Prospecting for advanced battery materials

Modern society is highly dependent on portable power sources to power portable electronic devices (laptop computers, mobile phones etc.). Batteries are currently the power source of choice for such devices, however due to technological improvement in devices, today's battery systems will not effectively power tomorrow's devices. As such, a parallel improvement in battery technology is required in tandem with forecast technological improvements. Rather than delve into deep fundamental studies into established battery materials which projects mainly incremental improvement in performance, this work is aimed at uncovering next-generation battery materials, by producing cathode materials which likely posses desirable properties, such as high discharge voltage and capacity, good rate capabilities, and being also reasonably economic and environmentally benign.