QU team develops high-performance, thrifty battery packs

The Center for Advanced Materials (CAM) at Qatar University (QU) has produced full cylindrical cells to fabricate cost-effective, high performance small battery packs for commercial applications.
The battery research group at CAM is oriented towards developing cost-effective energy storage materials utilising microwave-assisted synthesis techniques, a statement explained.
The objective of this modified synthesis technique is to substantially reduce the cost of batteries, facilitating easy commercialisation. In order to further explore the opportunities and expected future applications, active research on the design, development, and characterisation of energy storage materials is in progress at CAM under the leadership of Dr Abdul Shakoor.
Recently, a team of researchers at CAM published new articles in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds and the Journal of Applied Surface Science. More importantly, high voltage cathode materials (Li2NiPO4F) well suited to Qatar climate (55C) have also been developed through a novel synthesis process, which is accepted/considered for a US patent.
The research group has published more than 25 journal articles on synthesising and characterisation of various cathode/anode materials for lithium/sodium ion batteries, in addition to a book chapter. They have also successfully obtained the fund required for this research through projects supported by QU and the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).
This applied research is in progress through various funded projects, mainly including: “Optimisation of high voltage cathodes and electrolytes of lithium-ion batteries for grid applications in Qatar climate conditions,” “MXene decorated cathode materials for high-performance energy storage applications,” Advanced high voltage (~ 6.0 V) mixed anion fluorophosphate materials (Li2MPO4F) and MXene-based cathode/anode, which are developed and characterised owing to their promising performance.
The team includes research assistant Zawar Qureshi, graduate students Buzaina Moossa, R A Harindi Gayara and undergraduate students Abdul Moiz Ahmed, Ahsan Ishtiaq Qureshi, and Muntaha Elsadig Siddig Ali.
The team at CAM is also actively collaborating with Prof Siham al-Qaradawi (Professor of Organic Chemistry at QU’s College of Arts and Sciences), and Prof Ramazan Kahraman (Professor of Chemical Engineering at QU’s College of Engineering), to understand the charge/discharge behaviour of developed cathodes/anodes in order to improve the performance of the batteries.
The team is diligently trying to create a unique and cost-effective synthesis process, in addition to novel chemistries of electrode materials to fulfill the future energy requirement and widen the scope of application of batteries, resulting in a cleaner sustainable society, as promised in Qatar National Vision 2030.
The research team at CAM has collaborated with Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Lisbon, Portugal. Around 60% of the scientific publications at IST involve international collaborations with researchers from highly reputable research organisations. QU and IST have undertaken a series of collaborative projects on energy storage materials.