PhD studentship: 3D Printing of Smart Batteries for Wearable Electronics

Supervisor: Dr Cecilia Mattevi

Duration: 42 Months

Eligibility criteria: Open to students with home fee status.

Funding: The studentship is for 3.5 years starting as soon as possible with tuition fees at the home rate and will provide full coverage of tuition fees and an annual tax-free stipend of (currently a tax-free annual stipend of £19,668 per year).

Applications are invited for a Ph.D. studentship focused on the Aqueous Smart Batteries for Wearable Electronics within the Materials Department at Imperial College London. The market of wearable technologies is rapidly expanding, providing consumers with interconnected and autonomous electronic devices such as smart clothes, activity trackers and wearable cameras. To power this rising number of wearable systems, new battery technologies and manufacturing methods are needed. 3D Printing allows the sustainable fabrication of batteries with arbitrary architectures on small footprint area starting from gel-inks of functional materials, providing an ideal manufacturing platform for wearable batteries.

This research project will focus on the fabrication of self-healable aqueous batteries to be used in wearable electronics. For smart batteries we refer to a battery that can adapt autonomously to an external mechanical stimulus changing their shape. The full battery system will be manufactured by 3D Printing - Robocasting.

The project will involve the formulation of aqueous inks of different materials, the 3D printing of those to form electrodes in different designs. The assembly of a full battery and the electrochemical testing. Structural characterisation using advanced microscopy and tomography methods to determine the microstructure, and to correlate this the performance of the battery.

Advanced spectroscopy characterization will be also utilized to study chemical composition and physical properties of the electrode materials after cycling. Upon device evaluation, the design of the device, and the ink formulation and the material of choice will be revised to optimize the device performance. State-of-the-art equipment available in Materials Dpt at Imperial will be utilized in this project including a brand-new suite of instruments for electrochemical device studies at South Kensington and White City Campuses. Applicants should have a keen engagement and solid background in energy storage devices, materials chemistry and materials characterisation. Applications are invited from candidates with (or who expect to gain) a first-class honour degree or an equivalent degree in Materials, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering or a related discipline.

Applications will be assessed as received and all applicants should follow the standard College application procedure. Informal enquiries and requests for additional information for this post can be made to: Dr. Cecilia Mattevi c.mattevi@imperial.ac.uk.

Closing Date: 31 May 2023

For questions regarding the admissions process, please contact Dr. Annalisa Neri. Formal applications can be completed online: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/pg/apply/how-to-apply/apply-for-a-research-programme-/ but only after informal enquiries information about the Department can be found at http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/materials.

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