Robert House

Professor Robert House is a materials chemist in the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford, where he leads a research group discovering and understanding novel materials for advanced Li-ion and beyond-Li batteries. His work uses advanced characterisation techniques, including X-ray and neutron scattering, to probe ion diffusion, charge storage mechanisms, and structure-function relationships in battery materials. His recent research on Li-rich oxygen-redox cathodes, published in EES, Nature, and Nature Materials, has established new understanding on the nature of oxidised oxygen and its role in voltage hysteresis and fade.

House is one of the Royal Academy of Engineering's inaugural Green Future Fellows, leading a 10-year programme to develop high-energy-density lithium batteries for electric flight. He is Principal Investigator of the Faraday Institution's 3D-CAT project, developing lithium-rich disordered rocksalt cathode materials, and established his research group in 2021 with a 5-year Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship on disordered rocksalt materials as sustainable cathodes for Earth-abundant Na- and Mg-ion batteries.

He is a Fellow of the ZERO Institute at Oxford and a Fellow of Keble College, having previously held a Junior Research Fellowship at Linacre College. He was named to Forbes' "30 Under 30" list in 2023. He has published over 40 research articles with more than 5,300 citations, has been invited to speak at IXS, ISE, ACS, and MRS meetings, and has given keynote talks at IMLB and ICNaB. He received his PhD in Materials from Oxford in 2020 under Prof Sir Peter Bruce, and his MSci in Natural Sciences (Physical) from Cambridge under Prof Dame Clare Grey and Prof Sian Dutton.

Read Rob’s recent work in the journal:

• Cation-disordered rocksalt cathode for anode-free zinc-ion batteries
• Does trapped O₂ form in the bulk of LiNiO₂ during charging?
• Detection of trapped molecular O₂ in a charged Li-rich cathode by Neutron PDF