PhD Studentship: Hydrogen Isotope Extraction from Liquid Lithium for Liquid Lithium Fusion Breeder Blankets

Background:

Fusion energy promises a step-change in clean power generation, and one of the most critical challenges on the path to commercial fusion is tritium fuel sustainability. To maintain a self-sufficient fuel cycle, fusion reactors must be equipped with a breeding blanket—a specialised structure that not only manages extreme heat and neutron flux but also breeds tritium from lithium.

This PhD project focuses on a pivotal aspect of the fusion fuel cycle: efficient tritium extraction from lithium-based breeding media. In particular, Tokamak Energy’s innovative liquid lithium blanket design offers a unique challenge—while liquid lithium strongly boots the tritium breeding, and lithium’s strong affinity for hydrogen isotopes implies little to no tritium loss to structural materials, it also makes extraction considerably more difficult.

A promising approach involves lithium electrolysis using advanced solid electrolytes, such as garnet-structured Lithium Lanthanum Zirconium Oxide (LLZO). These materials have shown potential in enhancing tritium release from lithium-tritide (Li/LiT) mixtures. However, issues such as cracking and short-circuiting during prolonged operation at high temperatures hinder their practical deployment.

The Project:
This PhD will develop the science and engineering required to overcome these bottlenecks, with the following objectives:
• Uncover the mechanisms driving enhanced hydrogen isotope release, and apply advanced characterisation techniques to quantify both released and retained tritium.
• Diagnose failure modes in LLZO electrolytes and tailor material composition and microstructure to enhance durability under fusion-relevant conditions.
• Investigate scalability, producing larger electrolyte components suitable for integration into future tritium extraction systems.

The PhD collaborate with Tokamak Energy to distil key experiences to ensure a scaled system design for a commercial fusion power plant. Key aspects of impurity management, continuous operation and modelling of the systems performance parameters will be a focal part of this exercise.

Who we are looking for:
A first or upper-second-class degree in an appropriate discipline such as, materials science and engineering, nuclear engineering, fusion energy, chemical engineering, physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering to name a few. No prior experience is mandatory. Some knowledge of fusion basics and/or microstructural characterisation would be advantageous. A driven individual with an inquisitive mind.

Contact:
Informal inquiries should be sent to Dr. Dan Reed d.reed@bham.ac.uk, Professor Arun Bhattacharya – a.bhattacharya.1@bham.ac.uk, Dr. Emre Yildirim emre.yildirim@tokamakenergy.com. Please include your CV and transcripts.

This PhD project is set within the Fusion Engineering CDT at the University of Birmingham. Students will receive a 3-month training programme in fusion engineering at the start of the course, delivered across the CDT partner universities. For further information about the CDT, please visit the website or send an email to hello@fusion-engineering-cdt.ac.uk.

References:
J. A. Teprovich, H. R. Colon Mercado, L. Olson, P. Ganesan, D. Babineau, and B. L. Garcia-Diaz, “Electrochemical extraction of hydrogen isotopes from Li/LiT mixtures,” Fusion Engineering and Design, vol. 139, pp. 1–6, Feb. 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2018.11.018.

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