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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number EP/K016954/1
Title Electrochemical Energy Storage with Graphene-Enabled Materials
Status Completed
Energy Categories Other Power and Storage Technologies(Energy storage) 100%;
Research Types Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry) 50%;
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials) 25%;
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 25%;
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator Professor RAW Dryfe
No email address given
Chemistry
University of Manchester
Award Type Standard
Funding Source EPSRC
Start Date 01 February 2013
End Date 31 January 2019
Duration 72 months
Total Grant Value £2,190,025
Industrial Sectors Aerospace; Defence and Marine; Energy
Region North West
Programme Manufacturing : Manufacturing
 
Investigators Principal Investigator Professor RAW Dryfe , Chemistry, University of Manchester (99.997%)
  Other Investigator Dr IA Kinloch , Materials, University of Manchester (0.001%)
Professor A Forsyth , Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Manchester (0.001%)
Dr L Hardwick , Chemistry, University of Liverpool (0.001%)
  Industrial Collaborator Project Contact , QinetiQ Ltd (0.000%)
Project Contact , Johnson Matthey plc (0.000%)
Project Contact , Sharp Laboratories of Europe Ltd (0.000%)
Project Contact , Morgan Advanced Materials and Technology (0.000%)
Project Contact , Technical Fibre Products Ltd (0.000%)
Project Contact , Rolls-Royce PLC (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract Graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice. The exceptional physical properties of graphene have attracted enormous interest since its experimental isolation and initial characterisation in 2004, notably its intrinsically high surface area and its unique electronic properties, as manifested by through its high conductivity. Amongst the myriad applications foreseen for this material, exploitation in electrochemical energy storage with supercapacitors or batteries ranks as one of the most prominent.De-carbonising the national, and indeed global, energy supply is a goal driven by rising fossil fuel prices and concerns over air pollution and anthropogenic climate change. For such de-carbonisation to make greater use of "renewable" energy sources requires new methods of storing and converting that energy. This general background, along with the widespread increase in usage of personal electronic apparatus (mobile phones, lap-tops) has driven an enormous renewal of interest and development of electrochemical (battery and supercapacitor based) energy storage, which is the technological motivation for this project. Ironically, such (potentially) de-carbonised energy stores are highly dependent on carbon as a constituent storage material. Supercapacitors are based on the storage of electrical energy within the electrical double-layer formed at high surface area electrodes, whereas certain types of battery are dependent on carbon, either as one of the electrodes or as a conducting additive used to complete the circuit to the electrodes.There are considerable challenges to be addressed en route to incorporating graphene into these energy storage devices however: two specific problems, apparent in much of the vast body of recent work on graphene and energy storage, are: (a) the "graphene" is generally of poor quality and variable dimensions, and (b) frequently only minimal effort is made to control the architecture of the graphene in the resultant device. Consequently, we are still some way off the routine incorporation of graphene within battery and supercapacitor electrodes, as either composites for immobilisation or conductivity, or as primary electrode materials. The goal of this proposal is to remedy these deficiencies by iteratively designing, manufacturing and testing graphene-based batteries and supercapacitors
Publications (none)
Final Report (none)
Added to Database 13/03/13