Unlocking higher energy batteries with quasi-solid materials

Supervisory Team: Nuria Garcia-Araez and Andrew Hector

Reliable batteries, surpassing the energy storage capacity of the state of the art, are needed for critical applications such as communications systems for national security. This project aims to make them a reality by combining solid and liquid/gel materials to form quasi-solid materials with versatile chemistry and mechanical robustness. 

State-of-the-art batteries employed in laptops and electric vehicles do not deliver all the energy that they can potentially store, since they are operated under a restricted voltage window to prevent their degradation. However, clever engineering of quasi-solid materials allows staggering different materials to enable a greater compatibility with the battery’s cathode and anode, thus bypassing degradation. Furthermore, the incorporation of quasi-solid materials also allows replacing the graphite anode, used in nearly all batteries, by a much more energy dense lithium metal anode, and it overcomes the safety issues involved in using instead a liquid counterpart.

This project will employ the most energy dense battery cathodes currently available in the market, and they will be combined with protective layers of quasi-solid materials and a thin lithium metal anode to produce a battery with unprecedented high energy. These discoveries will have applications in, among others, strategic communication and internet of things systems. The selection of materials will be guided by the expertise in Garcia-Araez’s group on designing seamless interfaces with negligible resistance [ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022, 14, 1, 633–646], and by the critical knowledge of battery experts from HMGCC [https://www.hmgcc.gov.uk/] on the best-in-class battery options and application requirements. The project will culminate with a practical demonstration of the new battery by building a commercial prototype at the HMGCC manufacturing facilities. 

The project will benefit from the long-standing tradition of the Southampton Electrochemistry Group in teaching electrochemistry and battery development, which materializes in a variety of taught and practical courses that span from the fundamentals to applications. In addition, the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering offers a variety of training courses on the fundamentals and applications of the state-of-the-art facilities available within the school (NMR, XRD, mass spectrometry, etc.). Through the collaboration with the Faraday Institution, the project will also benefit from excellent bespoke training on battery development, and the University of Southampton also offers a wide variety of professional development opportunities and resources for career development.

Entry Requirements

A very good undergraduate degree (at least a UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent) in chemistry or allied subjects/relevant disciplines.

Closing date: 20 June 2025. Applications will be considered in the order that they are received, the position will be considered filled when a suitable candidate has been identified.

Funding: Funding is available for a 3.5 year studentship covering tuition fees and stipend (with values of £5,006 and £20,780, respectively for 2025/26, and increasing each year) and a tax-free stipend enhancement of £2,500 per year. The studentship also includes a budget of £7,000 per year to cover the research and travelling expenses of the student. 

How To Apply

Apply online: Search for a Postgraduate Programme of Study (soton.ac.uk) Select programme type (Research), 2025/26, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, next page select “PhD Chemistry. (Full time)”. In Section 2 of the application form you should insert the name of the supervisor Prof. Nuria Garcia-Araez

Applications should include:

Curriculum Vitae

Two reference letters

Degree Transcripts/Certificates to date

For further information please contact: [email protected]