Modelling Battery Behaviour During Periods of Disuse

About the Project

This project offers an opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge modelling research with real-world impact on battery safety, sustainability, and environmental protection.

Eligibility: Open to applicants with UK home fee status only

Are you interested in sustainability and the impact of materials on human health and the environment? Would you like to help develop safer, more sustainable batteries by improving predictive models of their behaviour? This PhD opportunity in the Energy Materials Group at the University of Birmingham offers the chance to contribute to research supporting the transition to a low-carbon future.

Batteries are essential for energy storage and electrification, but they pose safety risks. Under certain conditions, batteries can undergo thermal runaway, leading to fires, toxic emissions, or explosions. Accurately predicting battery lifetime, performance, and failure remains a significant challenge. In particular, current models do not adequately capture what happens when a battery is left unused for extended periods.

Periods of disuse occur throughout a battery’s life, including during storage, distribution, and after deployment in devices. At end-of-life, batteries may remain idle for long periods before recycling or disposal. Understanding how disuse affects internal chemical and physical processes is critical to predicting safety risks and environmental impacts.

This project focuses on advancing the Faraday Institution’s Multiscale Modelling framework, specifically the PyBaMM (Python Battery Mathematical Modelling) tool. You will develop models to describe battery behaviour during inactivity, improving predictions of degradation and failure. The work will contribute to industry-relevant ageing models and support safer battery management.

The project also has a strong environmental dimension. In collaboration with the Faraday Institution’s SafeBATT project, this research will help assess the risks associated with abandoned batteries, including the likelihood of combustion and the nature of emissions from battery fires. The outcomes will inform waste management strategies and policy decisions.

The project will be supervised by Dr Jacqueline S. Edge (Univ. Birmingham) and Dr Ferran Brosa-Planella (Univ. Warick).

Candidate profile

This PhD is suitable for (but not limited to) applicants with a background in:

• Theoretical chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Materials Science

The following experience is desirable but not essential:

• Mathematical or computational modelling
• Programming (e.g. Python)

You do not need prior experience in battery research, as training will be provided.