Research Vision 2030

A Research Programme Beyond Individual Materials

Four proposed programmes, three horizons and the infrastructure they require. Everything on this page is stated as intent; nothing here is presented as a completed result.

Horizons

Three horizons of work

From material and interface studies, through integrated cell systems, to sustainable battery ecosystems.

Horizon 01Near term

Materials and Interfaces

Porous carbon hosts
Functional separators
Catalytic interlayers
Na-ion cathodes
Electrochemical mechanism studies

Horizon 02Medium term

Integrated Cell Systems

High-loading electrodes
Reduced-electrolyte configurations
Full-cell development
Solid-state interfaces
Cell-level degradation studies

Horizon 03Long term

Sustainable Battery Ecosystems

Earth-abundant materials
Biowaste-derived carbons
Battery recycling
Resource recovery
Circular materials pathways

Programmes

Four proposed research programmes

Each programme is defined by the questions it would answer, the methods it would use, the infrastructure it would need and the student projects it would support.

Sulfur Conversion and Interface Engineering

Sulfur chemistries offer high theoretical energy from abundant material, but their practical value depends on controlling dissolution and conversion at engineered interfaces.

Research questions

Which interfacial chemistries accelerate conversion without adding inactive mass?
How does host porosity trade against sulfur loading at realistic electrolyte volumes?
What failure mode dominates once loading is raised beyond laboratory values?

Methods

Catalytic hosts
Functional separators
High-loading cathodes
GITT and EIS kinetics
Post-mortem investigation

Infrastructure required

Glove-box line
Coin-cell and pouch-cell assembly
Battery cyclers
Potentiostat with impedance
Access to XPS and electron microscopy

Interdisciplinary links

Materials science
Chemical engineering
Electrochemistry
Computational chemistry

Expected outputs

Peer-reviewed articles
Design rules for host and separator pairing
Reproducible high-loading protocols

Student projects

Doctoral projects on catalytic interlayers
Master's projects on cathode formulation
Undergraduate characterisation training

Sodium-Based Energy Storage

Sodium chemistry removes the resource constraint of lithium, but structural reversibility and interface stability remain the limiting factors.

Research questions

Which cathode frameworks retain structure across extended sodium insertion and removal?
How do sodium-ion transport pathways respond to engineered interfaces?
Can sulfur-cathode design principles transfer usefully into sodium systems?

Methods

Sodium-ion cathodes
Polyanion compounds
NASICON-type materials
Ion-transport analysis
Full-cell development

Infrastructure required

Solid-state synthesis furnaces
Inert-atmosphere handling
XRD with refinement capability
Electrochemical test benches

Interdisciplinary links

Solid-state chemistry
Materials characterisation
Energy engineering

Expected outputs

Cathode composition studies
Structural reversibility datasets
Full-cell demonstrations

Student projects

Projects on polyanion cathode synthesis
Refinement and crystallography training

Solid-State Electrochemical Systems

Solid electrolytes address safety directly, but interfacial resistance and mechanical integrity currently limit cell-level benefit.

Research questions

What governs resistance growth at the electrode-electrolyte contact?
How can compatibility be maintained without sacrificing conductivity?
Which quasi-solid configurations offer a realistic intermediate step?

Methods

Oxide electrolytes
Sulfide electrolytes
Interfacial resistance analysis
Compatibility studies
Mechanical stability assessment

Infrastructure required

Controlled-atmosphere pressing
Impedance spectroscopy
Cross-sectional microscopy

Interdisciplinary links

Ceramics
Mechanics of materials
Electrochemistry

Expected outputs

Interface characterisation studies
Compatibility maps for candidate pairs

Student projects

Master's projects on interface preparation
Doctoral work on impedance modelling

Circular Battery Materials

A storage technology that cannot be sourced and recovered responsibly does not scale, whatever its laboratory performance.

Research questions

Can recovered active materials meet the electrochemical requirements of new cells?
Which biowaste precursors give reproducible, electrochemically useful carbon?
What processing burden is acceptable for a genuine sustainability gain?

Methods

Biomass-derived carbons
Battery recycling routes
Resource recovery
Reuse of recovered materials
Earth-abundant chemistry

Infrastructure required

Activation and pyrolysis facilities
Leaching and separation setup
Standard characterisation suite

Interdisciplinary links

Environmental engineering
Process chemistry
Materials science

Expected outputs

Precursor-to-performance datasets
Recovery-route evaluations
Life-cycle-aware material selection

Student projects

Projects on precursor screening
Recovery and reuse experiments

Engagement

Collaboration pathways

Open pathways for academic, industrial and institutional engagement — not existing partnerships.

Academic Collaboration

Shared scientific questions, characterisation access and co-authored studies.

Joint research proposals
Shared characterisation
Co-authored studies
Student projects
Interdisciplinary battery research

Industry R&D

Applied evaluation of materials and cell components against practical constraints.

Materials screening
Electrode development
Cell-component evaluation
Failure analysis
Technology validation

Faculty and Institutional Opportunities

Departments where this research programme and teaching portfolio would fit.

Materials Science
Mechanical Engineering
Energy Engineering
Metallurgical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Interdisciplinary energy programmes

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