PI name & contact details:
Department
Has project been agreed with head (or nominee) of proposed registration school?
Dr. Alan Ryan, University of Limerick. alan.ryan@ul.ie
Design and Manufacturing Technology
Research Centre / group affiliation:
Research group / centre website:
Materials & Automation Research Group, www.ul.ie/dmt http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/alan-ryan/30/981/265 PI website / link to CV:
Brief summary of PI research / research group / centre activity (2 or 3 lines max):
Current research involves end of life treatment of waste electronic and electrical equipment, to ensure beneficial balance between environmental and economic recycling and material use.
Previous research has focused on the development of environmentally sustainable Printed circuit
Boards and the development of sustainable district heating systems for manufacturing sites.
Title & brief description of PhD project (suitable for publication on web):
“Alternative Battery Manufacture: A sustainable system which promotes efficient recycling”
A typical battery consists of electrochemical cells, which convert chemical energy to electrical energy. Simply put, two different metals are held in a chemical solution and ions flow between the different metals giving a resultant voltage.
However there are a number of issues with traditional batteries, for example:

The End-of-Life treatment: currently used batteries are sent for specialised disposal to ensure no hazardous materials are consigned to landfill.

The inflexible nature: batteries are rigid and fixed – limiting range of use.
This project will investigate the potential to replace existing rigid batteries with a battery developed on paper. This will make the battery compact and flexible – thereby opening up potential new markets.
By developing a paper based battery the raw materials can be recycled easily and efficiently using current paper recycling processes or potentially incineration.
Ensuring the return of the raw materials e.g. Zinc and Silver – gives economic viability and incentive to recycling thereby helping to promote sustainable product design.
Unique selling points of PhD project in UL:
The Design and Manufacturing Technology Dept. of the University of Limerick has significant links and access to the Materials and Surface Science Institute. These links ensure access to specialised equipment such as SEM, TEM, X-ray diffraction among others and also provides access to a team of qualified technicians.
Well established links to automotive component manufactures

Proven capability in prototype development resulting in international patents and spin out companies.
Name & contact details for project queries, if different from PI named above:
Please indicate the graduates of which disciplines that should apply:
Mechanical / Manufacturing / Materials/Automation engineering, Materials Science, Chemistry.
Please indicate whether students can apply for: Sandwich programme only
Full PhD programme only
Either of the above
Ciência sem Fronteiras / Science Without Borders Priority Area:
Please indicate the specific programme priority area under which the proposed PhD project fits- choose only one (tick box):
Engineering and other technological areas
Pure and Natural Sciences (e.g. mathematics, physics, chemistry)
Health and Biomedical Sciences
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
Aerospace
Pharmaceuticals
Oil, Gas and Coal
Renewable Energy
Minerals
Biotechnology
Nanotechnology and New Materials
Technology of prevention and remediation of natural disasters
Biodiversity and Bioprospection
Marine Sciences
Creative Industry
New technologies in constructive engineering
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