Leading UK and US energy storage research institutes have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to support projects that develop new batteries and methods for recycling materials for use in electric vehicles.
One goal of the Faraday Institution (UK), and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) partnership is to establish a sustainable supply chain for critical battery materials, such as cobalt, and to establish a lithium battery recycling ecosystem.
The cooperative relationship MOU was signed at the Royal Institution during the first in a series of US-UK workshops on electrochemical energy storage by the institutes.
Both the workshop and the MOU identify areas of mutual interest in areas of key battery research, such as reducing reliance on critical materials in cathodes and to ensure recyclability of batteries.
Professor Pam Thomas, CEO of the Faraday Institution, said: “The depth and breadth of scientific knowledge across the US National Labs and the UK’s world-leading universities is what allows for this kind of innovative partnership.
“By strengthening the connections amongst the best battery research groups in the US and the UK, we will accelerate discovery and much needed breakthroughs in high-capacity cathode materials and develop recycling routes for lithium-ion batteries.”
UK Business Minister Lord Callanan said: “It is vital the UK continues to make efficient use of critical minerals through partnerships like this one and embed their re-use, recycling and recovery in the supply chain, as laid out in our new Critical Minerals Strategy.”
Main image: Peter F Green, NREL, and Pam Thomas, Faraday Institution. Photo by Adam Gasson / Faraday Institution