Vertical Graphene for Aluminium-Ion Batteries

Research Project, 2022 – 2025

Current Li-ion batteries have many limitations, including long-term raw materials availability, high prices, and safety issues. The VEGA project aims to design high-performing cathode materials for innovative aluminium-based metal ion batteries (AIBs) using graphene and graphene-related materials to provide higher discharge capacity and energy density than existing materials.
VEGA will provide a step towards understanding the fundamental principles and applications of AIBs by designing advanced graphene-based cathode materials, establishing a fast and easy plasma-enabled technology for graphene production, and understanding the basics of metal-ion intercalation using operando techniques. As the morphology and orientation of cathode materials have a critical role on the performance of AIBs, we propose the growth of vertical graphene nanosheets (VGN) with varied interlayer distances as base cathode materials using a plasma-enhanced chemical deposition process. VEGA will go beyond the state of the art with a combination of VGN and layered transition metal derivatives (oxides, sulphides and selenides) as cathode materials to improve total AIB stability and energy density. Operando XRD and Raman techniques will be used during charging/discharging processes to understand the basic principles of intercalation chemistry, with the goal to fabricate practical AIBs using graphene-related materials.