This project will investigate known and new conversion anode materials for lithium-ion battery applications. Our novel biotemplating methods will allow us to explore different chemistries and particle morphologies across the nano- and micron-level length scales as we seek to optimise electrochemical performance. Since biotemplated reactions occur more rapidly and at lower temperatures than current industry-standard materials fabrication approaches, the safe, sustainable routes we are developing will offer significant energy savings, while also being inherently transferable to other materials with different functional properties, and readily scalable to industrial levels.
We will fully characterise these materials to understand their electrochemical performance using new operando diffraction capabilities recently commissioned by the Henry Royce Institute in Sheffield. The project will therefore allow us to optimise properties via a full understanding of structure-morphology-function relations in conversion anode materials.
Nik Reeves-McLaren (NRM, PI) is a Research & Teaching Fellow in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) at the University of Sheffield (TUoS). His track record in research (32 publications, H-index 11) on oxide materials centres around lithium-ion batteries: novel anode development, Co-doped Mn3O4 ; 5-volt materials (LiCoMnO4) for high power / automotive applications; and characterisation of ionic conduction pathways in spinel-structured solid electrolytes. His current research portfolio includes groundbreaking work on tuning Li+-ion conductivity via anion-doping, e.g. N-doped Li3VO4, and using particle morphology control as a route to optimisation of electrochemical properties of sodium-ion battery cathode materials, for which he is co-investigator (with Rebecca Boston) on a £47k grant awarded in 2017 by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation International Consortium of Nanotechnologies (ICoN).
Dr Rebecca Boston (RB) is a Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow in MSE at TUoS. Her 5-year fellowship (£488k) on Nanostructured Oxides for Sustainable Energy Storage and Recovery began Dec 2016. An established early career researcher specialising in the use of biotemplating for control of structure-function relationships, RB has a multidisciplinary background: a degree in physics followed by a PhD (2014) in nanomaterials chemistry at the University of Bristol. RB has a focussed publication record, with 13 papers (H-index 5); recent highlights include an invited review in Chemistry of Materials, and a first-author Science paper investigating biotemplated nanowire growth mechanisms using in situ transmission electron microscopy. She is PI on a Lloyd’s Register Foundation ICoN grant (£47k) studying novel biotemplated syntheses of sodium-ion battery materials (with NRM). RB is part of the EPSRC Early Career Forum on Manufacturing, and is an active partner of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, including acting as a 100A1 Ambassador.
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