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The University of Southampton
Chemistry

Prestigious Fellowship for Dr Nuria Garcia-Araez boosts lithium battery research

Published: 17 June 2016
Dr Nuria Garcia-Araez
Dr Nuria Garcia-Araez

Southampton electrochemist Dr Nuria Garcia-Araez has been awarded an Individual Fellowship by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to aid her research into lithium-air and lithium-sulphur batteries. This personal award will enable the scientist to spend 60 percent of her time over the next five years exploring whether these promising technologies could eventually power the next generation of electric cars.

“Lithium air and lithium sulphur batteries have tremendous potential as they can be small in size and weight and provide large amounts of energy,” she explains. “It is an exciting area of research. I want to change the chemistry of the reaction mechanism almost completely and believe we can make progress if I can devote more time to the work.” Nuria also plans to develop allied projects such as lithium recycling and continue teaching during her Fellowship.

Electric vehicles could help meet challenging European Union targets for energy efficiency, but current batteries are too heavy, too expensive and need recharging too often to offer a real alternative to conventional fuel.

EPSRC Fellowships are awarded to help the UK’s best scientists and engineers to become future leaders by concentrating on their research specialisms. The Research Council is keen to support research into alternative energies through the scheme and has made the theme a priority for funding.

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