2-Dimensional Materials for Novel Battery Electrodes

There is an urgent need for the development and manufacture of advanced batteries for the electrification of vehicles in order to enable long, energy efficient trips on a single, fast charge with minimal loss of capacity and exceptionally high safety standards. Critical to achieving this aim is improving the capability of battery technology. The UK requires a home-built industry in lithium ion batteries. To achieve this objective, the UK government has initiated the Faraday Challenge (£246M over 5 years) and Faraday Institution, which have highlighted materials innovation as an essential ingredient for realising batteries of the future.

During my career to date, I have developed a transformative new technology which allows for the scalable production of novel layered compounds from undamaged liquids containing undamaged, individualised 2-dimensional (2D) materials that can act as building blocks to achieve engineered battery electrodes with significantly improved capacity, durability and power to enable the widespread electrification of vehicles. Importantly, and in contrast to most competing methods, the process of fabricating the single layered materials is truly scalable. Part of the innovation process of this project will be to accelerate commercialisation of these 2D materials through creation of a UCL spin-out company to manufacture 2D materials on a large scale.

The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has set targets for electrical energy storage, to increase energy and power density whilst reducing price. Novel Lithium-ion and sodium-ion electrodes with increased capacity and kinetics that are cost efficient can contribute to this goal. In this project, working in the Department of Chemical Engineering, UCL, I will create new layered material constructs for battery electrodes, which will be tuned to the needs of the electric vehicle manufacturers. These novel layered material electrodes will be developed from lab scale to pilot scale in collaboration with Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG). Novel in-situ characterisation techniques will be developed for advanced characterisation of battery materials. Thomas Swan Ltd. will assist with knowledge in the scale-up of solutions of 2D materials, and provide commercial materials. IP will be developed in both the synthesis of the novel layered materials and the scaled-up processing steps required for optimised electrode performance in a car battery.

This fellowship will produce next-generation electrode materials for Li/Na-ion batteries which will deliver on cheap, energy and power dense electrode materials geared towards 'the development and manufacture of batteries for the electrification of vehicles'. By doing so, this fellowship will build upon the UK central government's commitment to capitalise on the expanding battery technology landscape. The green paper 'Building our Industrial strategy' published in 2017 highlights this- 'Given the UK's underlying strengths in science and energy technology, we want to be a global leader in battery technology'. This has been followed by the government's creation of the Faraday Challenge (£246M over five years).
To ensure the UK Government's recent decision to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2040 is achieved, advanced batteries for the electrification of vehicles is required. In this fellowship I will develop and scale-up advanced electrode materials to increase energy and power density of batteries, whilst reducing price, in line with the needs of electric car manufacturers. This will have key benefits in decarbonisation and air quality improvements. The general public will be benefit through improved quality of life with environmental improvements, better consumer products and electric vehicles.
Being able to produce and scale-up truly novel battery materials in a short amount of time will go a long way towards meeting many of the targets outlined in the Faraday Challenge, and I believe that this technology represents a route to short and medium term economic growth in the sector of energy storage. During this fellowship, a spin-out company will be formed to scale-up and commercialise the production of 2D material solutions. The development of IP and a spin-out company in a completely new area of energy storage materials will have wide ranging economic benefit in the high tech manufacturing of cutting edge materials in a burgeoning sector.
By working with industry leaders such as WMG, who will provide expertise in the scale up to pouch cell manufacture and Thomas Swan Ltd. who will provide commercial commercially available materials for comparison to the NLMs and expertise in nanomaterial production scale-up, this project will be positioned to be commercially relevant. Working with these partners and expanding upon existing networks will enable this project to deliver prototype batteries catered to electric vehicle manufacturers in the UK. This will facilitate the primary aim of this fellowship: to synthesise and optimise novel electrodes for the development and manufacture of batteries for the electrification of vehicles.

Work carried out during this fellowship, and training for the PDRA, the PhD student and I will add to UK's skill base in battery development. In-situ techniques will be developed to boost the UK's capabilities in the area of developing novel electrodes for batteries (and other areas). By developing UCell (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucell), a current Electrochmical Innovation Lab (EIL) outreach initiative, to incorporate novel battery electrodes, I have a vehicle for engaging the public. The Hydrogen fuel cell system with battery bank will be used as a platform to talk about the development of novel battery electrodes, powering events around the UK with accompanying workshops for the general public and schools.
This Fellowship will stimulate the economy, drive battery development for the electrification of vehicles, and educate the community on why investment in these technologies is vital.