MissCatherine Folkson

Catherine is a PhD student within the Electrochemical Science and Engineering Group. Her research focuses on examining the impact of extreme temperatures on the operation and degradation of Lithium-Ion Batteries by utilising both experiments and physics-based models. She is looking specifically into non-invasive detection methods for lithium plating, a key degradation mechanism, which occurs when charging at low temperatures, or during fast charging. Lithium plating can lead to catastrophic cell failures via short circuit. Therefore, a better understanding lithium plating will ultimately enable safer battery design and operation. Catherine is supervised by Dr Monica Marinescu, Prof Gregory Offer, and the PhD is industrially funded.

In May 2025, Catherine presented her most recent work at the 247th Electrochemical Society meeting in Montreal, Canada. She received a best presentation award for her talk titled: 'Impact of Individual Versus Successive Pulse Charging on Lithium Plating Reversibility in Subzero Temperatures - IOPscience'. This work as part of a larger experimental study was published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society in January 2026: Lithium Plating Reversibility in Lithium-Ion Batteries Under Subzero Temperature Charging Pulses - IOPscience. 

Before embarking on her PhD, Catherine studied Mechanical Engineering MEng at Imperial College London and was awarded First Class Honours. Between graduating and starting her PhD, Catherine worked in the Pharmaceutical Industry on GSK's Mechanical Engineering Future Leaders Graduate Programme.