Advanced environmental and energy material processing

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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.