Advanced Energy Materials Group
The group was represented at the UK Flow Battery Network Annual Meeting held at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre at the University of Manchester on the 2nd February 2026. Ana as part of the UK Flow Battery Network committee chaired the first session of invited talks. Maadri, Natalia and Haoyuan presented their posters on designing freestanding electrodes for flow batteries. It was great to hear updates from the flow battery community and look forward to the next meeting.
Ana presented her work on sustainable electrodes for flow batteries at the 2026 joint Thomas Young Centre and Lennard-Jones Centre conference, highlighting areas where computational tools are key in order to optimise the performance of flow battery electrode materials. Electrodes need to exhibit tailored surface chemistry that enables fast kinetics, but at the same time they must have a 3D porous structure that allows the electrolyte flow through them effectively.
This year we celebrated Christmas locally, in East London. At 2pm, we did a mistery hunt around Aldgate and Whitechapel to solve a series of murders by Jack The Ripper! We completed it in record time! Well done everyone! 🙂 Then, we went to a pub and had some nibbles and drinks, and open our Secret Santa’s presents – this year the theme was “what makes you merry!” Everyone had a fantastic time!
Ana had a fantastic time in Lancaster University. A day full of meetings with academics, learning about exciting research activities going on there! I enjoyed visiting the facilities and answering all the questions from the audience! Thanks so much for the invitation.
Ana gave a seminar at Oxford University on the 20th October 2025. She presented her work around engineering and synthetic approaches to promote faster kinetics and higher performance in hematite photoelectrodes. Ana had a great time meeting different academics in the Chemistry Department and visiting their facilities.
Michael Thielke presented the concept of his EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship on Li-S batteries using electrospinning, as part of flash presentations organised for the PDRAs in the department. Great job, Michael!
Maadri and Natalia presented their posters at the Octagon as part of the Industrial Liaison Forum (ILF) held at QMUL on the 5th November 2025. Both did a great job engaging with the visitors and sharing the results of their ongoing PhD projects!
Some of us visited the group of Prof Milana Trifkovic at University of Calgary as part of a Royal Society International Exchanges Grant. The university and landscape in Calgary were amazing and we were able to enjoy a bit of nature over the weekend! Milana’s group were very welcoming and fantastic hosts! Hattie, Jesus and Michael presented their work to Milana’s group and found a few opportunities for collaboration that we will follow up and hopefully lead to more interactions and interesting outcomes! We are looking forward to hosting Milana and her group back in London soon!
Ana presented her group’s work on alternative electrodes for flow batteries in the Symposium organised by UCL, Imperial ad Wiley. It was great to share the group’s work and listen to all the great talks. Thanks so much for the invitation!
Maadri was awarded runner up prize in the Wiley Advanced Portfolio’s One-day Symposium on Energy Storage Conversion, held in collaboration with UCL and Imperial College London at UCL East (12 September 2025). Congratulations Maadri!
In September, Maadri and Ana went to Cambridge to participate in the SLB/ Academia collaboration week (1-2 September 2025). Maadri presented a poster summarising her PhD project on textile-waste as electrodes for flow batteries, and main results to date. Maadri’s PhD is supported by an ICASE PhD studentship with SLB (industrial supervisor: Dr Adam Colbourne). Ana gave an invited talk on sustainable electrodes for flow batteries.
