
Yuandong Sun, mentee in the 2018 Energy-Minerals Resources program in NSW (UNSW)
Yuandong Sun graduated from University of Akron (Akron, USA) in 2017 with a Master of Science (Polymer Science) and Qingdao University of Science and Technology (Qingdao, China) with a Bachelor of Engineering (Composite Materials). He worked on nanocomposite materials for lithium-polymer secondary batteries and advanced catalysts. During his Master study, he contributed to several collaborative research projects with General Motors and US Department of Energy, involving polymer based solid-state electrolytes and high-performance electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries and advanced nano-catalysts for water splitting.
Yuandong started his PhD at UNSW Sydney in 2017. Currently he mainly focuses on the synthesis and applications of titanate-based nanomaterials for lithium-ion batteries regarding highly stable anode materials (lithium titanate), coating materials (strontium titanate) for cathodes and inorganic solidstate electrolyte (lithium lanthanum titanate). By controlling the synthesis, the morphologies and dimensions of the nanomaterials can be optimized hence their electrochemical performance can be improved.
Yuandong has been working on a collaborative research project as the leading investigator with a lithium-ion battery company in China. The goal of the project was to improve the electrochemical performances of the cathode material (lithium nickel manganese oxide) which was provided by the company. He has managed to improve the energy density and stability of the cathode by applying strontium titanate nanocubes as a protective coating to form a core-shell structure with the pristine cathode particles. Now the company and the research team are filing for patents both in China and Australia based on this work.
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