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A collaboration between PETRONAS Research, the University of Manchester and Deakin University has reimagined lithium battery chemistries by replacing flammable liquids with solid-state design, with the aim of creating a powerhouse that is fire-safe, longer-lasting, and can be viable for mass production.

Developing solid-state lithium metal batteries remains one of the biggest challenges in energy storage... Our work demonstrates that fine-tuning the chemistry and structure of our electrolytes can significantly enhance stability and cycle life.

Mega Kar

Q&A

What was your role within the team?

Geetha Srinivasan: I initiated this research, carrying out the first hands-on fabrication of electrolytes and pouch cells, and later served as the scientific and technical authority and overall technical lead for PETRONAS’ solid-state lithium metal battery collaboration. My role was to integrate research from the University of Manchester and Deakin University into a battery platform with industrial potential, while guiding technical strategy, intellectual property, governance, and external product positioning. I also led a team at PETRONAS Research Sdn Bhd (PRSB) to advance the research, development, and scale-up of solid-state lithium metal battery technologies, overseeing work on cathodes, solid electrolytes, characterisation, and the translation of laboratory findings into scalable cell designs. Together, we strengthened material synthesis, formulation consistency, and cell assembly to move laboratory performance closer to manufacturing conditions.

Derek Sum: As Technical Lead for the Battery Programme at PETRONAS Research, I shape the technical direction and execution of technology development. This includes working closely with academic partners to develop and validate cathodes and solid electrolytes, while aligning technical workstreams with business strategy. In parallel, I work closely with business teams to anchor research in real-world industry needs, translating outcomes into application-oriented solutions such as additives to enhance lithium-ion batteries. Alongside the PRSB team, I coordinate cross-functional and external collaborations to support aligned execution across research, scale-up, and deployment. This includes aligning experimental development with commercial readiness, supporting knowledge transfer, stakeholder engagement, and contributing to intellectual property development to position outcomes for practical application.

Mark Bissett: I was the lead academic from the University of Manchester that led the research. This involved coming up with the initial research proposal and plan, then supervising the post-docs in the lab and directing the overall research, and analyzing the data that was produced. 

Ian Kinloch: As one of the academic investigators, my role was to provide scientific guidance to the research, helping to shape the direction of the project and ensuring we delivered on the new formulation that PETRONAS needed. 

Mega Kar: As the Lead CI, I was responsible for directing the overall research program on developing novel solid state electrolytes with high safety and stability for long lasting, high energy density solid state LMBs. At Deakin, I led a small team of research engineers, research associates, and a PhD student, guiding the design, synthesis, and evaluation of new polymer electrolytes. My role included setting the scientific direction, coordinating experimental plans, ensuring technical quality, and maintaining alignment with PETRONAS’ commercial objectives.

What were the biggest challenges in this project, and how did you overcome them?

Geetha Srinivasan: A key challenge in this project was addressing the inherent trade-off between achieving strong performance and ensuring scalability in solid-state battery systems — moving from laboratory feasibility towards practical application. To address this, I focused on bringing together the right global expertise, integrating capabilities from our academic partners and the broader PRSB team. A critical aspect was guiding the research across multiple dimensions, including materials development, interface optimisation, and processing approaches, while maintaining a clear pathway towards scalability. Working closely with the team, we addressed challenges related to reproducibility, interface stability, and materials consistency through structured experimentation, standardised methodologies, and continuous refinement. This enabled us to improve performance consistency and progressively translate laboratory insights into more robust and application-relevant system designs.

Derek Sum: When PRSB began this journey in 2021, we entered the solid-state battery space as newcomers with the ambition to deliver meaningful progress. As a lean team, we had to build capability in a new field while pursuing outcomes with practical relevance. We addressed this by building on our strengths in nanomaterials science and working closely with the broader PRSB team, as well as partners like the University of Manchester and Deakin University. A big part of our approach has been our commitment to building pathways for the energy transition through collaboration across industries and academia. These partnerships really allowed us to innovate together, unlock new opportunities, and create shared value, while accelerating our learning and helping us move towards a more integrated battery development approach. A key challenge was achieving stable performance and consistency, especially when moving from laboratory-scale work to larger formats. We addressed this through systematic materials evaluation, iterative fabrication optimisation, and rigorous characterisation. Through strong coordination across research, scale-up, and application development, and by combining multidisciplinary expertise, we bridged the gap between fundamental research and scalable solutions, turning early uncertainty into a differentiated technology platform.

Mark Bissett: I think the biggest challenge we faced was scaling up and understanding the behaviour of an untested and novel battery setup. Our initial small scale lab tests showed some exciting promise but translating these through to larger scale prototypes that gave reliable and reproducible results resulted in us having to try many different variables to understand which ones were critical for the battery performance. We systematically worked through each variable and undertook thorough characterization of the resulting materials and devices to understand the influence of each component. Finally, we were able to produce an optimized prototype which outperformed other similar devices. 

Ian Kinloch: One of the biggest challenges in battery development is that materials and chemistries are highly interdependent. Changing one material can unintentionally affect the performance of an otherwise highly optimised system. As a result, delivering the full benefit of any new material requires a systems-level approach, where all components are re-optimised to work together. 

Mega Kar: One of the major challenges was scaling up membrane and electrolyte fabrication from lab scale batches to higher TRL, larger area formats while maintaining the same performance and reproducibility we achieved in the lab. We addressed this through multiple rounds of optimisation, iterative trials, and systematic process refinement. Another significant challenge was bringing together a multidisciplinary team — chemists, engineers, and non experts — to work cohesively toward a shared technical goal. I led regular technical meetings, coordinated cross team communication, and produced monthly reports to ensure clarity, alignment, and steady progress across all work packages.

Why is this work so important and exciting?

Derek Sum: This work is important and exciting because it helps advance solid-state battery concepts closer to practical, deployable solutions. It contributes to the development of next-generation battery systems with the potential to deliver improved safety, higher energy density, and greater sustainability for the energy sector — while supporting the delivery of operational performance in a safe, reliable, and responsible manner. At the same time, the research has generated valuable insights into solid-state battery materials and systems, contributing to broader scientific progress in energy storage. Personally, one of the most rewarding moments was seeing early prototypes successfully operate, demonstrating the tangible outcome of sustained research and collaboration.

Mark Bissett: This work is at its core, related to sustainability and achieving net-zero targets through electrification of transport. Developing new battery formulations that work in solid-state systems allows us to produce a new generation of batteries which are safer than the predecessors while exceeding their performance. By developing a novel battery formulation, and the associated know how required to produce large scale prototype devices, we can accelerate the knowledge exchange from academia into industry where this technology can be adopted and achieve real world impact.

Ian Kinloch: What made it exciting was both the impact and the technical challenge. High-performance solid-state batteries are critical to advancing the green energy transition. At the same time, the materials chemistry challenge was highly engaging, as it involved creating a repeatable and scalable method for integrating a new nanomaterial into a complex battery environment.

Mega Kar: Developing SSLMBs remains one of the biggest challenges in energy storage due to issues such as interfacial instability, dendrite formation, and limited long term cycling. Our work demonstrates that fine tuning the chemistry and structure of our electrolytes can significantly enhance stability and cycle life, bringing us closer to practical, safe, high energy solid state batteries. This has major implications for electric vehicles, grid storage, and even next generation portable electronics.

Where do you see the biggest impact of this research being?

Geetha Srinivasan: Solid-state batteries offer the potential for safer, lighter, and more compact energy storage solutions. Their ability to operate across a wider range of conditions further enhances their applicability, making them suitable for many of the same applications as conventional lithium-ion technologies today. At PRSB, we’re continuously driving research and innovation as we pursue technological advancements across our value chain. This enables us to develop differentiated solutions that strengthen PETRONAS’ competitiveness while supporting more sustainable energy outcomes.

How do you see this work developing over the next few years?

Derek Sum: From the outset, our work has been guided by a strong focus on eventual deployment. The next phase will be centred on scaling the technology from laboratory to more consistent and repeatable production environments, alongside validation under application-relevant conditions. This stage remains challenging, but we are well positioned due to our focus on material systems and processes that are aligned with established industry practices. This approach helps reduce scale-up complexity while supporting the pathway towards reliable and cost-effective production.

How important is collaboration for producing high-quality science? How has collaboration influenced your work?

Derek Sum: Collaboration is essential. From the beginning, we recognised the importance of working with leading experts and complementary partners. A multidisciplinary approach allowed us to combine strengths, share knowledge, and address challenges more effectively. The commitment and close collaboration across teams and institutions were critical in driving progress and creating shared values and meaningful outcomes. 

Mark Bissett: Collaboration between industry and academia, as well as within the different organizations, is absolutely crucial to the success of this work. Industry input allows us to modify our research plans and direction to that which is most appealing and tackles known issues that industry are facing, while academia brings a wealth of fundamental understanding and experience in working with novel materials. By combining these strengths together we can produce high-quality science, while also meeting an industry need. 

Ian Kinloch: I find that industry-academic collaboration is always very exciting as it brings a greater variety of perspectives to a project.  From an academic point of view, in addition to the large depth of technical application knowledge industry brings, they help us understand the key challenges in delivering a product, including hurdles in scale-up, engineering and commercialisation. 

Mega Kar: Collaboration is essential for producing high quality science, especially in complex fields like solid state batteries where no single discipline has all the answers. Working with PETRONAS gave us first hand insight into commercial constraints, practical deployment needs, and real world performance expectations. This helped us shape our research direction, prioritise the most impactful challenges, and ensure that our outcomes were aligned with industrial relevance. Collaboration also enabled knowledge exchange across chemistry, engineering, and materials science, which was critical to the project’s progress.

What does good research culture mean to you, and why does it matter?

Geetha Srinivasan: A good research culture is one that fosters curiosity, open knowledge-sharing, and multidisciplinary collaboration, while maintaining strong scientific rigour and integrity. It creates an environment where teams can learn from challenges, adapt, and continuously improve. Such a culture is critical in enabling the translation of research insights into practical and impactful technological solutions, while encouraging innovation and responsible problem-solving.

Mark Bissett: Good research culture to me is when multiple partners can come together, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and these can complement each other to provide an environment that is better than either partner has on its own. It matters because sometimes industry and academia work on opposite ends of the same scale, one working on the fundamental understanding of a material or problem but with no direct application in mind, and the other focused on applications but with less interest on fundamental understanding. When these are combined, and work well together, there is a synergistic improvement for both. 

Ian Kinloch: Good research culture is the recognition of everyone’s contribution and the different knowledge and experience their bring.  It is important that all views are listened to as different perspectives are needed to solve complex challenges. 

Mega Kar: In this collaboration, good research culture really came from having people with very different backgrounds working together toward a shared goal. Our team included research engineers, organic chemists, battery specialists, physical chemists, and R&D staff from PETRONAS. That mix meant we had a wide range of perspectives and expertise feeding into the project, which genuinely strengthened the work.