Oxide Energy Devices

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 We work on a range of functional oxides for energy devices, for applications in power transmission and energy generation (superconductors) to energy harvesting (for IoT) and energy storage (mainly for IoT and high temperature electronics). Recent examples include:

  • Development of novel oxide thin film materials and structures for solid state batteries.
  • New materials for relaxor ferroelectric used in energy storage.
  • Novel thin film micro-solid oxide cells for reversible electrolysis/micro fuel cell (see below)

Two Example Studies:

a) Enhancing Energy Storage in Ferroelectrics

We used Sm doping to nanoengineer the complex (Bi,Sm)FeO3-Ba(Ti,Sm)O3 ferroelectric to have polar nanoclusters. Work done in this area via collaboration with Tsinghua Univ., China via visiting PhD student, Hao Pan, and also with Dr. Ahmed Kursumovic in Driscoll group.

Figure. 1 Influence of  Sm doping on tuning the ferroelectric hysteresis and energy storage performance of (Bi,Sm)FeO3-Ba(Ti,Sm)O3. Related papers are: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ensm.2021.08.027, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi7687 and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.104536

b) Inducing High Oxide Ionic Conductivity by Stabilising doped d- Bi2O3

We demonstrate for the first time the growth of epitaxially stabilised highly ionically conducting Dy doped- δ-Bi2O3 which is not normally stable at lower operation temperatures. While some approaches using lateral epitaxial strain have been used, these have severe thickness limitations. Here, using a vertical nanocomposite approach, we were able to stabilise films to over 100 nm. Very high ionic conductivity values reaching 10−3 S cm−1 at 500 °C were achieved.

Figure 5.  Vertically aligned nanocomposite structure stabilising Dy doped- δ-Bi2O3 so it can operate at < 400 °C. Corresponding ionic conductivity values also shown, compared to superlattice films and bulk ESB. From our paper: https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ta07308g:

Prof. Driscoll warmly welcomes enquiries from prospective students, post-docs or visitors who are interested in working with us or learning more about what we do.

For a full list of MacManus-Driscoll publications, please see: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=-lYrze0AAAAJ&hl=en

Example Recent Papers

Wu R, Zhang Di, Gao X, Zhao S, Kursumovic A, Wang Y, Li W, Jing Q, Zhou Z, Liu M, Wang H, MacManus-Driscoll JL, Self-biased magnetoelectric switching at room temperature in three-phase ferroelectric–antiferromagnetic–ferrimagnetic nanocomposites, Nature Electronics, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00584-y,May 2021;4, 331.

Jagt RA, Andrei V, Rahaman T, MacManus-Driscoll JL, Hoye RL, Reisner E, Long-term solar water splitting and CO2 reduction with stable BiOI-BiVO4 oxide photoelectrochemical tandems, accepted Nature Materials, Mar. 2022.

Andrei V, Ucoski GM,  Pornrungroj C, Uswachoke C,  Wang Q, Achilleos DS,  Kasap H, Jagt RA, Lu H, Lawson T, Wagner A, Pike SD, Wright DS,  Hoye RLZH, MacManus-Driscoll JL, Joyce HJ, Friend RH, Reisner E, Floating perovskite-BiVO4 devices for scalable solar fuel production, accepted accepted Nature, Mar. 2022.

Acosta M, Baiutti F, Wang X, Cavallaro A, Wu J, Li W, Parker SC, Aguadero A, Wang H, Tarancon A, MacManus-Driscoll JL, Ultrafast oxygen reduction kinetics in (La,Sr)(Co,Fe)O3 vertically aligned nanocomposites below 300°C,  Journal of Power Sources, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2022.230983: Jan. 2022; 523, 23098.

Pan H, Lan S, Xu S, Zhang Q,  Yao H, Liu Y, Meng F, Guo E-J, Gu L, Wang RX, Huang H, MacManus-Driscoll JL, Chen LQ, Jin K-J, Nan CW, Lin Y-H, Ultrahigh energy storage in superparaelectric relaxor ferroelectrics, Science, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi7687, Oct. 2021; 374, 100.

MacManus-Driscoll, JL and Wimbush SC, ‘Advances in processing and application of high temperature superconducting coated conductors’, Nature ReviewsMaterials, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00290-3 Mar. 2021; 6, 587.

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