LONDON’S GLOBAL UNIVERSITY

The STFC Global Challenge Network in Batteries & Electrochemical Energy Devices Introduction

Membership of the Network is open Events to all stakeholders with an interest in the application of large-scale The Network supports a range of events, The STFC Global Challenge Network facilities – access to associated which are free to all to attend including: in Batteries and Electrochemical funding is reviewed by the Energy Devices, brings together • Annual scientifi c meetings Network’s steering committee. leading researchers in industry and • Annual early-career researchers’ meetings academia with a shared interest in • Industry workshops the application of large-scale user The objectives of the Network are: facilities, to address key challenges • Early-career training workshops and summer schools in battery science and technology. 1. Bringing together an international community of researchers from • Technique development workshops industry, academia and national • Fieldtrips to synchrotron laboratories. and neutron sources 2. Seeding lasting collaborations which will lead to cutting edge science. 3. Establishing cross-technique linking between diff erent users of large-scale facilities. 4. Standardising new techniques (especially for applications to electrochemical devices). 5. Establishing and disseminating best-practice methodologies. 6. Ensuring best use of large- scale facilities resources and complementary science. 7. Providing advice and feedback to inform future infrastructure investment. 8. Promote the engagement of Large scale user facilities play a pivotal industry with large scale facilities. role in the development of new and improved electrochemical energy devices including batteries and fuel cells. The Network will promote collaboration between world-class users and developers of large-scale research facilities and provide a forum to draw together researchers from a range of disciplines. Network members are encouraged to share latest technique Contact www.stfcbatteries.org developments and help disseminate cutting- edge research ahead of publication. This is Prof Paul Shearing Dr Rema Abdulaziz achieved through targeted network events. [email protected] [email protected]

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Hosted at The Cosener’s House, Abingdon, the two-day Early Career Researchers’ Meeting continues to Aimed at fi rst time users, the workshop provide an opportunity for those in the was held at the Faraday Institution early stages of their research career, at Harwell and included talks on PhDs and Post-Docs, to present best practice in application writing, and discuss their work in a relaxing preparing for beam time, Synchrotron environment and creating links and and Neutron source capabilities, collaborations. The meeting also and the research that can be done in included four senior keynote speakers batteries and electrochemical devices. presenting their recent research in the fi elds of batteries, fuel cells and other The workshop included tours of both facilities: Diamond Light Source and electrochemical applications; as well as ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. an Industry Speed Dating afternoon.

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Experimental Design Awards 10 experimental design awards The Network provides funding were funded in Phase 2, enabling to individuals and organisations the development of new research to promote its scientifi c goals, capability in the UK, including: these include: • Dr Oliver Pecher (): • The STFC Early Career Award – who, alongside beam line I11 staff , has to enable mobility of students developed a new high-temperature XRD and early career researchers cell for long duration battery experiments • The STFC Experimental Design which is yielding insight into the Award – to enable researchers degradation of Li- battery materials, to develop new methodology leveraging Diamond’s unique Long and concepts Duration Experiments beamline. • Bursaries to support student • Dr Julia Parker (Diamond): who is places at training events developing a novel electrochemical cell (see Figure) for incorporation • Flexible funds to support into the I14 beamline for a range of workshops, conferences electrochemical studies. and meetings The following pages provide • Dr Paddy Cullen (UCL/ISIS): who some examples of activities that has developed an in-situ environment the Network has supported. for battery studies using neutron scattering and diff raction, which will be made available to the wider neutron user community.

Figure: New hardware developed through the Network’s Experimental Design scheme is enhancing UK research capability.

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We have since received funding from NASA to further explore the relationship STFC Experimental Design Award between internal dynamics and external risks for Li ion batteries. Case Study: Identifying the risks of Li ion battery failure Dr Donal Finegan – National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) The funding has led to the following publications: 1. Finegan, Donal P., et al. “Modelling and experiments to identify high-risk failure scenarios for testing the safety This project aimed to link internal of lithium-ion cells.” Journal of Power phenomena that occur during Sources 417 (2019): 29-41. catastrophic failure of Li ion batteries with external risks. The project 2. Finegan, Donal P., et al. “Identifying the involved design of in-situ containment Cause of Rupture of Li-Ion Batteries vessels that facilitated simultaneous during Thermal Runaway.” Advanced X-ray imaging, thermal imaging, and Science5.1 (2018): 1700369. heat measurements, from commercial Li ion batteries as they undergo 3. Finegan, Donal P., et al. “Tracking Internal thermal runaway. The containment Temperature and Structural Dynamics vessels were constructed using the during Nail Penetration of Lithium-Ion STFC design award and have been Cells.” Journal of The Electrochemical utilized at the ESRF and Diamond Society 164.13 (2017): A3285-A3291. Light Source for experiments that have since significantly advanced our understanding of the mechanisms that lead to failure of Li ion cells.

This work attracted the attention of NASA and the US DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), where I now work.

The award directly contributed to improving my post-PhD career opportunities, continuing my research pursuits at NREL, and for bringing international recognition to the advanced X-ray diagnostic capabilities of the ESRF and Diamond Light Source.

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STFC Experimental Design Award STFC Experimental Design Award Case Study: In-situ electrochemical XPS Case Study: Design of an electrochemical cell for in-situ spectroscopy Dr Alex Walton – Dr Rosa Arrigo – University of Salford

This funding allowed me to develop a of the biggest challenges in carbon dioxide new methodology to study the / reduction. Through this work, it was possible electrolyte interface in XPS. This would to clarify that Fe(II) sites coordinated to allow operando XPS of electrochemical N-functionalities on the carbon support are systems (battery electrolytes amongst responsible for the C-C coupling. Moreover, others), but is highly technically it was possible to identify that the structural challenging. transformation of FeOOH species into metallic Fe leads to the parasitic hydrogen The development was done using our lab- evolution reaction. This is a major scientifi c source NAP-XPS instrument in Manchester breakthrough, which was published recently but with a view to rolling out the same (R. Arrigo, Nature Communication 2018), methodology at Diamond (B07 beamline). and the research is still ongoing and other This rollout is still ongoing. publications are in preparation. The proof-of-concept paper and follow- This award enabled me to engage with on funding resulting from this award has the wider UK scientifi c community to raised my profi le, led to a number of new study in-situ electro-catalytic processes, collaborations and to receiving an EPSRC specifi cally with the following institutions: New Investigator Award EP/S004335/1. a) UCL to study ORR over Pt based The funding has led to the following The aim of the project was the ; publication: development of an in-situ electrochemical cell for investigating electro-catalytic b) and Cardiff and the Booth, S. G., et al. “The off set droplet: a processes by means of synchrotron MAXNet to study the OER over IrOx; new methodology for studying the solid/ based hard X-ray absorption water interface using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at the synchrotron c) to study single spectroscopy.” Journal of Physics: facility DLS. metal sites graphene-based electrode Condensed Matter 29.45 (2017): 454001. for HER and NH3 synthesis. Using this in-situ cell, I was able to gain new The funding has led to the following insights into the electro-catalytic reduction publication: of carbon dioxide over FeOOH supported on C electro-catalysts. Genovese, Chiara, et al. “Operando spectroscopy study of the carbon dioxide In a previous study, I found that the reactivity electro-reduction by iron species on of Fe oxides can be tuned by the interaction nitrogen-doped carbon.” Nature with the carbon support such that it communications 9.1 (2018): 935. catalyses the C-C coupling, which is one

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Early Career Awards The awards programme was established to promote researcher mobility, and to STFC Early Career Travel Award strengthen ties between UK universities and Case Study: Implications of structural inhomogeneities and manufacturing facilities and their international counterparts. defects in carbon fiber-based papers and felts used in energy conversion and storage electrochemical devices For example: Dr Pablo Angel Garcia-Salaberri – University Carlos III of Madrid • Quentin Meyer (UCL), was able to fund • Simon Engelke (University of Cambridge) himself and three colleagues to travel and was able to travel to Japan to meet stay at the Swiss Light Source, which with industry leaders to investigate how resulted in three publications in peer- the techniques he has developed at reviewed journals. The funds allowed him Cambridge for synthesising hierarchical This project is designed to strengthen and a small team to study the effect of electrodes for Li-ion and Li-air batteries a nascent collaboration between the water on an open fuel cell using could be scaled up in an industry setting, two groups in the UK and Spain (and, in neutron imaging. and he has forged links with a Japanese particular, between Dr. García-Salaberri battery research company where he will and Dr. Jervis who are at an early stage •  (Cardiff Pablo Aparicio Sanchez be undertaking an internship. in their independent research careers), University) was funded to spend time with with a view to providing proof of concept an experimental group in Singapore to test • Weixin Song (Imperial College) used data for a larger ERC proposal in the his theoretical calculations on new active the award to fund his travel to other future. Improving the fundamental materials for alkali-metal ion batteries institutes for experimental and analytical research into the imaging and modelling experimentally, using facilities that would work necessary for understanding and of electrochemical devices is vital to otherwise be unavailable to him. improving the performance of graphene the UK’s future as a green economy, in Li-ion batteries which resulted in • (UCL) was able to travel particularly improving grid-scale storage Ian Johnson two publications. and spend one month at the University solutions that will allow the expansion of Illinois, where he tested materials of widely available but intermittent wind developed at UCL on Mg-ion batteries power in the UK. The combination of used at Illinois. leading computational modelling and expertise in imaging of electrochemical systems at UCL will further our understanding of the operation of these devices on the microscale and accelerate their commercial uptake. The funding allowed me to spend time at the Electrochemical Innovation Lab at UCL and to establish a working relationship with them, resulting in several papers and a potential research project application.

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STFC Early Career Travel Award Case Study: Unlocking Value of V2G Through SOH Prognostics Dr Kotub Uddin – Ovo Energy

The funds were used to travel to Singapore for planned meetings at NTU’s Energy Research Institute. We collected commercial battery degradation data which we used to develop an LSTM numeral network model for Lithium ion Battery SOH prognostics. We are still working on developing some parts of the model, because we want to assess the models learning capability. Our experience collaborating with NTU was positive. We are currently exploring: 1. Mechanisms of providing funding for UK based research in – currently in discussions with a UK HE Institution; 2. Opportunities to invest in new energy storage technologies worldwide.

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