Digital event offers insight into future of energy storage

The Graphene For series is designed to introduce a digital element to the Graphene Flagship’s already established in-person event calendar. It will enable the sharing and discussion of research while it is more difficult for physical events to take place, and beyond. The events are open to everyone but will be particularly useful for those currently working in the fields of graphene and layered materials or have an interest in this innovative industry.

The first event in the series, Graphene For Energy Storage, took place in late June and gathered experts in the field of energy storage from across the globe. It is now available to watch for free on the Graphene Flagship’s YouTube channel.

Keynote speakers included Nobel laureate ​Konstantin Novoselov, from Graphene Flagship partner the University of Manchester, UK, who gave a talk ontwo-dimensional materials and opportunities in energy.

Kristina Edström, of Uppsala University, Sweden, followed. Her research specialises in lithium batteries and the chemistry of fuel cells. During the event, Edström focused on the future of batteries and the need for new and more efficient materials to meet the growing demand for batteries in Europe and worldwide, particularly for electric vehicles.

“If we want to create batteries with double the energy storage capacity, the materials used to make them must offer even higher performance,” explained Edström. “Performance is just one aspect though, we must also consider safety, lifetime, sustainability, emissions, simplicity of manufacturing and applications. It’s really a new challenge for the whole value chain.”

Yury Gogotsi, of Drexel University, USA also spoke at the event. He discussed how to store more energy, faster, thanks tographene and layered materials in supercapacitors.

As with all events in this series, Graphene for Energy Storage concluded with a panel discussion on how to translate science into real-life applications. Jari Kinaret, Director of the Graphene Flagship, said: “In the Graphene Flagship when we plan project stages, we typically focus on two questions. The first is what is doable, and the second is what is worth doing.

“Often, academics contribute a little more to the answer of the first question and industries contribute more to the answer of the second,” Kinaret continued. “Then we need to find the overlap. It's really a question of collaborating and using each other's strengths.”

Collaboration is fundamental to the activities of the Graphene Flagship. The next instalment of thisevent series will be Graphene For Research, Innovation, Collaboration, a three-day event, taking place across 22nd-24th September 2020. The event will also be held digitally and will cover a broad range of topics related the latest scientific advances on graphene and layered materials, the most recent innovations, and a session on the possibilities of graphene for sustainable applications.

Moreover, this will host the launch of the ‘Diversity in Graphene’ initiative, a programme to foster diversity and inclusion of under-represented communities in materials science. Registration is now open.