Distinguished seminar: «Sustainability in the supply chain of battery research: from materials to cells»
Summary
The global need to move away from fossil-fuel consumption, and produce clean energy sustainably requires new ways to safely store and produce energy in a more sustainable manner. Technologies beyond Li-ion batteries are being pursued since these batteries require the use of scarce, toxic and unethically resourced materials for their fabrication pushing the need to develop novel and improved technologies. Therefore, designing energy storage materials and devices to maintain critical components in use for as long as possible needs to become a reality by using i) high energy density and abundant materials (e.g. sodium, sulfur, oxygen), ii) safer electrolytes (non-volatile and non-flammable) and iii) exploring sustainable sources of materials from secondary sources.
In this presentation I will present some of my current research on metal air batteries using safer electrolytes (ionic liquids and hybrid electrolytes), as well as novel carbon nanofiber air cathodes compositions and morphologies. I will cover the cathode reaction mechanism in detail which is normally the limiting step on the long term cyclability.
My presentation will also cover some of my current research on extraction and recovery of critical metals from secondary waste, using greener methods and usage of chemicals which minimise the generation of waste, pollution and energy consumption have emerged as an ecofriendly alternative to traditional metal recovery processes. An approach combining deep eutectic solvents, ionic liquids and electrochemistry is strongly aligned with the global SDG 13- climate action -by reducing CO2 emissions in comparison with other methods, while maintaining the efficiency to the well stablished hydrometallurgy process.
Short bio
A/Prof. Pozo-Gonzalo has worked at the Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University in Melbourne (Australia) for 11 years, and currently, she is an ARAID fellow, funded by the Aragon government, working at the Carboquimica Institute-CSIC on sustainable energy storage materials and technologies. She attained her Degree and honours at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). After graduating, she received her PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) working with Prof. Peter J. Skabara on the electrochemical synthesis of Conducting Polymers. From 2004, she joined the Centre for Electrochemical Technologies in San Sebastian, (Spain) as the Head of Electrooptical unit where she stayed for 7 years. After moving to Australia, she has been working with Prof. Alan Bond at Monash University and in 2012 she joined Deakin University where she has been working in reversible metal air battery with advanced electrolytes, ionic liquids funded by ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES).
. Since 2018, she has been focusing on circular economy in energy materials, working on the recovery of critical raw materials from end of life devices using sustainable methods, as well as redesign of materials for energy. At Deakin University, she is also a theme champion for energy materials as part of the University’s Circular Economy mission pillar. She is a board member of the Journal Sustainable Chemistry and Associate Editor of RSC sustainability. During her research career, she has authored and co-authored 98 peer-review international publications, 3 book chapters and holds 4 patents, in the areas of electrochemistry, circular economy and energy storage. She has supervised 11 Postdoctoral Research Fellows, 13 PhD students (7 to completion, 5 current), and 11 undergraduate students. She has led a total of 36 projects, 14 of them with industry partners, and 5 prestigious European funded projects within different calls STRP-FP6, FP7-NMP, RISE generating a total income of more than AU$4M.
