Karolina Biernacka

PhD Candidate

 

Karolina Biernacka awarded her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Technology at Warsaw University of Technology in Poland (Faculty of Chemistry) in 2016. She was participating the European Master Program – Material for Energy Storage and Conversion (MESC) from where she received her Master’s degree. During her Master’s she was studying at different universities – Aix Marseille Universite (France) , the Warsaw University of Technology (Poland) , the University of Picardy Jules Verne (France) and Deakin University (Australia). After she completed her Master’s degree, she returned to Deakin University to continue her education and undertake the PhD under the supervision of Prof Maria Forsyth, A/Prof. Jenny Pringle and Prof Doug MacFarlane working on “An Investigation of Novel Solid State membranes for Sodium Batteries”.

Her research is focusing on the development of solid state electrolytes for sodium batteries. Sodium based batteries are emerging as a viable beyond Li-ion battery technology for future energy storage. Currently, much research is focused on the electrode materials (hard carbon anodes and new cathodes) however the electrolyte component is an important enabler of the technology that still requires significant improvement. Organic ionic plastic crystals (OIPCs) have been shown to be good electrolyte candidates for Na batteries, enabling Na metal anodes. She is currently working a new OIPC and the effect of sodium salt addition on the physico-chemical and electrochemical material properties.