The Ulm Battery Conference ABAA12 (Advanced Lithium Batteries for Automobile Applications) was drawing to a close as the message from Stockholm spread in the audience. A conference participant had just been awarded the Nobel Prize on the same morning.
Spontaneous jubilation, standing ovations and applause for the newly awarded winner: M. Stanley Whittingham – who himself had been informed of his award just a few minutes earlier by a telefphone call – sat calmly in the audience of the ABAA12 conference, when the news went around the world. He was honored with this year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry at 11:45 am with John B. Goodenough and Akira Yoshino for inventing the lithium-ion battery.
Stanley Whittingham was considered one of the earliest lithium battery researchers worldwide. These lithium-ion batteries are today in almost all portable electrical appliances, e-cars and stationary storages. His personal research contribution was a whole series of material innovations: Not only were the lithium batteries much lighter than their predecessors, they could also be re-charged and discharged many times.
Whittingham developed the first functional lithium battery in the early 1970s. Goodenough was responsible for the development of much more powerful batteries. Yoshino in 1985 produced the first commercially available lithium-ion battery.
The ABAA12 Conference is an international conference with changing venues on every continent. The conference was hosted by Margret Wohlfahrt-Mehrens (ZSW), Prof. Stefano Passerini (HIU) and Dr. med. Khalil Amine (IALB / Argonne National Laboratory, USA).
The ABAA12 conference is unique compared to other congress formats. The ABAA12 provides a substantial connection between science, industry and politics. Around 380 participants from 30 nations – including renowned scientists, policymakers and representatives of the automotive industry – debated over four days on current trends of lithium-ion batteries.
Representatives of five European research institutions (the HIU, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, the Technical University of Denmark, the Swedish Uppsala University and the Slovenian Kemijski Institute) met at HIU for the kick-off of the EU funded project „LiRichFCC” which promotes the investigation of novel concepts for cathode materials for Li-ion batteries.
Recently HIU-scientists developed a new cathode material based on a new storage principle, as a result of which energy storage densities can be increased beyond those of systems known so far. Instead of storing lithium ions by intercalation into a stable host, lithium ions are populating and vacating lattice sites of the material itself. It is the aim of the project to explore and optimize possible compositions, synthesis methods, structural properties and dynamics of Li-rich FCC materials through an interdisciplinary approach involving predictive computational work, advanced chemical synthesis and high-end characterization. An important focus of the project will further be to evaluate the use of these materials for electrical energy storage and to identify potential other uses for Li-rich FCC materials that cannot be foreseen today. This new principle allows for unprecedented energy and power density compared to other battery materials and may revolutionize the use of batteries in applications involving a need for supplying large amounts of energy and power from small spaces.
The EU promotes collaborations between international partners by funding up to five million Euro and up to four years by means of the instrument „Research & Innovation Action“ (RIA). With the slogan “New ideas for radically new future technologies” the EU was searching for cutting-edge projects within the EU framework programme “Horizon 2020”. The „LiRichFCC” project, coordinated by Maximilian Fichtner and Christian Punckt of the network NanoMat, was one among 13 RIA proposals out of overall 800 which were selected by the EU.
Within the scope of the German-Japan Joint Workshop on Advanced Secondary Battery Technologies held from 18 to 20 October, organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), 14 scientists attended the HIU. Stefano Passerini and his research group welcomed the group, consisting of scientists from universities and research centers from all parts of Japan as well as high-ranking NEDO officials.
The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) was established as a semi-governmental organization in 1980 to promote the development and introduction of new energy technologies. Research and development of industrial technology was later added, and today NEDO is active in a wide variety of areas as one of the largest public research and development management organizations in Japan.
13 British scientists who work in the field of e-mobility/ battery research visited HIU on their three-day trip through Baden-Württemberg. Prof. Joachim Ankerhold, Vice President of the Ulm University and at the same time member of the HIU board of directors, welcomed the scientists from the Universities of London, Coventry, Warwick and Loughborough and overview the innovative capability at the Science Park on the Eselsberg. Prof. Maximilian Fichtner presented the research activities of the HIU before he and Prof. Stefano Passerini showed the group round the chemistry and physics labs.
The objective of the visit was to discuss potential cooperation in the framework of research projects at European or bilateral level. So far, the bilateral research collaboration between Germany and Great Britain has not been very much developed in the field of e-mobility/ battery research. On this occasion, the participants agreed on subsequent meetings to substantiate the cooperation.
Further stations of the delegation were the KIT and the ZSW, HIU partner institutions. The tour was organized by bw-i in cooperation with the UK Science and Innovation Network as well as the Baden-Wuerttemberg state agency e-mobil BW. The visit to Baden-Wuerttemberg was the counter-visit to a delegation trip to the UK in October/ November last year.
The science festival “Highlights of Physics” takes place from September 27 to October 1, under the slogan “microcosm”. The centerpiece of the event is a large interactive exhibition on the Münsterplatz in Ulm. HIU takes part with its own stand on lithium ion batteries and alternative battery systems. The exhibition is divided into three areas: “Physics and Life”, “measurement methods of bio and quantum physics” and “look into the quantum world.”
Besides the highlights show in the Ratiopharm Arena moderated by Ranga Yogeshwar there are lectures, workshops for pupils and an Einstein Slam.
The festival was launched in 2001 by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Society of Physics (DPG). It takes place in a different place from one year to the next and with different subjects each time. Ulm is the 16th location. It annually attracts more than 30,000 visitors. Organizer of this year’s Science Festival is next to the BMBF and the DPG and the University of Ulm.
Lithium-ion batteries power our smart phones, tablets, laptops, and, in the next future, electric cars. However, these highly efficient and effective energy storage devices may be affected by some flammability risk due to the employment of organic solvents in electrolyte. The presence of volatile, low flash point organic solvents, in fact, increases the risk of fire in case of outside- and inside-the-cell malfunctions.
Italian and German researchers directed by Professor Jusef Hassoun at the University of Ferrara (Ferrara, Italy) and Professor Stefano Passerini at the Helmholtz Institute Ulm of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Ulm, Germany), with the financial support of the BMW Group, have addressed this issue with remarkable results. The researchers replaced the organic solution in the lithium-ion battery by a room temperature molten salt (also known as ionic liquid), thus realizing organic solvent-free electrolytes. The absence of volatile, low flash point organic solvents substantially improves the fire resistance of the battery.
Ionic liquids have been proposed since long-time as flame resistant electrolyte components. However, the long-term performance of lab-scale batteries using ionic liquid-based electrolyte has been proved only recently. The cell developed is capable of thousands of charge-discharge cycles without any decay as reported in the high ranking journal “Energy & Environmental Science” of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2016:
Exceptional long-life performance of lithium-ion batteries using ionic liquid-based electrolytes
Giuseppe Antonio Elia, Ulderico Ulissi, Sangsik Jeong, Stefano Passerini and Jusef Hassoun
Energy & Environmental Science 2016, DOI: 10.1039/c6ee01295g
Thomson Reuters has named Stefano Passerini among their list of the world’s most influential scientific minds of 2015. The annual list comprises authors whose work has permanently possessed great influence in the form of citations from fellow scientists. The corresponding report identifies the best and most influential scientists from among the world’s estimated nine million researchers who publish upwards of two million papers each year. Highly cited researchers were assigned to one of 21 main specialty areas, based on a majority of the specific journals in which they published their highly cited papers between 2003 and 2013. The report also includes a ranking of the “hottest researchers”, whose published papers were cited immediately after publication at extraordinarily high levels.
Since January 2014, Passerini holds a professorship at the HIU and since July 2015 he is also deputy director of the institute. He has been working on the development of materials and systems for electrochemical energy storage for 30 years. His research efforts are focused on the fundamental understanding and the development of materials for lithium batteries, such as ionic liquids, polymer electrolytes, and electrode materials. He is author of over 400 publications.
Dr. Kiran Chakravadhanula, Dr. Anji Reddy Munnangi und Dr. Alberto Varzi welcomed the guest from Chennai, India, and presented the research activities of the different groups and the modern infrastructure. Prof. Gopalan is associate director of the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI) and head of the Centre for Automotive Energy Materials. The focus of his research comprises High Tc Superconductors, Magnetic materials and Li-ion batteries.
HIU cooperates mainly by EU projects with institutions from all European countries, where battery research is done. Furthermore there is a lively exchange of ideas with American, Canadian und Chinese research centers. In the last two years HIU scientists also expand and cultivate relationships with Indian universities and research centers by visiting institutions in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai and giving lectures there.
HIU organizes international symposium on magnesium batteries
Efficient energy storage is required to buffer electricity from renewable sources or to provide electric cars with energy. A suitable technology for this could provide the magnesium battery in the future as it covered a number of attractive features. About 100 leading experts swapped ideas on the current status and the pending challenges for magnesium (Mg) as a battery raw material from 21 to 22 July 2016 at the symposium. It was held in conjunction with the Ulm Electrochemical Talks (UECT).
It was the first international symposium on magnesium batteries and it was aimed to discuss the latest state of research and to identify future scenarios. The presentations and posters at the symposium dealt with the topics electrolytes and additives, electrode interfaces, cathodes, anodes, modeling and systems.
Compared to lithium, magnesium may release and absorb two electrons, making it a very interesting material for battery research. Magnesium batteries are currently the most often researched candidates for lithium-free alternatives in the field of “high-voltage batteries” – not least because some automobile manufacturers invest in the research of magnesium batteries. The advantages are obvious: Magnesium is less reactive and thus less dangerous. During charging no dendrites grow with magnesium, which represents the main challenge to security in the use of lithium metal anodes. It is also cheaper to produce because it reacts less rapidly with air as lithium metal. Magnesium is available in large quantities, for instance in the form of rock dolomite, which results in lower prices. Magnesium batteries could be used as stationary energy storage, for example in wind turbines or solar panels.
Statement by the Director Professor Maximilian Fichtner
As an international research institute we stand for an open, solidary and peaceful together. We condemn all forms of intolerance, xenophobia, racism and antisemitism. And we oppose all kinds of hate and violence.
At the Helmholtz Institute Ulm a team of scientists from around the world is researching. One third of the researchers are coming from other countries, many of them from non-EU countries. Also numerous visiting professors from different countries doing research and teach at our institute. Diversity of opinion and the international exchanges are the basis of our research and teaching activities. Our recent research success would not have been possible without this plurality. For us there are no differences in our employees and our guests from around the world – no matter what nationality, ethnicity, culture, religion or social class they belong to.
Link to the German Rectors’ Conference webpage „Weltoffene Hochschulen – Gegen Fremdenfeindlichkeit“: http://www.hrk.de/weltoffene-hochschulen