Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are the dominant technology used to power today’s electric vehicles (EVs). However, current Li-ion batteries is reaching the bottleneck in the energy density, partially due to the limited capacity in the graphite anode (372 mAh g-1). In partnership with MGX Minerals Inc., Dr. Liu’s team at the University of British Columbia aims at developing a high-performance nanostructured Si anode for next-generation Li-ion batteries by using low-grade and large-abundant metallurgical Si as the starting material.

The Ladle Metallurgy Furnace is used for adjustment of chemical composition and temperature, and control of tiny particles called “inclusions”. Controlling inclusions is carried out by adding calcium to modify the solid alumina or magnesium aluminate inclusions to less harmful liquid inclusions.
During ladle process, reaction of top slag, steel and inclusions occur simultaneously. Therefore, establishing a model to describe ladle process is indeed a challenge.

Mapping of pipelines and tanks is the first step toward providing an inspection service. Until now, this has been a manual process that is very time and resource consuming. The research proposed would allow for an unmanned vehicle to map the area without the need for humans. It will result in the creation of a hardware and software platform that can be used to map an enclosed space efficiently and accurately. The approach taken will allow for upgradeability as new technology emerges. ROSEN Group is the partner organization for this group.

Our research studies aim to gain a better understanding of how restaurants communicate risk to people with food allergies from the perspectives of customers and restaurant staff. We seek to understand what methods are used to communicate risk, what methods are most effective, and what strategies restaurants take to make the public aware of the risks and risk-mitigation efforts at their restaurant.

Over the last decade, artificial intelligence has flourished. From a research niche, it has been developed into a versatile tool, seemingly on route to bring automation into every aspect of human life. At the same time, robotics technology has also advanced significantly, and inexpensive multi-robot systems promise to accomplish all those tasks that require both physical parallelism and inherent fault tolerance—such as surveillance and extreme-environment exploration.

The objective of this project is to research new technologies and methods to help in the assessment and functional imaging of neuroplasticity related to music therapy. The approach utilizes key novel technologies being researched in partnership with Dr. Ryan D’Arcy.

Polyurethane is a class of polymers with the potential of foaming and with excellent mechanical and thermal properties. However, in order to use PU in advanced applications, its physical properties must be improved. Accordingly, in this research proposal, we plan to incorporate graphene oxide (GO), a derivative of graphene, into polyurethane foam to improve its physical properties. GO is a monolayer of carbon atoms hexagonally attached to each other with some oxygen bonding across the carbon nanostructure.

Siemens Canada develops land-based gas turbine engines that are used for power generation. These engines burn natural gas and produce combustion pollutants such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Reducing emission of these pollutants addition of low carbon fuel, such as hydrogen, to natural gas. However, addition of hydrogen leads to occurrence of combustion instabilities which are of safety concern for gas turbine operation.

Eagle Graphite owns and operates one of only two flake graphite production facilities in Canada, and the only graphite quarry in Western North America. The quarry is located in Passmore, B.C., near the City of Castlegar. This collaboration between Dr. Jian Liu’s group at The University of British Columbia and Eagle Graphite will produce graphite-silicon battery anodes using the Eagle Graphite quarry resource. The objective is to produce a commercialized anode with a capacity that would surpass the benchmark graphite anodes currently produced.