Enabling next generation lithium batteries

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EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC

£34,023,885

Oct. 20, 2015

April 20, 2022

Energy storage is a great research challenge of our time: the rechargeable Li-ion battery (LiB) has transformed portable electronics; it is the technology of choice for electric and hybrid electric vehicles, and it has a key role to play in grid scale storage applications where it can facilitate more effective and greater use of renewable energy. However, today's consumer electronic Li-ion batteries cannot simply be scaled-up for electric vehicles or grid storage, and new generations of lithium-ion batteries are required that deliver enhanced combinations and improved balances of: cost (<£100/kWh), energy density (>300 Wh/kg), power density (> 2000 W/kg), safety (especially fire resistance), calendar life (> 10 yrs) and lifetime (> 3000 cycles). In the past, efforts to address these challenges have often been based on individual researchers or groups focused on science OR engineering. Our vision is that success requires basic research to tackle these hurdles, but one that employs an integrated programme across a range of science and engineering uniting materials chemists, materials modelling across lengths from the nano-scale to the device-scale, manufacturing engineers, skills in in-situ characterization techniques, in communication with supply chain companies and end-users. Our research spans step-changes in LiBs as well as more radical ideas and technologies beyond LiBs, such as the lithium-air battery.

We will

- Identify new classes of anode materials to overcome the disadvantages of poor safety and low power inherent to the graphitic anodes currently used in almost all commercial LIBs.
- Develop 3D polymer/ceramic interpenetrating networks as protective membranes for lithium metal electrodes, transforming the energy density of the anode.
- Develop novel polymer electrolytes and methods to process them, leading to the viable (and much safer) solid-state alternatives to flammable liquid electrolytes in lithium batteries.
- Identify and reduce sources of resistance in solid electrolyte-electrode interfaces
- Enable the use of higher voltage cathode materials via the use of solid-state electrolytes and coatings.
- Address the major hurdles facing the realisation of the game changing lithium-air battery by investigating new redox mediating molecules to reduce charging voltages and electrocatalysts to increase discharge voltages.
- Use innovative manufacturing methods to produce 3D and structured composite electrodes to achieve increased energy density, and higher rate performances and lifetime.
- Integrate the new materials and electrode structures into lab scale battery devices thus demonstrating the potential of our advances
- Engage with all stakeholders in lithium batteries in the UK and abroad - be an advocate for Li batteries, disseminate results.
-Train a new cohort of people with experience of working in a team spanning a wide range of science and engineering skills

Potential Impact:
Policy and societal impact
The Programme Grant activities will be publicised through social media, webpages and exploitation through our industrial partners, both present and future. We will exploit and expand out links with policy-makers e.g. through PGBs role on the Low Carbon Vehicle Steering Committee and the TSB Advisory Panel on Low Carbon Vehicles. Our research will impact through direct access to the networking, workshops and conferences (including open public meetigns) of the Energy Storage Research Network (headed by NPB and to be included in the new EPSRC Supergen Energy Storage Hub directled by PGB). The Programme Grant will play an important role in advocacy and feeding into the UK national roadmap in energy storage innovation e.g. through the Supergen Energy Storage Hub which will undertake a major roadmapping exercise with a clear focus on opportunities for lithium batteries. The roadmap the Supergen will initiate under PGB will inform policy makers, industry and the public, and help public understanding of lithium battery research and technology, including safety, sustainability, cost and performance. Strong engagement with the Programme's Advisory Board, which consists of key stakeholders from industry, will ensure that research priorities and key technology trends in industry are engaged to drive collaborative industry-academic R&D.

Ultimately, the wider and direct societal impact of our research will come through the translation of our ideas, insights and technologies into products used by society. The societal benefits of reduced emissions and greater efficiency in vehicles, and the enabling of deeper penetration of renewable energy generation in electricity grids of all scales, are well-known, and our work has the potential to accelerate, improve performance and reduce life cycle cost for the enabling energy storage technologies required. Over time, energy storage could improve the environment for many people, and play an important role in mitigating some of the more catastrophic scenarios that might arise from both intense local pollution and global climate change. Our reseach also has potential to impact on portable electonic devices, whcch are today a major and embedded part of our society.

Commercial and economic impact
We are committed to retaining the maximum commercial impact in the UK of the innovations developed in this Programme by recognising, protecting and exploiting the value of our basic research. Indeed, rather than pursuing novel chemistries and materials in isolation, manufacturing, and lab scale device testing and close links to UK-based exploiters in all parts of the supply chain are embedded in the Programme from the outset. We are resolved to retain manufacturing opportunities from our research in the UK, consistent with UK government aspirations to grow employment and revenues in high value markets, and a growing UK commercial presence in energy storage. Impact is not limited to LiBs, but may also enable breakthroughs in sister technologies such as Na ion batteries and supercapacitors, as well as more orthogonal areas such as fuel cells, catalysts and membrane/filter technologies. Exploitation of our research will be enhanced through the participation of key industry partners Sharp, JLR, Arup, AVL Powertrain, EDF Energy, Nokia, QinetiQ and Johnson Matthey who represent both potential end users and developers of next generation lithium batteries. We recognise that significant opportunities for IP generation exists, which we will pursue through patents and/or the translation of our work through researcher exchange with our industry partners.