Dr Payne was awarded her MChem in 2007 by the University of Warwick and her PhD in 2011 by Durham University (under the supervision of Prof. Ivana Evans).   Following this, she worked as a PDRA in the groups of Prof. Ivana Evans (Durham University, 2011-2012), Prof. Matthew Rosseinsky (University of Liverpool, 2012-2014) and Prof. John Irvine (University of St Andrews, 2014-2018).  In January 2019 Dr Payne took up a position as an independent Research Fellow in Energy Materials in the School of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews.  Dr Payne’s research spans a broad range of energy materials and she is particularly interested in using in-situ and operando techniques to link structure with properties.  

Synthesis, Characterisation and Properties of Oxides for Energy Applications

As countries across the word reduce their reliance on fossil fuels, new materials are required for both energy conversion.  These materials find use in devices such as batteries, fuel cells and solar panels.  Here, we report some of our latest work on materials for batteries and photovoltaics.  We will discuss how small changes in the chemical composition of inorganic polyanionic materials can influence properties such as ionic conductivity and battery performance.