Sustainable Synthesis of Solid Electrolyte Materials for Next Generation All-Solid-State Rechargeable Batteries

Conquering the markets for wearable and portable electronics is the Holy Grail for next generation advanced technology companies whose concept is not so much to have a cell phone in your pocket but to wear one. This project seeks to develop an essential component of this - an all-solid state lithium-ion battery (LIB), and is dedicated to combining diverse expertise to develop our formula for an all-solid state, sustainable, recyclable, safe LIB. We have a distinct advantage thanks to our unique expertise in both nanomaterials manufacturing and battery production & diagnostics.

Energy cost is one of the biggest sustainability issues faced by the battery industry. Traditional materials synthetic routes require high temperatures and long time periods to produce the active materials needed for LIBs. Using emergent low temperature methods to synthesise and consolidate these battery materials is therefore a key challenge.

The central goal of this PhD project is to create, for the first time, an all-solid state LIB, using novel synthetic and consolidation routes. To minimise energy cost, the project will draw together two currently disparate areas of research: biotemplating for materials synthesis and the Cold Sintering Process, CSP, for materials densification. The focus for research will be on solid electrolyte materials for LIB applications, but we will also study commercially relevant electrode materials in order for us to prepare test all-solid-state LIB cells.

Advanced materials characterisation techniques will play a key role in the research programme: the use of cutting-edge X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, electron microscopy and electrical/electrochemical testing will all be vital.