The Zienkiewicz Institute holds various events throughout the year, including a prestigious annual Zienkiewicz Lecture.
Find out more about Faculty-wide Research Events.
The Zienkiewicz Institute Distinguished Seminar
Structural power composites: aspiring for 'massless' energy
Prof Emile S. Greenhalgh
Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies
Wednesday 15th May 2024, 13:00-16:00pm. Computational Foundry 003.
Refreshments available.
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 will focus 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.
Professor Greenhalgh has over 37 years’ experience in composites, including world leading expertise in polymer composite fractography and structural power composites. He is a Professor in Composite Materials in the Aeronautics Department at Imperial College London, holds a Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies and is joint Head of the Composite Centre at Imperial. He has led the field of fractographic analysis of polymer composites, having written the seminal text. He has pioneered Structural Power Composites, leading a multidisciplinary Group at Imperial College London who have a large portfolio of research in the field. The Group’s research has stimulated considerable academic, industrial and public interest.