or
Looking to list your PhD opportunities? Log in here.
We have a vacancy for a PhD student working in the area of physical chemistry.
While lithium dominates current battery technology, there is considerable drive to move away from lithium salts to more abundant or lower cost alternatives. Alternatives such as zinc and sodium have been proposed, which are low cost, abundant and non-toxic. Previously these alternatives were not so strongly pursued due to their poor performance when compared to lithium, but recent work utilising aqueous electrolytes (so-called “water-in-salt electrolytes” or WiSEs) has rejuvenated interest in these alternative materials. WiSEs have performance that can approach that of conventional lithium-ion batteries, raising the possibility of safer, more environmentally friendly batteries that maintain a high energy density. However, the origin of this high performance is hotly disputed. This project will therefore use state-of-the-art neutron scattering methods and atomic force microscopy to understand the structure and behaviour of these new battery electrolyte materials, both under static conditions and under applied potential. This information will be used to help design the next generation of green battery electrolytes.
There will be opportunities to write proposals for instrument time at large scattering facilities (Diamond, ISIS etc.) and to take part in experiments that will contribute directly or indirectly to the PhD project.
Informal enquiries are welcome: please contact Dr James Hallett (j.e.hallett@reading.ac.uk) directly and include a CV.
The university will respond to you directly. You will have a FindAPhD account to view your sent enquiries and receive email alerts with new PhD opportunities and guidance to help you choose the right programme.
Log in to save time sending your enquiry and view previously sent enquiries
The information you submit to University of Reading will only be used by them or their data partners to deal with your enquiry, according to their privacy notice. For more information on how we use and store your data, please read our privacy statement.
Based on your current searches we recommend the following search filters.
Check out our other PhDs in Reading, United Kingdom
Start a New search with our database of over 4,000 PhDs
Based on your current search criteria we thought you might be interested in these.
Sustainable active materials for next-generation lithium-free batteries PhD
Cranfield University
PhD Studentship in “Constraining the cosmological model with next generation large-scale structure surveys”
University of Sussex
PhD in Chemistry: Sustainable Catalysis Using Non-Metals
Cardiff University