Advanced environmental and energy material processing

拟议的研究计划旨在加速“先进环境和能源材料加工”领域的发现，目标是为先进的水净化技术和锂离子电池存储技术的新型可持续材料的发展做出重大贡献。这是通过水溶液工艺工程和先进材料的创新整合来实现的。清洁水以及负担得起的清洁能源是我们研究的重点，也是联合国2030年可持续发展目标的一部分。此外，我们的工作旨在为工业创新和气候保护做出贡献，这是另外两个重要的全球和国家优先目标。我们的环境工作重点是全光谱光催化材料工程及其在废水中as、Se、Sb等低毒元素净化中的应用。我们的能源材料研究重点是通过可持续加工为新兴的电动汽车（EV）锂离子（LIB）电池领域开发新材料。该研究旨在为下一代锂电池做出贡献，其特点是提高能量密度，实现更长距离的驾驶，更长的循环寿命，以及安全性（不使用易燃化学品），成本更低，元素丰富，可直接回收。该计划将为培养超过15名各级研究学生和研究员提供肥沃的土壤，从大学/研究生研究阶段到研究生学位（硕士和博士）以及博士后水平。在我们向低碳经济转型的过程中，先进绿色能源材料加工培训是优先领域之一。我们的研究学员有望成为未来的清洁技术创新者，为加拿大以创新为基础的制造业做出贡献。快速发展的电动汽车（EV）运输新产业创造了新的经济机会，像这里提出的研究是至关重要的支持。例如，预计明年LIB市场的价值将超过700亿美元，到2020年，电动汽车的年销量将增长10倍（达到3000万辆/年）。对这一方向同样至关重要的是，拟议在废旧电动汽车电池直接回收领域进行的研究——到2030年，这一行业预计将增长到每年200万吨废旧锂电池。2019年锂离子电池的回收率不到5%。如果电动汽车电池行业要实现可持续发展，并真正实现循环经济模式，这种情况必须改变。但这必须以一种智能和可持续的方式进行，目标是将环境足迹降到最低，而不仅仅是回收有价值的金属。总之，拟议的研究计划与国家和全球环境和能源研发重点非常一致，提供了一个优秀的HQP培训平台。

The proposed research program aims to accelerate discovery in the area of "advanced environmental and energy material processing" with the goal of making significant contributions towards the development of advanced water decontamination technology and new sustainable materials for Li-ion battery storage technologies. This is approached via the innovative integration of aqueous solution process engineering and advanced materials. Clean water as well as affordable and clean energy, that constitute the focus of our research, are among the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, our work aims to contribute towards industrial innovation and climate protection-two other important global and national priority goals. Our environmental work has as focus the engineering of full-spectrum photocatalytic materials and their application to waste water cleaning of low-level toxic elements like As, Se, Sb etc. Our energy material research is focusing on developing new materials for the burgeoning electric vehicle (EV) Li-ion (LIB) battery sector via sustainable processing. The research aims to contribute to the next generation LIBs characterized by enhanced energy density for longer-range drive, long cycling life, and safety (using no flammable chemicals) made at lower cost and from abundant elements that are amenable to direct recycling. The proposed program will provide a fertile ground for training more than 15 research students and fellows at all levels from u/grad research stages to post-graduate degrees (MSc and PhD) as well as at the post-doctoral level. Training in advanced green energy material processing is among the priority areas as we are transitioning to low-carbon economy. Our research trainees are expected to become tomorrow's cleantech innovators contributing to Canada's innovation-based manufacturing sector. The fast-growing new industry of electric vehicle (EV) transportation creates new economic opportunities that research like the one proposed here is vital to support. For example, the value of the LIB market is expected to exceed $70 billion next year already and the annual EV sales to rise 10fold (to ~ 30 million units/y) by the end of the decade. Equally critical to this direction is the research proposed to be undertaken in the area of direct recycling of spent EV batteries-an industry that is expected to grow to 2 million tonnes/y of used LIBs by 2030. Recycling of LIBs in 2019 was less than 5%. This must change, if the EV battery industry is to become sustainable and true to the circular economy paradigm. But this must be done in a smart and sustainable way targeting minimum environmental footprint and not just recovery of the valuable metals. In conclusion the proposed research program is very well aligned with national and global environmental and energy R&D priorities offering an excellent HQP training platform.