Oxford leading project to revolutionise electric vehicle batteries

Funded by The Faraday Institution, the University of Oxford will lead a consortium of five other university and six industry partners in the “Nextrode” project to revolutionise the way electrodes for Li-ion batteries are manufactured. Led by Professor Patrick Grant Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Oxford University, based at the University’s Department of Materials, this £12M project will improve understanding of how materials assemble as electrodes are cast, and develop new manufacturing tools. The consortium aims to usher in a new generation of smart, high performance electrodes, which could enable electric vehicles (EVs) with a longer range and batteries that are more durable. 

"Nextrode aims to strengthen the scientific understanding of existing electrode manufacturing, which we can then apply to bring more flexibility to slurry casting in order to realise battery performance improvements at industrial scale. At the same time, we will also develop a new generation of manufacturing approaches for 'smart' electrodes where the different electrode materials are arranged with greater precision and provide even greater performance benefits. This part of the work will be focused in Oxford, drawing on the expertise of our partners at Sheffield, Birmingham, Warwick, Southampton and UCL. We anticipate the benefits could be realised for almost any type of battery chemistry. We will also be working with a group of industrial partners who will help us apply our insights and ideas at industrial scale".

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