Robert House
Research Interest
Rechargeable Li-ion batteries have already revolutionized our lives by enabling portable electronics. They are now foundational to the global energy transition by electrifying our transport systems and smoothing the integration of renewables and data centres into the grid. With further advances, battery technology promises to open new horizons in autonomous robotics and electric aviation.
Progress depends on developing new battery materials and understanding the fundamental science that governs how they perform, degrade, and can be improved. These are the challenges we are working to address.
My research group is focused on developing new cathode and electrolyte materials for Earth-abundant battery chemistries — Na-ion, Mg-ion, and Ca-ion — as scalable alternatives to Li-ion for grid-scale and cost-sensitive applications. We are also working on advanced Li-ion materials, understanding the nature of charge storage in Li-rich cathodes, how local structure governs performance in disordered cathodes and developing new concepts to enable 1,000 Wh kg-1 batteries for electric flight.
Profile
Professor House is an Associate Professor of Materials, a Fellow of The ZERO Institute and Non-Tutorial Fellow of Keble College. He is one of the Royal Academy of Engineering's inaugural Green Future Fellows, leading a 10-year research programme to develop high energy density lithium batteries for electric flight. Professor House is also lead Principal Investigator of the Faraday Institution's 3D-CAT project developing novel disordered lithium-rich cathode materials. He established his research group in 2021 in the department with a 5-year Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship on cathode materials for sustainable, Earth-abundant Na- and Mg-ion batteries and a Junior Research Fellowship at Linacre college. Prior to this he completed a Materials DPhil in the department in 2020 under the supervision of Prof Sir Peter Bruce on oxygen redox chemistry and, prior to this, obtained a first degree in Natural Sciences, Chemistry (MSci) from the University of Cambridge.
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