The ALLIANCE-SSLIB project endeavours to pioneer innovative solid electrolyte materials tailored for the advancement of next-generation all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries will continue to play a vital role to promote the widespread use of electric vehicles and portable electronic devices and are contributing towards the UK’s 2035 net zero electricity target, of which, all-solid-state LIBs with solid electrolyte are expected to provide better safety and improved power and energy performance.
The innovation output of ALLIANCE (All-solid-state lithium-ion batteries with cellulose enhanced solid polymer electrolytes) will contribute to the battery research community with new insight into mechanistic studies and material synthesis and help secure the long-term growth of the UK’s EV and energy storage industry.
Through this project (June-November 2024), we aim to forge a robust research network focusing on exploration of cutting-edge battery materials across the GW4 universities; establish a foundation leading to external funding applications and high-quality collaborative publication; create opportunities for local industry partners, early career researchers, and PhD students to exchange knowledge and share experience.
Supported by GW4 Generator fund, this project brings together experienced researchers with expertise in battery technology from University of Exeter, University of Bristol, Cardiff University, University of Bath and 6 industry partners.
🎖️In the '2025 GW4 Generator Showcase and Launch Event', as one of the concluding projects, we shared some of the exciting updates and outcomes from our battery research community. I was also honored to be part of a panel discussion on project management—sharing our experiences and lessons learned with the next wave of researchers and collaborators. See news for details.
🔋 The last ALLIANCE consortium meeting occured at University of Bristol, on Monday 25th November 2024. Thanks to Prof. Steve Eichhorn for hosting the meeting.
In the morning, we had a workshop on potential grants, aiming to achieve a common research topic and idea for target bid. We are excited to see new members in our community, marking a key milestone for our project. We hope to achieve success in the upcoming grant applications and look forward to the opportunities ahead.
In the afternoon, we had three wonderful seminars from external speakers. The insightful psentation topics are:
Professor Magda Titirici, Imperial College London, Sodium ion batteries with hard carbon anode
Professor David Fermin, University of Bristol, Complex trasition metal oxides for electrochemical energy storage
Dr Jenny Baker, Unviersity of Bath, NASICON ceramic solid electrolyte and other functional coatings
📢 We are going to have our third consortium meeting in Bristol on 25th November, 2024. Thanks Prof. Steve Eichhorn for organising. The location is G.12 Fry Building.
The following seminars are planned in the afternoon, welcome to join us. The speakers and agenda are:
2-3pm Professor Magda Titirici, Imperial College London (Title:TBC)
3-3.30 Professor David Fermin, University of Bristol (Title: TBC)
3.30-4 Dr Jenny Baker, Unviersity of Bath (Title: TBC)
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⚛️ GW4 ALLIANCE Seminars in Bath
As invited by Andy and Frank, Prof. Emile Greenhalgh (Imperial College London) and Dr Natasha Shirshova (Durham University) will be visiting University of Bath and giving talks on Constituents for structural supercapacitors as part of their work on structural power composites – structures (typically based on carbon fibres and aerogels) that are able to carry mechanical loads whilst also acting as an energy store.
More information for the speakers:
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/structural-power-composites/
https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/natasha-shirshova/
The talks will be from 11:15 to 13:05 in Chancellors Building 3.5 on Friday 22nd November but also online via the link below. All are welcome to join!
Microsoft Teams
Meeting ID: 347 095 072 049
Passcode: xqVtMw
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🔋 Battery Research Workshop Sparks Collaboration and Innovation at University of Exeter
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📢 We are organizing a one-day workshop on Battery Research, to be held on October 30th, 2024, at the Penryn Campus, University of Exeter, Cornwall. This workshop is designed to foster collaboration and drive innovation in battery technologies and related fields. Welcome to join us in-person or online. Looking forward to a productive session and to seeing you there! More information please see News!
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🔋 The second ALLIANCE consortium meeting occured at Cardiff University, on Friday 13th June 2024, at School of Chemistry, 1.40 Beverton Lecture theatre. Thanks to Dr Stefano Leoni and Dr Bo Hou for their hosting.
In this meeting, we updated our project progress with GW4 Building Communities Manager. Each university presented their recent research work related to the research in batteries, cellulose materials, carbon electrode materials, polymer and membrane technologies. We discussed about the community progress tracking, potential funding bids, upcoming seminars/webinars and the plan for penryn workshop, which is coming soon.
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☎️ We had the September online meeting on 3rd Sep. We discussed about the agenda of the Cardiff meeting, which will be held in Cardiff University on 13th of Sep.
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🔋 The first ALLIANCE consortium meeting occured at University of Bath, on Tuesday 18th June 2024. The start of award call from the GW4 team was made about the project timeline and arrangement. Each of our academic partners shared their expertise of research. After sufficient discussion, we found the common research interest and potential collaboration areas. We decided the schedule and plan for the following events. We also discussed how to collaborate with our industry partners. For more information please see our news.
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📅 The Great Western Electrochemistry happened at University of Bath, on Monday 17th June 2024. Presentations and posters from universities and industries of the region were conducted, which promoted the collaborations and communications of the research in electrochemistry. Thanks to Prof. Frank Marken. For more information please see our news.
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☎️ We had the first online meeting on 3rd of June. We discussed about the first in person meeting agenda, which will be held in University of Bath on 18th of June. The logo for our project has been made.
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📚 The Generator Fund Showcase and Launch event happened on the 22nd May at Watershed in Bristol. We introduced our project targets and plans.
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🏆 Great news: the ALLIANCE project is awarded. 1st April, 2024.
In June, August, and November 2024 there will be three internal meetings held in Bath (18th June), Cardiff (13th September) and Bristol (25th November), respectively. These meetings aim to exchange experience and ideas, for the longer-term collaboration and possibilities of external funding application.
On 30th October 2024 there will be a workshop about battery research held in Cornwall campus of Exeter University, which is open to wider research community across the UK. External speakers, industry partners will be invited to present and exchange ideas.
Online internal meetings happen every early month among the core team members for brief progress talking.
From September to November 2024 there will be 9 seminars (about batteries) held online or in-person, which is open to all.