- Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence’s Dr Matt Derry tells Professor Roslyn Bill about his groundbreaking battery research
- With £450,000 funding from EPSRC, Dr Derry is using his polymer expertise to replace leaky, flammable, liquid battery fluid with non-flammable gel
- The research will also look at making lithium-ion batteries, like those in electric cars and mobile phones, more recyclable.
Dr Matt Derry, a polymer chemist and founding member of Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME), has spoken to AIME co-director Professor Roslyn Bill about his groundbreaking battery research in the latest episode of What is a membrane?
His research aims to make batteries safer, greener and more recyclable, with the potential to impact portable electronics like mobile phones, electric vehicles and energy storage systems worldwide.
Dr Derry was recently awarded a prestigious New Investigator Award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for his pioneering work on polymer gel electrolytes for batteries. The electrolyte in a battery carries the charge, and is generally a highly flammable, organic liquid. There have been several high-profile incidents involving battery fires.
The £450,000 EPSRC funding will support Dr Derry’s research project, which seeks to replace the flammable, organic liquid electrolytes with safer, more stable gel alternatives. His research group has recently published in this area in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s flagship journal, Chemical Science.
He says:
“Ionic liquids, my potential solution for this, have a much lower vapour pressure, which in real terms just means that it's not volatile. It doesn't evaporate. In organic flammable solvents it's the vapour that evaporates from the liquid that is highly flammable. So, if we reduce that, the flammability of ionic liquids is far lower.”
Dr Derry is introducing polymers into the ionic liquid to turn it into a gel, which even safer than liquid as it reduces the potential for leaks and spills.
With increasing numbers of electric cars on the road, and more and more batteries coming to the end of their useful lives, recycling is becoming more important. Dr Derry is working to make the electrolyte gels more easily recyclable and to produce them from bioderived polymers.
The research is directly applicable to real-world challenges, and a Danish startup, InnoCell, is interested in the ionic gel technology and using it in their next-generation supercapacitors (another type of energy storage device), which clearly shows the wider applicability and industry relevance of the research.
The full interview with Dr Derry is available on Aston University’s Aston Originals podcast series, What is a Membrane?
- Notes to editors
About Aston University
For over a century, Aston University’s enduring purpose has been to make our world a better place through education, research and innovation, by enabling our students to succeed in work and life, and by supporting our communities to thrive economically, socially and culturally.
Aston University’s history has been intertwined with the history of Birmingham, a remarkable city that once was the heartland of the Industrial Revolution and the manufacturing powerhouse of the world.
Born out of the First Industrial Revolution, Aston University has a proud and distinct heritage dating back to our formation as the School of Metallurgy in 1875, the first UK College of Technology in 1951, gaining university status by Royal Charter in 1966, and becoming the Guardian University of the Year in 2020.
Building on our outstanding past, we are now defining our place and role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (and beyond) within a rapidly changing world.
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