30 Jun Awardee shows how small steps in battery manufacturing can have significant impact

Australian Battery Society – Innovator Award Winner Motjaba

5 minutes with Motjaba

At Energy Renaissance, we are proud to sponsor and support the winners of the Australian Battery Society – Energy Renaissance Innovator Award. We are thrilled to introduce you to one of our award recipients, Motjaba Eftekharnia from Deakin University. Motjaba will be visiting the United Kingdom to visit 2 battery manufacturing plants.

Lets have 5 minutes with Motjaba!

Tell us about your research and what inspired you to work on this topic?

The focus of my research is on the manufacturing of advanced lithium-metal batteries. Advanced lithium-metal batteries in ionic liquid electrolytes have shown promising performance at small scale. However, to bring these technologies to the market, their manufacturing challenges must be understood and addressed.

Battery Technology Research and Innovation Hub (BatTRI Hub) at Deakin University is a world-class battery prototyping facility in which some battery manufacturing processes can be studied. I started to work at this facility as a research Engineer and soon after I become particularly interested in understanding of the critical factors in manufacturing of advanced lithium-metal batteries as I realized that my mechanical engineering skills and experience would aid me to contribute into this exciting field of research.

What is the most exciting thing you are doing as part of your studies?

I have experienced many times in my research that how a small step in the battery manufacturing can significantly impact the performance of a battery. Realizing the small yet crucial steps in this process is very exciting as in the end it will provide me with an invaluable insight into battery manufacturing that will help me to advance lithium-metal battery technologies and open up great avenues in my career.

How has the Energy Renaissance Innovator Award funding helped you?

I have planned to visit two battery manufacturing plants in UK using the Energy Renaissance Innovator Award. It will provide me with a great opportunity to find out about all processes of battery manufacturing. Having a clear picture of current battery manufacturing processes will help me to come up with solutions for the challenges of advanced lithium-metal battery manufacturing.

What impact do you think your studies will have on energy storage in the future, especially for the commercialisation of your energy storage technology in Australia?

Lithium-metal batteries based on ionic liquid electrolytes offer high energy density, safety and excellent performance which are all critical factors for future energy storage systems. However, an energy storage technology must be manufacturable and economically competitive. Battery manufacturing processes and cost play a major role in commercialisation of a battery technology, I believe that my research contributes considerably to the commercialisation of advanced lithium-metal batteries based on ionic liquid electrolytes.