Grand Opening of the Colin Vincent Centre for Battery Technology

Eminent electrochemist Professor Colin Vincent today (Wednesday 4 October) officially opened the Centre for Battery Technology at the University of St Andrews Eden Campus.

The Centre is a world leader in the production of commercial-scale batteries and is a showcase for research in the vanguard of new battery chemistries at St Andrews.

Professor Vincent, a former Master, Vice-Chancellor, Acting Principal and Head of the School of Chemistry at St Andrews, was joined at the opening by Principal Professor Dame Sally Mapstone FRSE and Professor John Irvine of the School of Chemistry.

The Principal said: “With its state-of-the-art facilities such as its ultra-low humidity environment – which is, of course, the first of its kind in Scotland – the Colin Vincent Centre for Battery Technology will power the next generation of batteries and energy storage.

“The Centre is a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship that will provide new solutions to current energy problems, solutions which are essential to achieving a sustainable, low-carbon future, as well as to enabling the wider economic transformation of Scotland and the UK.”

Professor Vincent, who retired from the University in 2003, said: “I would like to thank the University, the Principal and Professor Irvine for the signal honour of having my name associated with this centre, something which I find it difficult to imagine I deserve.”

To mark the opening of the Centre Professor Sir Peter Bruce, Wolfson Professor of Materials at the University of Oxford and a founder and Chief Scientist of the Faraday Institution, delivered a special lecture entitled “Oxygen in solids and liquids: high-capacity Li-ion batteries and the Li-air battery”.

The Colin Vincent Centre for Battery Technology was funded by the Tay Cities Region Deal, Scottish Enterprise, the Faraday Institution, the Scottish Funding Council and the European Regional Development Fund.