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Biography

Professor Peter Slater MRSC completed his PhD in solid-state chemistry at the University of Birmingham in 1990, investigating the development of cuprate superconductors. After postdoctoral work at Birmingham (cuprate superconductors and Li/Na-ion solid-state electrolytes) and the University of St Andrews (electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cells), he was appointed as a lecturer at the University of Surrey in 1998. During his time at Surrey, his group investigated the development of new fluorination routes for perovskite-related oxides, as well as the development of new materials (cathodes and electrolytes) for use in solid oxide fuel cells.

In 2009, he returned to the University of Birmingham to take up a senior lecturer position, before being promoted to professor in 2012. His group is currently focused on the development of new materials for energy storage and conversion applications, along with strategies to recycle materials employed in such devices. His group is also active in developing educational resources to explain the operation of, and materials used in, these devices.

I see big opportunities in mechanochemistry for making new materials, and for reducing energy usage and waste in recycling.

Peter Slater

Q&A

Can you tell us more about your work?

My research group is focused on the development of new materials for technological applications, with a particular current focus on lithium- and sodium-ion batteries. We take a holistic approach to materials design and synthesis, aiming to develop new materials and synthesis routes that lower energy consumption and reduce waste, as well as developing strategies to recycle these materials at the end of their operational life.

Who or what first sparked your interest in chemistry, and how has that interest evolved over time? 

I had a keen interest in science at school, but I would say the key moment that inspired me to go into research in chemistry, and solid-state chemistry in particular, was my final-year undergraduate research project with Prof. Colin Greaves. This was the first time I had really been able to explore research, try new ideas, and experience the peaks and troughs associated with it. In addition to the great support of Colin, I would also like to acknowledge Profs. Frank Berry and John Irvine, who have also inspired me in my current career. Since gaining my first academic position, chemistry has enabled me not only to carry out exciting research, still getting into the lab to make samples myself when I can, but also to ‘pay back’ the support I received during my early years by supporting others.

What has been the most rewarding or memorable highlight of your career so far? 

As an academic, I believe one of the most important and rewarding aspects is training the next generation of researchers, and so the most rewarding highlight was receiving the Faraday Institution Researcher Development Champion Award, as this was nominated by students and postdoctoral researchers.

Thinking back to earlier in your career, are there any words of wisdom that you wish someone had told you? 

Take time off and go to more heavy metal gigs.

What future directions or opportunities do you see for your work? 

I see big opportunities in mechanochemistry for making new materials, and for reducing energy usage and waste in recycling. It is a particularly exciting area at Birmingham due to the expertise in the school of chemistry and the breadth of facilities available

What do you wish more people understood about your field or the chemical sciences in general? 

Commonly, the term ‘shake and bake’ is used to describe standard solid-state synthesis. I think this is a bad term, as it trivialises the field of solid-state chemistry and overlooks the thought that goes into the design and synthesis of new materials.

How can scientists try to improve the environmental sustainability of research? Can you give us any examples from your own experience or context? 

For any new material we make, or synthesis/recycling route we develop, we need to think about the energy usage and waste produced, with a view to evaluating the potential for scale-up of the material/method. This is particularly important in the recycling area; e.g. for the lower cost lithium ion battery cathode material, LiFePO₄, conventional hydrometallurgy (dissolution, and then sequential precipitation of individual element salts) recycling approaches are both uneconomic and environmentally unfriendly (large waste), and so to meet this recycling challenge we need to devise low cost direct recycling strategies that keep the manufactured value (particle morphology, carbon coating) and repair any degradation from use in the battery (e.g. lithium replenishment).

What is your favourite element and why? 

This is a challenging question, as I have worked with a very wide range of elements during my research. If I had to pick one, it would probably be fluorine, as I have spent a lot of time over my career working on mixed metal oxide fluorides and developing new low-temperature routes for their preparation.