Sustainable microwave manufacturing of functional inorganic materials (SuMMa)

为特定应用交付定制的、量身定制的功能材料通常需要多步骤和/或定制的制造过程，这些过程可能并不总是可转移的。该研究项目汇集了来自英国各地的专家，目标是设计、开发和部署可持续的微波制造工艺，提供定制的无机功能材料，这些材料是目前制造方法无法大规模获得的。微波处理提供了独特的控制和加热特性，当与明智的反应物选择相结合时，可以缩短反应时间（从几天到几分钟），避免不必要的副反应，从而导致不需要的额外产物，并通过减轻缺陷形成来改善短程结晶度。与传统方法相比，这些优点代表了相当大的优势，传统方法的处理可能导致影响性能的缺陷。目前，合成最先进的定制功能材料需要额外的资源需求，无论是多步骤工艺还是更多的能源密集型处理。解决此类材料的生产是提供具有苛刻性能标准的材料的关键挑战，例如用于高功率密度应用的纳米结构阴极或用于长循环寿命的纹理电极。微波的独特特性为实现高价值功能材料提供了更环保、更快、更有针对性的制造途径。在这里，我们的目标是扩大（公斤/天）纳米结构和多面阴极颗粒的合成，关键交付(i)微波流反应器生产高质量的锂离子电池正极材料，其主要颗粒形态和性能是传统合成路线无法获得的；（ii）通过提供资源效率，将制造资源使用减少到所需数量的可持续途径。多层次优化和循环经济原则。实现这种可持续的微波制造路线，以实现下一代电动汽车应用的高价值储能阴极，有机会为英国经济化学工业每年价值27亿英镑的机会做出重大贡献。

Delivery of bespoke, tailored functional materials for specific applications often requires multistep and/or custom manufacturing processes which may not always be transferable. This programme of research brings together experts fromacross the UK with the goal of designing, developing and deploying sustainable microwave manufacturing processes that deliver bespoke inorganic functional materials not accessible at scale by current manufacturing methods. Microwaveprocessing affords unique control and heating characteristics which, when coupled with judicious reactant choice, can shorten reaction times (from days to minutes), avoid unwanted side-reactions which can lead to unwanted additionalproducts and improve short-range crystallinity by alleviating defect formation. These benefits represent considerable advantanges over traditional methods, where processing can lead to defects which plague performance.Synthesis of state-of-the-art, tailored functional materials currently requires additional resource demands, be they multistep processes or more energy-intensive treatments. Solving the production of such materials represents a key challenge in delivering materials with demanding performance criteria, e.g. nanostructured cathodes for high power density applications or textured electrodes for long cycle life. The unique properties of microwaves offer a greener, faster, and more targeted manufacturing route to achieving high value functional materials. Here, we target the scaled-up (kg/day) synthesis of nanostructured and faceted cathode particles, with the key delivery of (i) a microwave flow reactor producing high quality Li-ion battery cathode materials with primary particle morphologies and performances not accessible by traditional synthetic routes and (ii) a sustainable route to the reduction of manufacturing resource use, to just the amount required, through delivery of resource efficiency, multi-level optimization and circular economy principles. Realising this sustainable microwave manufacturing route to high value energy storage cathodes of immediate interest for next-generation electric vehicle applications has the opportunity to contribute in a significant way to a UK economic chemical industry opportunity worth a potential £2.7B per year.