Bioinspired green manufacturing of next generation energy storage materials

The ubiquity of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in portable electronic devices have led to an enormous volume of research on materials promising improved performance characteristics. Whether in terms of the amount of energy they can deliver, their operating lifetime or overall cost, there are pressing demands for the development of improved functional materials. In particular, Li-Ni-Co-Mn-oxides are attractive cathode materials due to their high achievable specific capacity and good long-term performance; they are also commercialised and widely used in the battery market. However, their synthesis typically requires extreme temperatures over long duration, contributing the vast majority of the energy costs. Furthermore, their manufacture is wasteful and is unsustainable. Hence the use of more sustainable synthesis routes has the potential to drastically reduce this expense.

Learning from biology, we aim to discover new bioinspired routes to produce energy storage materials. These methods will need lower temperatures, leading to reduced energy demands, and allow for superior control of materials properties on the nanoscale. This is a radically new approach, which has never been applied to energy storage materials.

Our vision is to discover radically new routes for preparing battery electrode materials by using bioinspired green chemistry.

Our project will help remove the energy intensive processing of LIB electrode materials, which removes some of the barriers in place that currently inhibit widespread production. These achievements will allow for the scale-up of "academically interesting" materials towards commercially viable volumes, yet at lower costs. This represents a significant economic and societal impact.

We will develop a simple and green synthesis of LIB electrode materials, which will attract wider academic community and encourage them to utilise our methods to undertake battery research and develop useful materials.

Our focus on sustainable battery technologies which will have a wider societal impact on the understanding and perceptions of school pupils and the public. Sustainable materials outlined in this proposal are especially appealing since their principles match the ethical aspirations of public.