Achieving net zero requires affordable, sustainable, and scalable energy storage technologies. While lithium-ion (LIBs) batteries currently dominate the market, concerns around critical mineral supply, manufacturing costs, and sustainability are driving the search towards alternative battery chemistries.
In contrast, sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) rely on abundant and widely distributed sodium resources. However, their commercial competitiveness is currently constrained by hard carbon anodes, which limit both energy density and fast-charging performance.
This PhD project will develop a new generation of high-capacity sodium-ion battery anodes derived from waste plastic feedstocks. Building on recent breakthroughs and UK Patent Application No. 2400985.4, you will engineer novel tin-carbon (Sn-C) composite materials capable of significantly outperforming conventional hard carbon anodes.
The project will address one of the major challenges facing alloy-type battery materials: large volume changes during cycling that lead to performance degradation. By combining sustainable materials synthesis, interface engineering, advanced electrochemistry, and operando characterisation, the project aims to establish the design rules required for fast-charging, long-lasting sodium-ion batteries.
Research Objectives
The successful candidate will:
- Optimise reactor processes for scalable conversion of plastic waste into battery anodes.
- Design advanced battery interfaces through electrolyte, binder and additive engineering.
- Fabricate and evaluate high-performance electrodes capable of rapid charging.
- Translate promising systems towards pouch-cells.
