About the lecture
Adventurous material developments are needed to achieve net-zero transportation and meet the enormous challenges presented by the climate crisis: structural power composites are such a material. These are mechanically load-bearing polymeric composites but have the additional function of electrical energy storage. Such multifunctional materials dispense with the parasitic weight associated with conventional batteries, hence the aspiration for ‘massless’ energy. They not only offer significant mass and volume savings but provide a completely new approach to composite innovation. This emerging technology could become ubiquitous: our phones, cars, aircraft, infrastructure, etc. will all be realised by structural power composites, positioning this engineering advance at the heart of society.
This talk by Professor Emile S. Greenhalgh focuses on structural supercapacitors, with Prof Greenhalgh giving an overview of his research and his aspirations, introducing the concepts and motivation for their development. The talk will then describe the research efforts and challenges partitioned into constituent development, device assembly and characterisation, scale-up and demonstration, and multifunctional modelling and design. There will be particular focus on the latter, outlining the modelling opportunities and challenges. Finally, the potential adoption routes for structural power composites and an outlook for this emerging technology will be outlined.
