Collaborative project between University of Cambridge and industry aims to use nanotechnology to improve lithium-ion batteries

Morgan AM&T has joined forces with a world-leading research team from the University of Cambridge, to guide a new collaborative research project that could lead to vast improvements in the capacity and safety of lithium-ion batteries, which are already widely used in consumer electronics and which are expected to power next-generation electric vehicles and large energy storage devices in the near future.

With funded assistance from the Technology Strategy Board the project will be led by Morgan AM&T, a UK-based company which specialises in the processing and applications of carbon, graphite and related materials. It builds upon the research of Cambridge University’s Professor Derek Fray and Dr Carsten Schwandt of the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, who have developed a unique method for making carbon nanotubes and carbon nanoparticles that can be used in lithium-ion batteries and other applications, at much lower cost and at faster than current methods.

In order to support the market expansion of lithium-ion batteries, several performance enhancements are required and it is believed that tin-filled carbon nanoparticles produced by Professor Fray’s new method could provide the solution.

In this project, Morgan AM&T will optimise the graphite for use in the process, while the Cambridge team will optimise the process as well as commission and install a scaled-up demonstrator reactor. Morgan AM&T will then validate the carbon nanomaterials for routine use in lithium-ion batteries and other applications.

“The difficulty in producing mass quantities of carbon nanotubes and other carbon nanomaterials has so far prevented their widespread adoption in many applications,” said Dr Margaret Wilkinson of Cambridge Enterprise, the University’s commercialisation group. “However, the method developed at Cambridge, coupled with Morgan AM&T’s materials expertise, could lead to real-world applications of nanotubes with positive environmental impacts.”

This project is one of 43 funded by the Technology Strategy Board in their Technology Inspired Collaborative Research and Development funding competition.