Ji Hu

Background
Ji graduated as a Bachelor of Material Engineering (with Honours) from Monash University, Melbourne in Australia. During his undergraduate studies, he was actively involved in projects relating to organic solar cell and battery technology from Australia Synchrotron and Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN). After graduation, Ji became an engineer and project coordinator at BYD, which is one of the largest electric vehicle battery manufacturers in the world. The engineering experience in China gave Ji sufficient motivation to further develop his knowledge and experience in advanced batteries research such as all solid state battery and Lithium Sulphur battery which has potential to be the next generation energy storage device. In 2019, Ji joined UCL and the battery team in the EIL to start his PhD.

Research Summary
Ji's research interests are in developing advanced solid electrolyte Material and Lithium Dendrite formation mechanism in all solid state battery. By replacing flammable liquid electrolyte with Solid Oxide electrolyte, the battery is more chemically stable towards high temperature and various chemical environment, which makes lithium metal and sulphur electrode possible for practical use. In this case, the theoretical energy density can be further improved when compared with current commercial lithium ion battery. In his project, Ji will use various synthesis methods (e.g Sol-gel, Solid sintering) to produce solid electrolyte material. X-ray diffraction, SEM, TEM would be used for Electrolyte Material characterization. Novel technology like X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) may be used for characterizing battery degradation performance with this electrolyte material.