Dr Robert House - University of Oxford

Dr House is investigating new energy storage materials which could enable batteries that are more sustainable than current lithium–ion technology. Sodium–ion batteries can be made entirely from earth-abundant elements such as Mn, Fe and Al, and they are also cheaper than lithium–ion. Batteries which use ions that can transport more than one charge, such as Mg, Ca, and Zn-ions, also offer promising alternatives. However, better electrode materials are required to improve their performance. Dr House is exploring a new class of electrode materials which can store energy more densely than the existing state-of-the-art. His research aims to understand the fundamental charge storage processes, structural transitions and ion transport mechanisms which govern the performance of these materials to advance the next generation of batteries beyond Li–ion.