The Energy Storage Research Laboratory currently has its base in the Discipline of Chemistry at the University of Newcastle. The focus of our research is in many different areas of energy storage including batteries, supercapacitors and fuels cells.

However, there are two general objectives of our energy storage research: (i) the development of new materials with enhanced performance compared to existing industry standards; and (ii) fundamental material characterization to understand charge storage and charge transfer processes.

Energy storage researchThe global battery market is both highly lucrative and highly competitive. As a result continual energy storage research and the development of new and improved materials or battery systems is essential to give laboratories a competitive advantage over the competition.

In order to maintain competitive in this environment the Battery Research Laboratory focuses on refining the performance characteristics of materials used in existing cell chemistries, as well as the development of more novel battery systems through the Laboratories focus on creating a superior fundamental understanding of the battery system being studied.

This approach has proven highly profitable for the Laboratory, and has resulted in it being the recipient of significant funding from Delta EMD, Australia Pty Ltd, a global leader in the production of electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) for alkaline MnO2/Zn cells.