PhD Scholarship for an MBIE Endeavour Smart Ideas grant: Designing electrocatalytic electrodes to increase performance and lower the cost of redox flow batteries.
The chemistry student will be synthesising and characterising new materials for the manufacture of electrodes. The primary supervisor will be Dr Owen Curnow (School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury) in collaboration with Dr Aaron Marshall (Chemical and Process Engineering).
The three-year scholarship is valued at $30,000 per annum plus fees. The student needs be currently located in New Zealand or Australia.
A starting date of February 2022 is envisaged.
Contact Dr Owen Curnow at [Email Address Removed] by 20 December 2021.
The development of high-performance redox flow batteries will help support NZ’s transition to a low-carbon economy. In NZ, the Government has set the goal of having 100% renewable electricity by 2035 and to be carbon-free by 2050. To achieve this, the intermittent renewable energy from solar and wind must be efficiently stored. Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are ideal candidates for this as they can store large amounts of energy for long periods, and have the longest lifetime of all the battery technologies. However, while RFBs have many advantages, the capital cost of RFBs is currently too high for wide-spread use. The size and cost of RFBs can be decreased by catalysing the electrode reactions which occur in these batteries.
Ultimately, the catalytic electrodes we produce will lead to significant economic benefits via exporting these electrodes from NZ to international RFB manufacturers. The RFB market is growing very quickly and our catalytic electrodes have the potential to accelerate this growth further by making RFBs more competitive with other energy storage options. In addition to the economic benefits, less expensive RFBs will facilitate the further use and storage of renewable energy, and ultimately help NZ reach the Government’s goal of having 100% renewable electricity by 2035.
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