Siân Dutton and Andrew Morris will both be supervising NanoDTC students to work on mini-projects related to battery cell development
Dr Siân Dutton will be working with a NanoDTC student to evaluate candidate electrode materials for Na and Mg-ion batteries. These alternatives to Li-ion batteries use earth abundant elements (particularly Na) and have different chemical properties. This experimental project will be co-supervised by Professor Clare Grey in the Department of Chemistry. Professor Grey’s group studies the nature of solid state materials and explores their use in supercapacitors, batteries and fuel cells.
Dr Andrew Morris is also looking for novel battery materials, but from a theoretical viewpoint, using first-principles quantum mechanical methods. His NanoDTC student will use the Ab Initio Random Structure Searching (AIRSS) technique, which Andrew has being developing, to predict the structures of solids that could be candidates for battery applications. This project will also be jointly supervised by Professor Clare Grey.
Mini-projects are part of the NanoDTC activities for first year students. These 8-week projects are designed to be short projects for students to engage in novel research. For further details about the NanoDTC and its activities, visit their website - http://www.nanodtc.cam.ac.uk