Themes of the conference
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Hour(s)
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Theme 1
Materials, Electrode and Battery Characterisation
Understanding the performance and degradation of battery materials requires complementary characterisation approaches that can separate out the complex changes that occur within different battery components and at the interfaces between them. This session will explore the development of new characterisation tools, as well as the adoption of techniques from other fields to better understand the origins of battery performance. This will include efforts to develop in situ/operando methods, software and simulation tools to interpret the data collected, and advanced electrochemical methods for extracting key material properties. Approaches for monitoring battery health will also be covered, including integrated sensor platforms and low-cost methods for the online detection of degradation processes.
Theme 2
Next Generation Chemistries and Technologies
A revolutionary paradigm is required to design next-generation batteries, delivering step changes in achieving low cost, high energy density, high power, long lifespan, and superior safety. Coordinated efforts in fundamental research and advanced engineering are needed to address the challenges that next-generation batteries are currently facing. The UK battery ecosystem is well placed to take a leading role in taking innovations to realise an array of applications of next-generation batteries. including but not limited to sodium-ion/potassium-ion, multivalent ion, solid state, lithium/sodium sulphur, and metal batteries. This session will cover recent advances in materials discovery, mechanistic understanding, cell component designs and performance development of these batteries.
Theme 3
Sustainability, Recycling and Re-use
A sustainable battery industry requires consideration of all parts of the life-cycle of the battery – from materials choice and sources, manufacturing routes, to pathways for recycling and reuse. This session will cover recent advances in our understanding of sustainability from life-cycle analyses, sustainable materials synthesis and manufacture (including design-for-recycle) as well as progress towards the separation, recovery and reuse of materials from end-of-life cells.
Theme 4
Modelling & Engineering
Computational modelling and data-driven methods play a pivotal role in overcoming energy storage challenges. This session will provide a timely discussion of the latest advances in both atomistic and continuum scale simulations and machine learning/AI approaches for improving battery performance. The underlying atomistic factors that determine the performance of battery materials and devices regarding ion transport, stability and interfaces will be assessed. The necessary advancements required in data-driven approaches to tackle the remaining challenges facing the design and development of batteries will also be presented.
Theme 5
Battery Safety
The future of battery technology is, of course, about durability, capacity and performance: but safety is also critical to the successful and sustained adoption of the technology. This session will provide a balanced overview of the risks and hazards of lithium-ion batteries, and methods and procedures that are being used or developed to ameliorate these risks. The session will also provide an insight into future battery technologies and the potential risks and hazards associated with these.
Theme 6
Industrialisation Challenges
If the nascent battery industry and its supply chain are to help meet net zero targets and the requirements of OEMs manufacturing capacity needs to be delivered over very tight time scales. Unanswered questions remain regarding technical readiness level, economics and capacity for scale up. Moreover, the UK could take a leading role in delivering a sustainable battery supply chain, however meeting this potential will require considerable research and engineering input. In this panel discussion, a range of industry perspectives will be explored on scale up and manufacturing challenges and the required interventions across the entire battery life cycle – using lithium as the example – from mining to recycling and remanufacture.
Theme 7
From Innovation to Market
For battery research to have a real world impact it needs researchers, leaders, business people and entrepreneurs who can put breakthroughs on a path to commercialisation. In this session invited speakers will discuss their inspirational journeys from research lab to successful spin out companies in the battery space. They will highlight the challenges they faced along the way, how they were overcome, their motivations and rewards, and the importance of the help they received.
