Developing custom apparatus to determine battery electrolyte sweet spots

There are only a few surface force balances in the world, and Susan Perkin’s group has one of them. ‘You can’t go and buy one,’ explains Perkin. Staff in the mechanical and electronic workshop in the University of Oxford’s chemistry department make all the components for the instrument Perkin works with. Perkin was recently named the chemistry laureate of the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK. In particular, the award highlighted the experimental observations she has made using the surface force balance.