Materials boost for energy storage

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has today announced a £6.65 million grant for research aimed at accelerating the discovery and application of new advanced materials for the energy sector.

Commenting on the announcement, newly-appointed minister for universities Jo Johnson said: ”Advanced materials will be crucial for future energy storage technologies like smaller, longer-lasting batteries and more efficient solar panels.

We will combine computation and experiment to discover new materials

Professor Matthew Rosseinsky

“With this £6.65 million investment from government, researchers will be able to develop a smarter design process from the single atom all the way up to new materials that will speed up discovery and strengthen commercial capabilities in this increasingly important field.”

The grant - which has been awarded to a team led by Matthew Rosseinsky, a professor at the University of Liverpool - will be used to support the Integration of Computation and Experiment for Accelerated Materials Discovery research programme, the EPSRC said.

Rosseinsky’s team will work to tackle the challenge of designing and testing new materials at the atomic level, with the aim of keeping the UK ahead in the global materials competition.

“The controlled arrangement of atoms and molecules to create function is a grand scientific challenge. With the approaches we will develop, we aim to address problems such as how to create materials for sustainable energy production and storage such as safer new battery technologies or the efficient capture and utilisation of solar energy,” Rosseinsky said.

“Our team will include specialists in prediction of the structures and properties of materials, in measurement and materials synthesis. We will combine computation and experiment to discover new materials, developing methods that combine calculation with chemical understanding,” he added.

According to the EPSRC, the research programme will exploit its discoveries and share its approach with its commercial partners via the virtual Knowledge Centre for Materials Chemistry and the new Materials Innovation Factory, a materials research facility for both academic and industrial users.