New project aims to significantly reduce manufacturing time and energy consumption while enhancing battery performance and sustainability.
Lithium-ion batteries have widespread uses, including powering electric transport.
University of Birmingham scientists will lead a new £6 million research project to address a critical bottleneck in lithium-ion battery manufacturing.
The FAST (Formation, Ageing, and Sustainability Testing) project will develop a science-based framework for key processes that aims to significantly reduce manufacturing time and energy consumption while enhancing battery performance and sustainability.
Formation, ageing, and testing (FA&T) steps happen at the final stage of making a battery cell – helping to create protective layers inside the battery. The quality of these layers affects how long the battery lasts, how much energy it can hold, and how safe it is to use.
Funded by the Faraday Institution, which has committed £9 million to advance battery technologies with direct commercial impact, the research will initially focus on high nickel NMC cathodes paired with graphite or graphite–silicon anodes.
This project represents a pivotal step in bridging the gap between academic research and industrial application. By deepening our understanding of battery formation and ageing, we can unlock new efficiencies and sustainability gains that will benefit the entire battery supply chain.
Project leader Professor Emma Kendrick, from the University of Birmingham, commented: “This project represents a pivotal step in bridging the gap between academic research and industrial application. By deepening our understanding of battery formation and ageing, we can unlock new efficiencies and sustainability gains that will benefit the entire battery supply chain.”
The University of Birmingham will collaborate with leading institutions including the Universities of Warwick, Cambridge, Nottingham, and Oxford, alongside four industry partners and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC).
FA&T accounts for a disproportionately high fraction of a cell manufacturing facility’s energy usage, cost, time taken and floor space. Improving these steps is therefore a high impact target for industrial innovation and commercial viability.
The FAST project aims to develop a science-based, scalable and more sustainable FA&T framework - manufacturing high-quality single-layer and multi-layer pouch cells and developing novel formation protocols to reduce energy and cost.
In parallel, researchers will investigate the mechanisms involved. Sensored cells, embedded with pressure, gas and strain sensors will track, in real-time, the physical and chemical changes that occur during formation and ageing, enabling real-time insight into SEI/CEI dynamics.
Characterisation tools such as operando X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy, and magnetic resonance imaging will reveal how the cells react under realistic formation conditions, providing previously unmeasured data to inform and validate new FA&T protocols.
This initiative is part of a broader £452 million investment in the UK’s Battery Innovation Programme, announced by the Department for Business and Trade in June 2025. The programme supports the UK’s ambition to become a global leader in advanced battery manufacturing and innovation.
In addition to FAST, the Faraday Institution is launching the 3D-CAT project, led by the University of Oxford, which will develop next-generation lithium-rich 3D cathode materials with disruptive potential for future battery technologies.
The projects are expected to run until September 2028, with further funding confirmation anticipated in early 2026.
For more information, please contact the Press Office at the University of Birmingham on or +44 (0)121 414 2772
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.
The Faraday Institution is the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research, skills development, market analysis, and early-stage commercialisation. Bringing together expertise from universities and industry, the Faraday Institution endeavours to make the UK the go-to place for the research and development of new electrical storage technologies for both the automotive and wider relevant sectors. Headquartered at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, the Faraday Institution is a registered charity with an independent board of trustees, and a delivery partner for the Battery Innovation Programme (formerly the Faraday Battery Challenge). For more information on the Faraday Institution, visit faraday.ac.uk and follow Faraday Institution on LinkedIn.
Supported by Innovate UK. The Battery Innovation Programme is making the UK a science and innovation superpower for batteries, supporting the UK's world-class battery facilities along with growing innovative businesses that are developing the battery supply chain for our future prosperity. Its aim is to build a high-tech, high-value, high-skill battery industry in the UK. Find out more.
Professor of Energy Materials
Staff profile for Professor Emma Kendrick, Professor of Energy Materials at the University of Birmingham.
Assistant Professor
Profile of Dominic Spencer-Jolly, University of Birmingham
