Dr Zhao is a Senior Research Scientist at NPL and is also a Lecturer in Energy Storage and Bioelectronics at Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute (ATI).
This award will now allow Dr Zhao and his team to undertake research into state-of-the-art batteries that use LiCO2 electrochemical technology. Crucially, the research will look to achieve a breakthrough in efficient CO2 fixation to store energy.
The work, which is also supported by industry partners, will catapult the UK as a leader in portable energy storage, giving rise to many new innovations and intellectual property.
Dr Yunlong Zhao said: “The move to carbon neutral forms of energy supplies is critical to the long-term health of our planet and we are hopeful that our new ambitious project will help to address this need. This project will look at fundamental studies of electrochemical mechanisms through a multimodal in situ characterisation platform developed in collaboration with NPL.”
Professor. Fernando Castro, Head of Science, Electromagnetic & Electrochemical Technologies, NPL, said: “The UK Government has committed to reducing the UK's greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. This project is well aligned to the national strategy in clean energy and sustainability. Technologies based on this unique Li-CO2 battery and on-chip multimodal measurement platform have significant potential to be taken up by UK SMEs and industries.”
Professor Ravi Silva, Director of ATI at the University of Surrey, said: “At the University of Surrey, we are not afraid of thinking outside of the box and thinking “big” – because big ideas are often required to tackle grand challenges. We are confident that this incredibly exciting, multidisciplinary project will lead to the much-fabled fundamental shift in battery technology.”
05 Aug 2020