Bridging the Research-Industry Divide
Bridging the gap between fundamental research and product development requires a substantial, risk-moderated investment that is not only possible but necessary, according to materials scientist Professor Jose Alarco.
Alarco is an expert in the complex world of batteries — everything from energy-dense materials, storage and life cycle to improved safety through the development of ceramic-coated separators and battery pack design.
Batteries are essential to the future of transportation, portable electronics, and the storage and efficient use of renewable energy, but market demand is outstripping the speed of science, which often requires proof of concept and pilot-scale results to prove commercial viability.
However, Alarco says there is a shortcut proven to attract industry investment.
“Fundamental research is essential, but big funding has to come from commercial activities — from profitable companies that can afford to invest back into research,” Alarco said.
“So, researchers will increasingly look to industry for funding, but commercial enterprises will look for ways to make money when deciding on good investments.
“Focusing on fundamental research with an immediate or near-future market application will help researchers attract industry investment.
“If researchers are going to have an impact on funding, we need to demonstrate the viability of our fundamental research with experimentation that gets us as close as possible to the real product, for which there is an existing market.
“We also need to have viable, preliminary cost projections that indicate potential returns on investment for the developed product.
“The best way to accelerate the answers is to combine experimental and theoretical work, addressing all the practical product requirements specified by the industry.”
Narrow the focus and speed research to outcomes
Fundamental research aims to improve scientific theories while applied research uses those theories to develop new products or technologies.
Alarco does both and aims to see industrial outcomes from his fundamental research within five years from project commencement, or earlier if possible.
Once the theoretical groundwork has been established and validated, he expedites the research journey by using computational modelling to simulate outcomes, which narrows the field of exploration and targets relevant experiments.
“Computational modelling can save a lot of time and money in terms of experimentation costs. Even the few subsequent experiments you conduct will fit within a validated theoretical framework and almost immediately give your applied research context for interpretation.
“The initial workload is similar to an empirical research approach, but the timeframe afterwards is condensed by combining theory with just a few targeted experiments.
After the initial theoretical work has been carried out, using further computational modelling may better align the research timeframe with industry expectations.
“A lot of groundwork is done in the first year, but in a week or two after that, you can almost answer the problem you want to solve experimentally,” Alarco said.
“It’s an unusual way of experimentation but is proved to get industry involved.”
While Alarco uses computational modelling as a shortcut to outcomes in his own experimental research, he says there can be an academic trade-off.
“The outcome of experimentation is what brings in funding but can delay academic publication. However, once we achieve funding, we can go back to complete the fundamental work.
“You can also use modelling to target which fundamental aspect of the research you should be publishing.”
Modelling industrial applications
Alarco uses computational modelling in his research on new battery technologies through the QUT Centre for Materials Science, QUT Clean Energy Technologies and Practices, Future Battery Industries CRC, and the ARENA H2Export program.
To assess larger-scale batteries for grid applications, his colleagues also model design and performance using a variety of programs.
“There are software packages, used in industry, which are amazing tools for multi-scale development of batteries from material stages all the way to performance in engineering applications.
“One can model the material of an electrochemical cell, how it would perform in the cell, with different electrolytes and in a pack design.”
Improved battery safety can also be modelled by optimising maintenance cycles and monitoring or replacing cells if one deviates from its performance.
“In pack design, you need some ability for heat dissipation otherwise the electrolyte could become unstable. If one cell gets too hot it can catch fire, which is called thermal runaway.
“This can also lead to thermal propagation — where one cell heats an adjacent cell with more catastrophic results. So, battery pack design is certainly a safety issue, particularly for very large packs,” Alarco said.
Match your research vision with market demand
In addition to increased safety and performance, market demand for batteries with higher energy density is also driving global research.
Alarco uses computational modelling to design new materials and predict performance.
“We haven’t even fully developed all the characteristics for some of the promising materials the battery market wants but safe, high energy density is the goal,” Alarco said.
The higher the energy density of a material, the greater the amount of energy stored in its mass, but often only part of the energy can be extracted before the integrity is compromised.
Smaller, lighter materials that store more extractable energy than current battery materials are of great interest to companies dealing with portable technologies such as mobile phones.
Alarco is particularly focused on the design of the multiple interfaces in a battery cell, including those between metal collectors, cathodes, anodes, electrolytes and separators, that improve energy sustainability and efficiency and increase the safety of high energy density batteries.
Computational tools allow Alarco to design materials and interfaces with predicted properties before he validates those predictions with experimental evidence.
Based on successful experimentation, and if a valid commercial demand is justified, Alarco will then translate lab results to pilot scale processes.
Collaborate with industry on targeted experiments
Alarco sources the material for his ceramic coated separators from the Lava Blue pilot plant.
QUT’s Dr Sara Couperthwaite, established the pilot-plant with Lava Blue and the Innovative Manufacturing CRC to prove her tailored chemical processing of high purity alumina (HPA) from low-value kaolin clay at industrial scale.
“We synthesise the HPA to meet required specifications, whilst maintaining a >99.99% purity level,” said Couperthwaite, an industrial chemist with the QUT School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering.
“With the HPA, researchers can then work out how to prepare the material as a battery separator coating and eventually test its performance.”
Alarco says the ceramic properties of HPA make it appealing as a protection barrier for the polymeric separator material.
“Alumina is ceramic, which generally refers to very refractory material. It is one of those very stable metal oxides that can go to very high temperatures without change.
“A battery could overheat several hundreds of degrees. If the polymeric separator melts and disappears but the ceramic remains in place, it prevents a shortage between the cathode and anode.”
Alarco’s team develops, characterises and optimises the alumina particles for coated separators then validates performance in battery cells.
“We ensure the alumina particles are at the optimum size and porosity to allow the right adhesion onto the porous polymeric membranes, then test the properties of these coated separators.
“Nail penetration test can show if the new battery is safer by contrast and doesn’t overheat as much when a cell is punctured,” Alarco said.
“Potential battery penetration is the reason flight attendants tell you not to try to retrieve a dropped mobile phone. If you recline your seat to look for it and the phone is caught in the mechanism, it can be punctured and start a fire.”
Scaling-up samples and packaging
While aligning fundamental research to target commercial applications will make projects more attractive to investors, pilot-scale plants are also building bridges between academia and industry.
“There are limited groups doing translation work to industry scale and industry decision-makers won’t usually involve themselves in anything small-scale unless it’s of strategic value,” Alarco said.
“So, if you have something of interest you need to be prepared to invest in upscaling samples.”
Alarco speaks from experience having helped establish the pilot plant for battery powder manufacturing and Australia’s first dry room labs for lithium-ion cell manufacturing, both based at QUT.
The battery cathode and anode typically consist of powder materials, which are mixed with conducting additives, binders and solvents, to be made into inks that are printed onto the respective conducting electrodes.
“We started with battery powder. When we had that we worked on the cells and are now getting more involved in battery pack design. Eventually, we will progress to working on the battery management system,” Alarco said.
Packaging new materials as products also has a big impact on investment success.
“The black powder we use in batteries would look like a dirty mess to an investor. If we show them how to make that into a battery that can be used in their radio or house, they understand its value.
“Likewise, scientifically and technically we have very good work in terms of sensors and devices, but a prototype might look like a board with a number of wires going everywhere.
“If you can afford the design work to package your device as a neatly presented commercial product, that prototype is probably going to be the one to attract funding.”
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