Industry Sprints - Details

The following Sprints are ongoing:

Phase-change-aware LFP modelling for low-temperature operation and fast charging

Imperial College London and Breathe Battery Technologies will addresses a modelling challenge for LFP cells operating at sub-zero temperatures and high charge rates, where existing approaches do not sufficiently capture internal cell dynamics, aging mechanisms, and large-format cell behaviour. In this operating window, protocol and thermal testing can be resource-intensive, and higher-fidelity models are needed to better represent inhomogeneous behaviour and support robust fast-charging strategy development.

For Breathe, the project will deliver a calibrated, physics-based LFP model that better represents phase-change and inhomogeneity behaviour, alongside practical workflows for beginning-of-life and degradation parameterisation. The work will support reduced testing effort and more robust fast-charging control development under low-temperature and high-rate conditions, improving confidence in health-aware control decisions and enabling clearer customer operating guidance. For Imperial, the project provides a validation pathway for advanced phase-change and degradation models on commercial large-format cells under industry-relevant duty cycles.

Project involved: Multi-scale Modelling

Timeframe: 12 months

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.

The novel cathode enhances thermal stability and moisture resistance, potentially enabling dry-room-free processing and improved safety. The material, developed as part of the FutureCat project, has been previously validated in full format coin cells. The Sprint will scale-up its production using industrially relevant processes and equipment, and prototype their active material in industry-relevant cylindrical cells on WMG’s Advanced Materials Battery Industrialisation Centre (AMBIC) line to assess electrochemical performance, safety, and reproducibility.

The Sprint will allow the team to engage with cell manufacturers, investors and industry organisations with clear performance, process, and cost data linked to a realistic and cost-efficient pathway to scale-up. Success would lay the foundation for a strategically independent, UK-sourced cathode material for the automotive, aerospace, and defence industries.

Project involved: LEAP

Timeframe: 12 months

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.

CellMine has developed a sulfate-free recycling process with significant advantages over current hydrometallurgical recycling methods that enables precise control over the pCAM particle morphology and size produced. It supports the manufacture of tailored NMC containing a mix of single-crystal (SC) and polycrystalline (PC) NMC particles that enhance particle packing, with potential benefits in, for example, energy density.

The project will optimise calcination and milling parameters for SC and PC mid-Ni NMC from recycled pCAM and carry out material characterisation. Recycled materials will be benchmarked against reference materials through electrode fabrication and coin-cell testing to increase technology readiness. Blended SC/PC electrodes will be developed and tested to examine particle design and packing effects. The project will generate process and electrochemical datasets to support intellectual property filings and conduct forensic analysis on cycled cells to assess material quality.

The work will advance skills and knowledge in recycled pCAM processing, support supply-chain capability in the UK and provide data to inform future industrial adoption.

This Sprint builds on the success of the Faraday Battery Challenge Project LIBerate.

Timeframe: 12 months

Hexachromate-Free Cell Tabs

To localise pouch cell tab manufacture in Europe, it will be necessary to address current reliance on hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) surface treatments, which are traditionally used in Asia to provide corrosion resistance and polymer adhesion but are banned under UK and EU regulations. This requires development of new surface treatments and manufacturing methods to support compliant, scalable production and strengthen local supply chains.

Avocet Battery Materials (ABM) has developed a new, Cr(VI)-free surface treatment for aluminium and copper pouch cell tabs. In a previous Faraday Battery Challenge project, the company demonstrated pilot-scale production and testing of the tabs in isolation.

In this Industry Sprint, WMG, University of Warwick will manufacture batches of 1 Ah single crystal, high nickel NMC/graphite pouch cells with both industry standard tabs and ABM tabs. They will compare the cycle life, including with fast charge/discharge, and high-temperature aging of the two types of cells, providing a benchmark of Avocet’s tabs against the standard under real-life conditions.

Results will validate the manufacturability and performance of ABM’s tabs, supporting commercial adoption and the onshoring of more sustainable UK pouch cell tab manufacturing.

Project involved: Degradation

Timeframe: 12 months

Waste to Watts: Biowaste-derived hard carbon anodes for sodium-ion batteries

Imperial College London, working with industrial waste-stream partners, including Efficiency Technologies and Westfalia, will develop scalable methods to produce hard-carbon anodes for sodium-ion batteries using UK waste materials. Additional input from battery companies, including VARTA, will provide performance feedback and inform commercial planning.

The project will build on previous research by establishing and validating processes to convert waste streams into hard-carbon suitable for sodium-ion anodes. Objectives include characterising waste composition and variability, defining pre-processing steps, and developing thermal and chemical conversion routes. The work will include impurity removal, active material synthesis, and fabrication of electrodes for electrochemical testing.

Performance will be assessed in half-cells and full single-layer pouch cells with sodium vanadium phosphate cathodes. Technoeconomic and lifecycle assessments will evaluate cost, process viability and environmental impact.

The Sprint aims to deliver validated materials, protected IP, and commercial readiness, enabling the launch of a UK spin-out to supply waste-derived hard-carbon anodes, strengthen domestic sodium-ion battery supply chains and valorise biowaste.

Project involved: NEXGENNA

Timeframe: 15 months

From CAM to pack: building a prototype Na-ion battery for starting, lighting and ignition applications

This project aims to accelerate the commercialisation of University of Oxford-developed sodium-ion cathode active materials (CAM). A market valued at over $45bn by 2030.

The project will integrate Oxford’s patented a class of high-energy layered oxide CAMs and hard-carbon anode material supplied by the industrial partner Batri in UK-fabricated 21700 cylindrical Na-ion cells from Coventry University.

The goal is to produce a 12V battery pack for starting, lighting and ignition applications – to demonstrate performance and readiness for commercial development. Na-ion technology offers a sustainable alternative to lithium-ion, using abundant, UK/European-sourced materials and avoiding dependence on overseas supply chains.

Oxford will lead materials characterisation, CAM optimisation and specification development, while Coventry will optimise slurry processing, coating and cell assembly. This demonstrator aims to reduce technical and investment risk, and build investor confidence in the formation of a spin-out company, which will lay the foundations for future UK manufacturing of Na-ion CAM, cells and battery packs for wider markets including energy storage, e-mobility and defence.

This Sprint builds on the success of a previous Sprint and a Henry Royce Institute MATCelerate grant.

Project involved: NEXGENNA

Timeframe: 15 months

TurboTab: Tab-less small format cells for ultra–fast charge and high-power applications

The TurboTab sprint builds on a five-year collaboration between Coventry University and Nyobolt, leveraging their combined expertise to advance continual tabbed (or tab-less) cell technology to enhance power and fast charge capabilities.

The project aims to: (1) Characterise performance of tab-less cells compared to traditional designs. (2) Understand thermal improvements under high power and fast charge conditions.

Current cell designs face electronic resistance and heat ejection issues, limiting the full utilisation of Nyobolt’s technology. The sprint addresses that by implementing a tab-less design to improve heat rejection and performance, enabling new market applications.

Timeframe: 12 months

Continuous-Automated Synthesis of NaPF6: the Key Electrolyte for Sodium-ion Batteries

The emerging sodium-ion (NIB) battery industry needs a secure, inexpensive and pure supply of its principal electrolyte salt, NaPF6. Currently, manufacturers make the salt by ion exchange from LiPF6 – which adds cost and is unsustainable.

NEXGENNA researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a new synthetic route to battery-grade NaPF6 that has excellent yield and avoids the use of lithium. The aims of this follow on Industry Sprint are:

1. To build a multi-kilogramme-scale benchtop system for the continuous synthesis of NaPF6.
2. To implement the automation necessary for un-manned operation.
3. To demonstrate its capability to synthesise other electrolyte salts and additives.
4. To transfer the technology to the University of St Andrew’s scale-up facility – the Colin Vincent Centre for Battery Technologies.
5. To work with UK industrial partners including Batri and Nyobolt, to establish the technology in their plants.

The new method will make the NaPF6 production process safer, more sustainable and allow the electrolyte salt to be produced on demand in a battery manufacturing setting. The system will provide the UK with a tangible pipeline for progressing novel electrolytes from the laboratory to the factory quickly, safely, and efficiently.

Project involved: NEXGENNA

Timeframe: 18 months

The following Sprint projects have been completed:

Battery Parametrisation Best Practice (BP)^2

The Battery Parameter eXchange (BPX) is an open standard for physics-based lithium-ion battery models that has been developed to reduce costs and streamline battery model supply chains through a common definition of physics-based battery modelling parameters that can be used widely across industry.  

An Industry Sprint led by the University of Oxford, with the University of Warwick and consultation from BMW Group, is addressing the significant industry need for clear, straightforward, standardised best practices for electrochemical battery model parameterisation workflows that can be used to fit and validate BPX parameter sets from measurement data. The project aims to produce a guide for cell parameterisation, with associated example code and data in the open-source PyBOP repository on GitHub. The guide will cover best practice and pitfalls, centred around a repeatable parameterisation workflow, and demonstrate how to quantify the uncertainty of the parameters using the code provided. The team is taking a ‘top-down’ approach, i.e., non-invasive cell measurements, rather than tear-down or post-mortem characterisation. The primary focus will be the single particle model with electrolyte (SPMe).  

Project involved: Multi-scale Modelling and the BPX Standard 

Timeframe: 12 months 

Battery Model Validation Standards (BMVS)

The University of Bristol, with industry partner About:Energy, will develop a robust validation framework that complements the BPX Standard for physics-based lithium-ion battery models. By validating models against real-world operation, the project aims to ensure models are fit for purpose across their intended application and end-user requirements.

The project aims to: (1) identify the most appropriate validation criteria for any given battery model and demonstrate their suitability (2) develop methods to validate battery models that consider realistic performance variation and (3) deliver a set of standards for battery model validation.

Parameterisation process development will be aligned with the Multi-scale Modelling Project’s PyBOP open-source framework. The Sprint will develop test apparatus for experimental validation, particularly for thermal validation, which will be cost-effective and open-source.

The long-term plan is to integrate the real-world, open-source validation tools developed by the project into the overall BPX framework, accelerating its adoption. This will support UK-based businesses in developing globally competitive products, particularly in the battery management system sector. About:Energy plans to use project outputs to illustrate model performance to their potential customer base.

Project involved: Multi-scale Modelling and the BPX Standard 

Timeframe: 12 months

High frequency ripple charging / discharging

The WMG, University of Warwick, in collaboration with its industry partner, will provide insights into the effects of high frequency ripple charge/discharge on the performance and lifetime of commercial prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. Bespoke battery cyclers will be deployed at WMG to facilitate continuous charge/discharge cycling of cells under pulsing conditions, in combination with periodical reference performance tests. A dataset that could be used in future modelling activity will also be generated. Through its links to the Degradation project, the Sprint aims to identify key degradation mechanisms associated with pulse cycling.

The Sprint will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of an innovative technology (which offers potential benefits such as higher system efficiency, and reduced cost and footprint) and its broader implementation across diverse applications. This could be via the identification of appropriate frequencies, maximum currents etc.

Projects involved: Degradation

Timeframe: 12 months

Ultra – fast “self-parameterisation” for lithium-ion battery models 

Use of battery models can be hugely valuable in accelerating battery development and monitoring working batteries in the field. Accurate parameterisation of such models is crucial but challenging due to time and cost constraints. This Sprint between the University of Portsmouth and industry partner Elysia Battery Intelligence from Fortescue Zero, aims to combine ultra-fast surrogates (around one million times faster than classical solvers) with modern inference techniques to automatically yield parameterised battery models. The process aims to be sufficiently light-weight that it can used in real-time with active devices in the field to update model parameters as a device ages. The team will apply this methodology to industrially-relevant models and deliver user-friendly code to Elysia for integration in their commercial product. 

Elysia will provide industry insights, data for testing, and support in rolling out the technology, with potential outcomes of the project including technology licensing.  

Project involved: Multi-scale Modelling 

Timeframe: 18 months 

Critical materials recovery protocols – Graphite (CMRP-gr)

Industrial-scale recycling of lithium-ion batteries generally focuses on the metals of high economic value, rather than graphite. This is despite the fact that graphite is classed as a critical material, and commercial EV batteries can contain around 11 times more graphite than lithium by mass.  

In this sprint, researchers at the University of Birmingham, with industry partners European Metal Recycling (EMR), will investigate the recovery and regeneration of graphite from black mass obtained at various stages of EMR’s separation processes. Researchers will characterise the recovered graphite and seek to develop economically viable and environmentally friendly strategies and potential IP to recover and regenerate the graphite for use in either future EV batteries or lower performance applications. Strategies to upcycle to higher capacity graphite-SiOx anodes will also be investigated. 

If successful, the project will help to contain graphite within the UK’s circular economy and position the UK as a global authority on graphite recovery in EV battery recycling.  

Project involved: ReLiB

Timeframe: 11 months  

Prototype sodium-ion batteries employing an anthracite derived carbon anode

Hard carbon, made from precursors including sucrose, glucose and natural biomass, are the anode of choice for sodium-ion batteries. Despite good capacities, they exhibit poor initial coulombic efficiency and limited rate capabilities and the low carbon output of these precursors makes them resource-inefficient and expensive.

The Sprint project between Swansea University and Welsh battery innovator Batri aims to reduce these limitations and explore more sustainable and cost-effective alternatives. By utilising Welsh anthracite coal as a precursor material, researchers aim to lower production costs, decrease the environmental footprint, and establish a resilient UK-based supply chain for this sodium-ion battery component. The project will validate the suitability of this precursor for high performance carbonaceous anodes; assess the performance of the anodes in various electrolyte compositions; evaluate the compatibility and performance of the most promising candidate anodes in combination with state-of-the-art cathodes; and characterise the most promising cell assemblies, assessing their performance in prototype multilayer pouch cells.

Project involved: Complementary to NEXGENNA and extending an existing collaboration between the two organisations, which includes a Faraday Battery Challenge Round 6 Innovation Feasibility Study grant.

Timeframe: 18 months

AI-driven Advanced Diagnostics and Control for Optimal High-performance Operation of Batteries

As part of a commercially relevant research project in collaboration with TAE Power Solutions, Coventry University will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to decouple and quantify degradation modes of high-capacity 4695 cylindrical batteries, with the aim of enabling smart control strategies for high-performance battery system operation whilst simultaneously minimising degradation.

The project will establish and validate an AI-driven diagnostic framework that works with field datasets and can quantify battery degradation modes through quantitative decoupling of electrode material degradation. The framework will be created by blending advanced training data generation techniques, deep learning and battery physics. The diagnostics tool will be deployed to identify the dominant battery ageing factors, correlating them to specific degradation mechanisms, to enable the development of precise operational parameter control. It will be used to create smart derating control algorithms capable of efficiently optimising battery operation, pushing the conventional operating boundaries and adaptively regulating the operation with battery aging with the aim of maximising both the operational performance and battery lifetime.

Timeframe:  12 months

Understanding safety for next generation battery technologies

Solid state batteries are widely believed to represent the solution for next-generation, high energy density batteries in automotive applications. Whilst the removal of flammable liquid electrolytes overcomes a major issue in the safe deployment of high-energy batteries, there remains a general lack of quantified understanding of cell safety, and legacy standards and certification protocols are not necessarily relevant for the failure modes anticipated. In partnership with leading UK solid-state battery developer, Ilika, this sprint project will establish thought leadership in safety protocols for next-generation batteries and will undertake physical safety testing on prototype cells, to inform industrial design and deployment.

Building upon the significant experience of the SafeBatt project, researchers at the University of Oxford and University College London, will progress towards a failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) understanding of solid-state batteries and support Ilika in their scale up and certification of their technology, alongside developing a framework for (pre)certification of next generation battery chemistries.

Projects involved: SafeBatt

Timeframe: 12 months

Niobium oxide recycling and development of industrial capabilities (NORDIC)

Echion Technologies is commercialising mixed niobium-oxide anode active materials (XNO®) that show promise in increasing EV charging rate and cycle life and longevity in extreme conditions. In NORDIC, the University of Birmingham will evaluate hydrometallurgical and direct recycling routes for XNO® from different feedstocks, to determine the most feasible option to deliver a high-quality recycled product based on its measured physical and electrochemical properties.

The Sprint aims to define a high yield recovery process for XNO® obtained from coated electrodes (scrapped during development or production) and from discharged cells. It will assess total processing costs for each process stream and conduct a detailed benchmark characterisation of pristine material, production waste material and recovered material to determine performance post-recovery. The project represents a step towards Echion integrating XNO® recovery into an open- or closed-loop recycling process.

The Sprint continues a successful collaboration between Peter Slater, University of Birmingham, and Echion (the recipients of two Industry Fellowships). The collaboration has resulted in the identification of two new XNO® phases that have been taken as new potential products into Echion’s new product development cycle, where they are being assessed.

Projects involved: ReLiB

Timeframe: 12 months

Microstructural design of LMFP cathodes through machine learning assisted manufacturing optimisation

The manufacture of battery electrodes involves many complex, interdependent processes. Characterising the effect of process parameters on electrode properties and performance is crucial for the development of next-generation materials including lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP). Overcoming processing challenges (such as those associated with small single-crystal particles) using traditional design-of-experiment approaches is often inefficient, requiring extensive physical prototyping, incurring significant cost and slowing innovation. The use of machine learning is expected to accelerate battery process development and commercialisation.

The aims of this Industry Sprint, led by WMG, University of Warwick, are to:
1. Utilise Polaron’s AI tools to design enhanced LMFP electrode manufacturing processes to improve cell performance, addressing challenges identified by the Degradation project.
2. Deepen the understanding of LMFP electrode manufacturing.
3. Demonstrate the commercial value of Polaron’s process optimisation tool, validating the company’s cell design approach to enable further application across the battery industry.

Polaron is a recent spin out from Imperial College London with technology originating from the Multi-scale Modelling Project.

Projects involved: Degradation Project

Timeframe: 12 months

NextCell – Next Generation Cell Design

WMG, University of Warwick and Agratas, Tata Group’s battery business, have identified that significant innovation opportunities exist around new cell formats and architectures that improve performance and life while concurrently reducing manufacturing cost and end-of-life management.

NextCell, led by Professor James Marco, will adopt a systems-engineering methodology to enhance the outcomes and efficiency of cell design, manufacturability, and through-life sustainability. This sprint will co-create a strategy for the design and manufacture of next generation cell concepts, that meet the fundamental electro-thermal-mechanical challenges that arise from the introduction of novel cell formats and achieve even great levels of cell to pack efficiency, through life sustainability and system safety.

A major outcome of this project will be the creation of a generic roadmap to support the further development of a sovereign cell design capability for the UK addressing material selection, cell design, manufacturing, and sustainability.

Projects involved: Nextrode

Timeframe: 15 months

High voltage oxide cathodes for sodium-ion batteries

Sodium-ion batteries offer a cheaper, more sustainable alternative to lithium-ion. High-end Na-ion cells could compete on energy density and cost with graphite / lithium iron phosphate cells, making them candidates for affordable, low-mid range electric vehicles and grid storage.

This Sprint project, led by Dr Robert House at the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, aims to exploit recent advances in the understanding of oxygen redox chemistry to develop new positive electrode materials for Na-ion batteries. UK-based industry partner AMTE Power will be involved throughout, to ensure that cathode materials with the greatest commercial potential are identified and prioritised for future development.

High voltage oxygen redox can be achieved in sodium transition metal oxide materials by careful control of the composition. The project will be a fast-paced, focused, materials discovery programme to identify new oxygen-redox Na-ion positive electrodes. The outcome will be a set of compounds with the best performance properties that use primarily earth-abundant elements.

The project objectives are:

1. To explore novel Na-ion cathode materials utilising reversible oxygen redox chemistry.
2. To evaluate the tolerance of these materials to ambient atmosphere.
3. To identify the most promising candidates in terms of cycle life, energy density, stability and rate performance to take forward for scale-up.
4. To make single layer pouch-format full cells with hard carbon anodes and NaPF₆ electrolyte to demonstrate the electrochemical performance and illustrate their commercial potential.

Projects involved: Complementary to NEXGENNA

Timeframe: 18 months

High voltage redox flow batteries for demanding applications

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) represent one of the most promising solutions for long duration grid-scale energy storage and one possibility for improving energy access in emerging economies. Almost all electrolytes used in RFBs are sensitive to trace quantities of oxygen, requiring purging with an inert atmosphere (and air-free conditions thereafter) to slow the reduction in capacity over time. This industry sprint will advance technology under development in Professor Dame Clare Grey’s group and led by project manager, Mark Carrington at the University of Cambridge that permits stable battery operation even if air impurities are present. The technology could improve system robustness and increase cell voltages above 1.5 V (rivalling those of lead-acid batteries) permitting substantially lower projected energy costs relative to other RFB technologies.

The aim of the Sprint is to demonstrate commercial viability of a class of air stable RFB electrolytes through prototyping at a scale > 1 kWh in a laboratory setting. Key aims include:

-finalisation of flow battery chemistry from among several existing lab prototypes

-process modelling of final chemistry production costs

-performance benchmarking at 1 kWh scale

-refinement of techno-economic and emissions projections

-industry consultation and business plan development in support of a possible start-up to exploit the technology and a subsequent MWh grid pilot demonstration in a representative environment.

Projects involved: Transforming Energy Access / Ayrton Challenge on Energy Storage

Timeframe: 12 months

Supported thin films for oxide electrolytes

Use of oxide ceramics as electrolytes offer a promising route to solid state batteries. Researchers at the University of St Andrews are working with Morgan Advanced Materials, in collaboration with Ilika, in an Industry Sprint project of immediate interest to an automaker. The project, which complements the scope of the longer-term, multi-disciplinary SOLBAT project, is seeking to develop and optimise the process of making supported thin, dense films. Fine-tuning the support would help to mitigate limited conductivity and optimise performance and cyclability.

Timeframe: 15 months

Project involved: SOLBAT

Materials for thermal transfer and module manufacture

Thermal control of a battery pack is vitally important to its performance and longevity. Higher performance thermal materials could usefully improve both, by transferring heat efficiently from the cells to the cooling system, and by isolating cells from their neighbours in cases where an individual cell is going into thermal runaway. This sprint will look into the development of nanomaterials composites, phase change materials and functional scaffold materials to meet these aims, then both model and experimentally validate them.

Timeframe: 6 months

Projects involved: Multi-scale Modelling

ELMASS – Screening of Electrode Manufacturing for All-Solid-State Batteries

WMG, University of Warwick 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. The key outputs will be a cost/performance assessment of an electrode manufacturing technique led by end-user requirements.

Timeframe: 12 months

Projects involved: SOLBAT

Accelerating commercialisation of new scalable and sustainable manufacturing methods for silicon anodes

Inclusion of silicon in anodes offer a route to higher energy density lithium-ion batteries. Recent research has shown that damage caused by expansion of the silicon can be limited or avoided by using porous silicon (p-Si) but current methods of bulk p-Si manufacture are elaborate and energy-intensive, hence intrinsically uneconomical and unscalable.

In an extension to a Faraday Institution Seed project, this Sprint is seeking to develop the first commercially viable large-scale process for the bulk manufacture of p-Si for lithium-ion battery anodes. Led by Professor Siddharth Patwardhan, teams at the University of Sheffield and WMG, University of Warwick, will perform commercially-relevant extensive testing of silicon anodes produced from their proprietary ultra-low temperature, low cost, safe, and intrinsically scalable production method.

The project will:

1. test electrochemical performance, using a range of configurations (including in pouch cells) and formulations, generating commercially relevant data on capacity, stability, and cell life, with the aim of validating the commercial relevance of the technology.

1. undertake market and customer discovery, and techno-economic analysis, to enable the pitching of the process to potential investors and customers, and embark on the formation of a spin-out to commercialise the technology.

Projects involved: A seed project

Timeframe: 12 months

Xerode – Dry printing technology accelerator

The electrodes in a lithium-ion battery control many crucial performance characteristics of the final cell. Existing electrode manufacturing uses a wet slurry-based coating process to deposit the electrode. Whilst this is an incredibly productive process, it uses very large amounts of solvent, is energy intensive and requires a large factory footprint to accommodate the drying process. Xerode – the dry printing technology accelerator aims to overcome key limitations of the current process by building prototype device using a previously untested technique that would print dry, formulated electrode directly onto a moving current collector and give positional and compositional printing control for advanced customer-driven designed electrodes.

If successful, this innovation will enable large-scale, rapid, and completely dry electrode manufacturing, reducing manufacturing cost and potentially increasing energy/power density of batteries. Denis Cumming, Senior Lecturer at University of Sheffield and Project Leader for the Faraday Institution Nextrode project on electrode manufacturing will lead the project and will be joined by Dr Rachel Smith, Senior Lecturer also at Sheffield who is an expert in particle technology.

Timeframe: 12 months

Projects involved: Nextrode

ZeST – Li-ion conducting fibre for composite solid-state electrolytes

Initial studies have indicated that a composite material using lithium-ion conducting fibres can be an effective solid-state electrolyte. The ZeST project is targeting the development of a lithium-ion conducting fibre material for use in a composite solid-state electrolyte for next-generation batteries.

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 fibres of a new composition to a tight tolerance with high yield.

The University of Southampton is contributing world leading experience and equipment, in the drawing of novel glasses into fibre form, to the project, which is targeting early commercial scale-up using greener and more efficient processes. The industry partner is engaged with a leading battery producer with a view to supplying the material commercially if the project is successful.

Expected Timeframe: 12 months

Project involved: SOLBAT

TOPBAT – Optimising pack design for thermal management

This project sought to design a battery pack that is optimised for thermal management, which has the potential for significantly increased battery pack energy density, reduced pack cost and complexity and increased pack lifetime compared to the battery packs on the market today. The project aimed to demonstrate that the current practice of optimising cell-level energy density, without due consideration of thermal management, has a highly detrimental effect. TOPBAT is an example of the commercial application of the Faraday Institution’s Multi-scale Modelling project.

The team sought to validate its redesign concepts through a cell redesign project on AMTE’s “Ultra Power” cell.

Further information.

Timeframe: 6 months

Projects involved:  Multi-scale Modelling

Cell abuse, off gas species and detonation behaviour

Under cell failure conditions, the collection of off gases within a pack potentially poses a risk to aerospace applications where venting is undesirable. The aim of this sprint is to characterise the composition of these gases under various failure conditions, and to determine the danger they present across a range of environmental limits. This is expected to be an exploratory study into what is potentially a larger piece of work, where modelling could predict any flammability or detonation limits, and then be used to inform pack design during early development phases.

Timeframe: 4 months

Projects involved: Battery Degradation

Read a case study about the project: Improving battery safety for aerospace applications

The continuation of this project is now part of an integrated project on the science of battery safety – SafeBatt – launched in April 2021.

VIPER – Validated and Integrated Platform for battEry Remaining useful life

There is significant opportunity in accurately predicting the remaining useful life (RUL) of lithium-ion batteries under operating conditions. Wide-scale adoption of such a feature in battery management systems (BMS) would allow: the extension of the operational life of EVs/batteries; the stimulation of the second-hand EV market by increasing residual value; incentivisation of repurposing of batteries for second life applications.

A recently completed Faraday Battery Challenge collaborative R&D project – COBRA – funded by UKRI, and involving WMG, University of Warwick and Eatron Technologies has proven the feasibility of a hybrid approach to predict RUL that combines machine learning and physical models. However, COBRA also highlighted that further improvement in the physical models would be needed to increase the accuracy required for commercial applications.

The follow-on Industry Sprint project, VIPER, extended the successful collaboration, which brought together the modelling knowledge of WMG together with the artificial intelligence, BMS and Cloud technologies of Eatron. The Sprint accelerated the development of a working demonstrator/prototype of the RUL prediction system, integrating it into Eatron’s BMS. The project advanced lower TRL battery modelling research to industry relevant technology readiness; validated models with experimental data; understood Cloud model capabilities/limitations and developed a BMS model for state-estimation.

Projects involved: Faraday Institution Multi-scale Modelling and Innovate UK Collaborative R&D project COBRA

Timeframe: 15 months

Cell degradation

Phase 1 of this sprint project was initiated in 2019 when an EV manufacturer highlighted an unexpected storage issue. It was noted that select battery chemistries were experiencing faster capacity fade when stored at a specific state of charge (SOC). In the first phase of the study, WMG produced a matrix of 220 calendar aged cells at various SOC and temperatures. This was performed to mimic realistic conditions experienced by EVs, with capacity retention measured periodically. In Phase 2, Professor Louis Piper of WMG lead the partnership that also includes UCL, the University of Leicester and the industry partner. This phase performed forensic characterisation to determine the root causes of the specific degradation mechanisms involved that drive the unexpected capacity loss.

The project enabled the automaker to develop protocols and strategies that will suppress the potential degradation mechanism(s), for example, by minimising residence time and therefore capacity loss due to these conditions. These translated into higher performance, longer first life and safer batteries for EVs.

Timeframe: 12 months

Projects involved: Battery Degradation, Multi-scale Modelling, SafeBatt

Developing commercially viable quasi solid-state lithium-sulfur cells

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are a promising energy storage technology for application where lightweight batteries are needed, such as in aerospace applications. This Sprint project focuses 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.

The Sprint combined the expertise of OXLiD (a UK-based Li-S battery start-up company) and UCL to define a technology roadmap and generate intellectual property for the development and commercialisation of Li-S batteries, providing tools for potentially significant economic benefits to the UK. Researchers tested and screened potential cathode materials and developed suitable electrolytes for a quasi-solid-state format. The final deliverable was a demonstration of the best cathode materials identified in commercially relevant high-capacity pouch cells and an evaluation of the maximum potential performance of quasi-solid-state Li-S materials to guide future commercialisation.

Expected timeframe: 14 months

Project involved: LiSTAR

 

Last updated April 2026.