About the Project

Research Studentship in Advanced Battery Materials

3.5-year D.Phil. studentship

Project: High energy density, low-cost, iron-based battery cathodes

Supervisors: Prof Robert House, Prof Peter Nellist

Li-rich disordered cathodes offer a promising route towards Li-ion batteries with improved energy and power density. Local ordering can improve the Li+ diffusion network, leading to significant improvements in fast charge/discharge performance, but little is known about how to control it.

Electron diffraction and electron imaging are two of the few tools sensitive to the local structure; the unique cation configurations that constitute SRO give rise to characteristic diffusion scattering patterns and the differences in atomic number can be directly imaged.

This project seeks to understand how to manipulate local ordering using targeted synthesis, processing methods, advanced electron microscopy and other characterisation tools. Ultimately, we will relate these materials properties to the electrochemical performance of these materials as fast charging, high energy density cathode for Li-ion batteries.