Industry Sprints
Industry Sprints dedicate small teams of researchers to address commercially relevant research opportunities identified within a research programme and prioritised by an industrial partner. Projects are limited to a duration of 6–12 months and must have a named PDRA in place to start in October 2026. Researchers will work closely with industrial partners throughout the Sprint, meeting frequently to review progress, refine plans and maintain momentum towards targeted outcomes.
The goals of Industry Sprints are to accelerate research to validation stage; enable transfer of knowledge to UK industry; support spin-out formation; attract commercial investment; and drive industrial adoption.
They address UK industry challenges through fast-paced, targeted solutions, while giving early career researchers an opportunity to lead focused teams across multiple institutions and connect with leaders from industry and academia.
Lithium and black mass recovery advancing technology for electrification
The University of Birmingham and Recyclus Group are targeting the development of low cost approaches for lithium iron phosphate battery recycling that could deliver saleable lithium salts.
Scaling up and commercialisation of dry electrode manufacturing
Imperial College London is working with Emerson & Renwick to build a scalable, continuous, roll-to-roll dry coater for making layered electrodes.
Formation optimisation with acoustic emission for real-time diagnostics
UCL with industry partner UKBIC, will evaluate AcouBatt’s acoustic emission diagnostic technology as a real-time tool for battery formation optimisation and quality control.
Phase-change-aware LFP modelling for low-temperature operation and fast charging
Imperial College London and Breathe Battery Technologies will deliver a modelling and parameterisation workflow for a commercial LFP cell, validated against experimental data at low temperatures and fast charge rates.
Scale-up and testing of next generation cathodes
WMG will work with University of Warwick spin out ENV Energy to scale-up production and prototype its novel cathode material in pouch cells to assess performance, safety, and reproducibility.
Sustainable, Scalable Cathode Particle Morphology Validation
WMG, University of Warwick and CellMine will develop processes to support recycled precursor cathode active material (pCAM) production for lithium nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC) cathodes.
Hexachromate-Free Cell Tabs
WMG and Avocet Battery Materials will build on a previous Faraday Battery Challenge project to validate hexachromate-free pouch cell tabs in Li-ion cells, supporting the transition to sustainable UK-based tab manufacturing.
Waste to Watts: Biowaste-derived hard carbon anodes for sodium-ion batteries
Imperial College London, working with waste-stream partners, will develop scalable waste-derived hard-carbon anode materials for Na-ion batteries, supporting future spin-out and supply-chain development.
From CAM to pack: building a prototype Na-ion battery for starting, lighting and ignition applications
Universities of Oxford and Coventry and Batri will accelerate the commercialisation of sodium-ion active materials by demonstrating their performance in a 12V battery pack.
TurboTab: Tab-less small format cells for ultra-fast charge and high-power applications
The University of Coventry will design, develop and manufacture tab-less cylindrical cells using Nyobolt's materials and technology to enhance power and fast charge capabilities.
Continuous-Automated Synthesis of NaPF6: the Key Electrolyte for Sodium-ion Batteries
The University of Cambridge will further develop and scale up a method for the continuous-automated synthesis of sodium-ion battery electrolyte NaPF6 and transfer the technology to UK industry partners.
Physics-based modelling of Li-ion batteries: Parameterisation via in-operando techniques
WMG and Fortescue ZERO will use a newly developed in-operando XRD technique to build a validated physics-based model of cell degradation incorporating critical manufacturing and aging parameters.
Characterisation and manufacturing of advanced LFP batteries
UCL will partner with UK start-up Redoxion, to accelerate the scaling of novel synthesis methods for LFP active materials
Completed Sprint Projects
Battery Parametrisation Best Practice (BP)^2
The Universities of Oxford and Warwick are addressing the significant industry need for clear, standardised best practices for electrochemical battery model parameterisation workflows that can be used to fit and validate BPX parameter sets from data.
Battery Model Validation Standards (BMVS)
The University of Bristol and About:Energy, will develop a robust validation framework that complements the BPX Standard by validating models against real-world operation.
High Frequency Ripple Charging / Discharging
Providing insights into the effects of high frequency ripple charge/discharge on the performance and lifetime of commercial prismatic lithium iron phosphate cells.
Ultra-fast "self-parameterisation" for lithium-ion battery models
University of Portsmouth in collaboration with Elysia – Battery Intelligence from Fortescue Zero will address the challenge of fast, accurate parameterisation of lithium-ion battery models.
Critical materials recovery protocols – Graphite (CMRP-gr)
The University of Birmingham and EMR are partnering to develop eco-friendly methods for recovering and regenerating graphite from EV battery recycling
Prototype sodium-ion batteries employing an anthracite derived carbon anode
Swansea University and Batri will assess the suitability of Welsh anthracite coal as a precursor material for high performance carbonaceous anodes for use in sodium-ion batteries.
AI-driven Advanced Diagnostics and Control for Optimal High-performance Operation of Batteries
Leveraging AI to decouple and quantify degradation mechanisms of energy-dense batteries, enabling smart control strategies for high-performance system operation that minimise degradation.
Understanding safety for next generation battery technologies
The University of Oxford, UCL and Ilika will establish thought leadership in safety protocols for next-generation batteries and undertake physical safety testing on prototype solid-state cells, to inform industrial design and deployment.
Niobium oxide recycling and development of industrial capabilities (NORDIC)
The University of Birmingham is evaluating hydrometallurgical and direct recycling routes for Echion’s mixed niobium-oxide anode active materials (XNO®) to determine the most feasible option to deliver a high-quality recycled product.
Microstructural design of LMFP cathodes through machine learning assisted manufacturing optimisation
WMG, University of Warwick, will utilise Polaron’s AI optimisation algorithm to design enhanced LMFP electrodes to improve cell performance.
NextCell – Next Generation Cell Design
Adopting a systems-engineering methodology to the challenges of cell design, manufacturability, and through-life sustainability.
High Voltage Oxide Cathodes for Sodium-ion Batteries
Exploiting recent advances in the understanding of oxygen redox chemistry to develop new positive electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries.
High Voltage Redox Flow Batteries for Demanding Applications
Advancing flow battery technology to permit stable battery operation in air, increasing system robustness and capacity and potentially reducing energy costs.
Supported Thin Films for Oxide Electrolytes
Researchers at the University of St Andrews are working with Morgan Advanced Materials, in collaboration with Ilika, to develop and optimise the process of making supported thin, dense films for use as electrolytes for solid state batteries.
Photo courtesy of Ilika.
Materials For Thermal Transfer
This sprint is looking at the development of nanomaterials composites, phase change materials and functional scaffold materials to optimise thermal control of a battery pack with the aim of informing module manufacturing and optimising performance and longevity.
ELMASS - Screening of Electrode Manufacturing for All-Solid-State Batteries
WMG, University of Warwick, Johnson Matthey, and Jaguar Land Rover are working together on an Industry Sprint to unlock a path to scale up the type of solid-state batteries being investigated by SOLBAT.
ZeST – Li-ion Conducting Fibre for Composite Solid-state Electrolytes
Thermal Ceramics UK Ltd, a subsidiary of Morgan Advanced Materials, will work with the novel glass group at Southampton University to develop a process to manufacture specialist lithium-ion conducting fibres of a new composition to a tight tolerance with high yield.
Xerode – Dry Printing Technology Accelerator
Xerode aims to overcome current limitations of state-of-the-art slurry-based electrode manufacturing processes by investigating the technical feasibility of a completely dry coating technique.
Accelerating Commercialisation of New Scalable and Sustainable Manufacturing Methods for Silicon Anodes
Accelerating the Commercialisation of a Scalable, Sustainable Method for Manufacturing Porous Silicon for use in Graphite Anodes
TOPBAT – Optimising Pack Design for Thermal Management
Imperial College London researchers, in collaboration with AMTE Power, looked to optimise pack design for thermal management and demonstrate the current practice of optimising cell design largely around energy density is suboptimal for pack energy density, cost and lifetime.
Off Gases And Detonation Behaviour
By combining multiple techniques to describe the mechanism of failure, gases produced during an event, energy/mass released, and any geometric changes, models were built that will enable faster, more efficient pack development processes.
VIPER - Validated and Integrated Platform for Battery Remaining Useful Life
This sprint follows on from COBRA - a Faraday Battery Challenge collaborative R&D project. It accelerated the development of a working prototype of a prediction system for remaining useful life of lithium-ion batteries.
Cell Degradation
In Phase 2 of this Sprint, forensic characterisation was performed to determine the root causes of the specific degradation mechanisms that drive the unexpected capacity loss in select battery chemistries
Developing Commercially Viable Quasi Solid-state Lithium-sulfur Cells
This Sprint project focused on the development of quasi-solid-state Li-S batteries that have the potential to significantly enhance the number of times Li-S batteries can be charged before they reach end of life, the energy they can store per unit volume and the temperature range over which they can operate.
Last updated April 2026.
Growing Links Between Academia and Industry
The Faraday Institution welcomes approaches at any time by industry organisations that would like to get involved with our research projects, be it one of our main lithium-ion or beyond lithium-ion projects or to propose an industry sprint.