CATMAT

NEXT GENERATION LITHIUM ION CATHODE MATERIALS

Overview

The Faraday Institution’s CATMAT project on ‘Next Generation Lithium-Ion Cathode Materials’ is led by the Universities of Oxford and Bath, with six other universities and twelve industry partners. The biggest performance gains in the near-term optimisation of lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles are likely to arise from changing the chemistry of the cathode.

The overall aims of the CATMAT project are:

To understand the fundamental mechanisms acting within cathodes that currently prevent the use of nickel-rich cathode materials (with low/ no cobalt) and lithium-rich cathodes.
To exploit this new knowledge to aid the discovery of novel cathode materials with enhanced properties.
To scale up the synthesis of the most promising new materials and assimilate them fully into battery cells to demonstrate performance.

CATMAT is led by Professor Saiful Islam of the University of Oxford. Other academic partners are the University of Bath, University of Birmingham, University of Cambridge, University of Liverpool, University College London and Diamond Light Source.

Recent Highlights

Robert A. House, Gregory J. Rees, Kit McColl, John-Joseph Marie, Benjamin J. Morgan, M. Saiful Islam, Peter G. Bruce et al. Delocalized electron holes on oxygen in a battery cathode. Nature Energy (2023) [Journal Link]

Kit McColl, Robert A. House, Gregory J. Rees, Samuel W. Coles, Peter G. Bruce, Benjamin J. Morgan, M. Saiful Islam et al. Transition metal migration and O2 formation underpin voltage hysteresis in oxygen-redox disordered rocksalt cathodes. Nature communications (2022) [Journal Link]

Weixin Song, Miguel A. Perez-Osorio, Robert A. House, Peter G. Bruce, Peter D. Nellist et al. Direct imaging of oxygen shifts associated with the oxygen redox of Li-rich layered oxides. Joule (2022) [Journal Link]

Recent Awards

We’re very excited to see Rob House recognised as a top scientist and innovator in #forbes30under30. Congratulation, Rob! Read more here! (link)

Congratulations to Professor Saiful Islam who became 2022 The Hughes Medal Winner. The Hughes Medal 2022 was given to Saiful for outstanding contributions to the deeper understanding of atomistic processes in new materials for use in energy applications, especially those related to lithium batteries and perovskite solar cells [Link] [Link]

Congratulations to Professor Sir Peter Bruce who became 2022 Longstaff Prize Winner. The Longstaff Prize is given to an RSC member who has done the most to advance the science of chemistry (link)

Congratulations to Professor Dame Clare Grey and Professor Sir Peter Bruce to be honoured by the Queen’s Birthday Honours which mark the extraordinary contributions and service of people across the UK (link)