A new research centre in Cambridge will focus on cracking one of the UK’s biggest net zero challenges: how to sustainably create next-generation batteries and battery materials.
Based at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy (DMSM), the WP-Cambridge Materials Innovation Centre (WP-CAMMIC) will be funded by a £7.2m investment from South Korean investment group WP Investment Company (WPIC).
Over the next five years, the investment will be used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for WP-CAMMIC and go towards funding PhD students and postdoctoral researchers to carry out lithium-based energy storage technologies research. WP-CAMMIC will also work on sustainable manufacturing and the circular economy, including recycling to develop battery materials with enhanced properties.
“Through the partnership with WP-CAMMIC, our researchers will design materials that enable new battery chemistries, use state-of-the-art techniques to gain new insight into their functionality, and develop new manufacturing methods to accelerate developments in batteries,” said Manish Chhowalla, Goldsmiths’ Professor of Materials Science in the DMSM, and Director of the new Centre.
Dr Lei Wang, Chair of WPIC and alumnus of the Cambridge Judge Business School, said: “Sustainable energy storage is in the heart of powering a low-carbon future, including electric vehicle batteries and other applications in renewable energy development. e are excited to support the establishment and development of the WP-CAMMIC, and look forward to it growing into a centre with a global impact on sustainability.”
Professor Ramachandran Vasant Kumar, a leading figure in the recycling of batteries and co-investigator for WP-CAMMIC, said: “Building on the momentum generated over years of research on sustainable energy materials, this WPIC-funded project will use a holistic approach of how batteries are made, used and recycled.”
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The Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at Cambridge University. Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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