Study level

  • PhD
  • Master of Philosophy
  • Honours
  • Vacation research experience scheme

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

School of Chemistry and Physics

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Centre for Materials Science

Supervisors

Professor Nunzio Motta
Position
Professor
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Science

Overview

Australia boasts rich wind and solar energy resources. To avoid fluctuations placing severe burden on the power grids, a reliable and efficient battery storage is required.

The present technology based on lithium-ion batteries suffers from high manufacturing cost, poor safety and short life-span.

A new kind of storage devices, metal-ion capacitors (MICs), are expected to overcome the storage and the charging speed of the traditional batteries in the near future, opening new avenues for renewable energy resources. The basic structure of MICs includes a supercapacitor (SC) cathode and a Metal (Li, Na, K)-ion battery (MIB) anode with metal-based organic electrolyte.

Research activities

The project involves film preparation by filtration methods, battery electrodes preparation on glass or polymers, microscopic studies by SEM, TEM and AFM, I-V and C-V measurements and data analysis.

Specific aims of the project:

  • innovate the composition of electrode materials
  • elucidate the electrochemical energy storage mechanism
  • realize aqueous electrolytes active in a wide range of temperatures (-30 to +50 ° C), developing pilot protocols for large-scale production.
  • Characterise the films by TEM, SEM and AFM.
  • Assemble the devices and measure the C/V and current discharge characteristics

Outcomes

The project will provide an advanced understanding of zinc-polymer batteries or hybrid supercapacitors, with a potential breakthrough in the creation of powerful and ultra-light energy storage devices for automotive and electronic applications

The student will work in a well-established, highly collaborative research group environment, using the most advanced instrumentation available at CARF, providing the opportunity for an effective and rich learning experience.

Skills and experience

Project is suitable for students in physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering.

This project is lab based and will require good laboratory skills and experience in chemistry and/or physics.

Programming skills are recommended.

Scholarships

You may be eligible to apply for a research scholarship.

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Keywords

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information.