Dr Chun Ann Huang, Senior Lecturer in Energy Storage Materials at Imperial College London, has been awarded a grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to continue her work here at Research Complex, on optimising energy storage materials in order to improve battery efficiency.
This starting grant will enable Dr Huang to investigate energy materials, advanced manufacturing technologies and advanced characterisation for electrochemical devices such as batteries.
We highlighted Dr Huang's research earlier this year on National Battery Day and the critical need to improve the efficiency, capability and cycle life of electrochemical devices including Li ion batteries (LIBs) and solid-state batteries (SSBs), as we strive towards a net zero world. The research being conducted at Research Complex includes using our electron microscopy facilities to investigate the nanostructure of the materials, whilst using the synchrotron facilities at Diamond Light Source to investigate the 3D morphology changes of the materials.
In addition to the funding provided by the STFC-Diamond Light Source Doctoral Programme and the Faraday Institution, the ERC grant will be used to build a team of postdoctoral research associates, synthesise new battery materials and develop advanced manufacturing technologies to make ordered structures ' (Three Imperial academics with ERC Starting Grants to pursue 'ambitious ideas', Imperial College London, 23rd November 2022).
Dr Huang says:
As an early career academic, the Research Complex has generously given me a lot of support so I can conduct the research I am passionate about. I love the fact that I can walk down the corridor at the Research Complex and being inspired by experts in wide fields from catalysis to biosensing, from additive manufacturing to multiscale imaging of structures within whole organs.
Image © Research Complex at Harwell. Photographer: David Fisher (Fisher Studios)