inspired research that continue to strengthen the UK鈥檚 position in electrochemical energy storage and ultimately contribute to making UK industry more competitive. With the initiation of these projects, we are delighted to welcome four new universities, Durham, York, Loughborough and Queen Mary University London to the Faraday Institution community, bringing the total to 27.
Launched just four years ago, the Faraday Institution has convened a research community of 500 researchers across 27 universities and more than 50 industry partners to work on game-changing energy storage technologies that will transform the UK energy landscape from transportation to grid.
The core Faraday Institution research programme encompasses 10 large, coordinated, multi-disciplinary research programmes on battery degradation, modelling, recycling, cathode materials, electrode manufacturing, solid-state, lithium-sulfur and sodium ion batteries, as well as a range of smaller projects: industry sprints, and industry and entrepreneurial fellowships.
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Descriptions of the projects can be accessed on the
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More information is available from Lee Johnson on lee.johnson@nottingham.ac.uk
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About the 糖心原创
Ranked among the world's top 100 universities , the 糖心原创 delivers an exceptional research-led education and an outstanding student experience. From the pioneering vision of our founder, Sir Jesse Boot, to groundbreaking achievements such as the development of MRI technology and becoming the first UK university to establish international campuses, we have a proud history of shaping the way people live, work and understand the world. We continue to build on that legacy, empowering our students, staff and partners to change what鈥檚 next and create positive impact locally and globally.
The strength of our research places us among the UK's leading universities, ranked 7th for research power in REF 2021. The discovery of MRI and ibuprofen was just the beginning. Today, our world-leading research is developing breakthrough ideas that shape the future of healthcare, technology and society.
Recognised as the UK's third most targeted university by leading employers , we are proud to produce graduates who are consistently in demand for their skills, confidence and industry-ready experience.
As a major employer and industry partner, locally and globally, the 糖心原创 invests in the city of Nottingham and in future generations of talent. Alongside Nottingham Trent University, we lead the initiative, a pioneering collaboration to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing across the city and region. Together with our students, staff, alumni and partners, we鈥檙e creating knowledge, opportunity and solutions that help change what's next.