skip to content

Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

Geoffrey Moorhouse Gibson Professor of Chemistry

Room M21

Materials Chemistry: Structure and Function

We use a wide range of techniques, including solid state NMR and diffraction, to investigate local structure and the role that this plays in controlling the physical properties of technologically important, but disordered materials.

Rechargeable Batteries

New batteries are required for transport applications and for storage and load-leveling on the electrical grid. These batteries should be capable of being charged and discharged faster, and should store much more power, than the batteries currently available. This requires the development of new electrode chemistries and an understanding of how these systems function. To this end, we study a variety of different rechargeable batteries including lithium and sodium ion batteries (LIBs and NIBs).  We probe the mechanisms for lithium insertion and extraction by, for example, using 6Li/7Li NMR and investigate the effect of local structure and electronic properties on LIB battery performance. Two types of electrode materials are investigated, those that operate via intercalation reactions, where the structure remains largely intact upon Li insertion, and those that react via conversion reactions where the structures transform completely upon reaction with Li. In the latter reactions, our studies focus on identifying the nano-sized (or amorphous) phases that form on Li reaction, how they are formed and how to improve the reversibilities of these reactions. Studies of intercalation compounds include the effect of cation doping and ordering on the mechanisms by which these materials react.

In-situ NMR Studies of Battery and Supercapacitor Function

We have developed NMR methodology to monitor structural changes that occur during the operation of a battery/supercapacitor. These in-situ NMR studies allow us to, for example, capture metastable phases, follow reactions between the electrolyte and the electrode materials and to investigate the effect of rapid charging and cycling of the battery.  For supercapacitors, we can, for example, monitor ions entering or leaving the pores of the highly porous materials that form the electrodes of these devices. 

Solid-State Electrolytes for Fuel Cells and Solid State Batteries 

We use NMR to study investigate mechanisms for ionic conduction. By identifying individual crystallographic or interstitial sites in often highly disordered materials, we can determine which sites are responsible for ionic conduction, where the vacancies or interstitial ions are located, and obtain a much deeper understanding of how these materials function as ionic conductors. Studies focus on perovskite materials, which can act as both oxygen and proton (when hydrated) conductors.  We also investigate both oxide and sulphide-based lithium ion conductors for solid state batteries 

Take a tour of the Grey lab facilities

 

Publications

Nanostructured MOFs through defect engineering
M Cliffe, CP Grey
– ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA A-FOUNDATION AND ADVANCES
(2017)
73,
C354
New developments in surface-enhanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy and their applications
SR Chaudhari, JM Griffin, M Lelli, K Broch, V Lemaur, Y Olivier, H Sirringhaus, CP Grey, A Lessage, L Emsley
– ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA A-FOUNDATION AND ADVANCES
(2017)
73,
C321
Reversible capacity of conductive carbon additives at low potentials: Caveats for testing alternative anode materials for Li-ion batteries
KA See, MA Lumley, GD Stucky, CP Grey, R Seshadri
– Journal of the Electrochemical Society
(2016)
164,
A327
A systematic study of (25)Mg NMR in paramagnetic transition metal oxides: applications to Mg-ion battery materials.
J Lee, ID Seymour, AJ Pell, SE Dutton, CP Grey
– Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
(2016)
19,
613
Sustainability and in situ monitoring in battery development
CP Grey, JM Tarascon
– Nature materials
(2016)
16,
45
Fluoroethylene carbonate and vinylene carbonate reduction: Understanding lithium-ion battery electrolyte additives and solid electrolyte interphase formation
AL Michan, BS Parimalam, M Leskes, RN Kerber, T Yoon, CP Grey, BL Lucht
– Chemistry of Materials
(2016)
28,
8149
Mechanistic Insights into the Challenges of Cycling a Nonaqueous Na-O2 Battery
T Liu, G Kim, MTL Casford, CP Grey
– Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
(2016)
7,
4841
Insights into the Nature and Evolution upon Electrochemical Cycling of Planar Defects in the β‑NaMnO2 Na-Ion Battery Cathode: An NMR and First-Principles Density Functional Theory Approach
RJ Clément, DS Middlemiss, ID Seymour, AJ Ilott, CP Grey
– Chemistry of Materials
(2016)
28,
8228
Identifying the Distribution of Al3+ in Li­Ni0.8­Co0.15­Al0.05­O2
NM Trease, ID Seymour, MD Radin, H Liu, H Liu, S Hy, N Chernova, P Parikh, A Devaraj, KM Wiaderek, PJ Chupas, KW Chapman, MS Whittingham, YS Meng, A Van Der Van, CP Grey
– Chemistry of Materials
(2016)
28,
8170
Mechanistic insights into sodium storage in hard carbon anodes using local structure probes
JM Stratford, PK Allan, O Pecher, PA Chater, CP Grey
– Chemical Communications
(2016)
52,
12430
  • <
  • 36 of 82
  • >

Research Group

Research Interest Groups

Email address

cpg27@cam.ac.uk