Partners of the FELIZIA (Solid Electrolytes Enabling Lithium Cells for Automotive Use) joint project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research met at HIU to present latest research results and coordinate further activities.
So far, the insufficient range and high costs have prevented wide market penetration of electric vehicles. According to current prognoses, increasing requirements on electromobile energy storage systems will require innovative solutions to overcome technical limits of conventional lithium-ion cells.
FELIZIA focuses on investigating ceramic materials, by means of which energy density of battery cells will be enhanced significantly compared to conventional materials. As a result, the range of electric cars and integration of electric mobility will be increased. The consortium plans to study a solid-state battery and to check its suitability for automotive use. The partners pursue a novel approach that does not only concentrate on a single component of the cell, but on parallel investigations of anode, cathode, and solid electrolyte to obtain an adjusted cell configuration. Using appropriate solid electrolytes, a novel cathode technology (conversion and high-voltage materials), and lithium-based, high-capacity anodes, safe lithium battery cells of long service life and significantly enhanced energy density will be produced. The cells to be developed under the FELIZIA project are to meet at least the requirements for conventional lithium-ion batteries for 2020+ defined by the National Electric Mobility Platform.
The project partners are the six research institutions and universities HIU, KIT, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Technical University of Munich, and Gießen University and the four industrial companies of BMW, BASF, VW, and Schott. Thanks to this wide scope of scientific and economic competencies, a holistic approach will be ensured. The project is scheduled to have a duration until late 2018.
Within the scope of a triannual project, promoted by the Vector Foundation, Dr. Dominic Bresser will investigate new electrode materials hosting lithium ions by a combined conversion and alloying reaction together with three PhD candidates. The resulting insights into the underlying mechanisms will be used for the development of new materials providing further enhanced energy and power densities. Bresser expects further improvements of battery-powered electric vehicles from his investigation in terms of safety and power and energy density, which result in faster (re-)charge time and longer driving ranges.
Dominic Bresser is currently holding a postdoctoral position at HIU. Prior to this, he was holding a postdoctoral position and Enhanced Eurotalents Fellowship at the Commissariat a` l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA) in Grenoble, France in the group of Dr. Sandrine Lyonnard. He carried out his PhD in the group of Professor Stefano Passerini at the University of Muenster and at the HIU, investigating nanostructured active materials for lithium-based batteries. He is Co-Author of more than 40 scientific publications, including two book chapters, and several international patent applications.
You will find here a publication linked to the project
The principal investigators Professor Stefano Passerini, Professor Jens Tübke and Dr. Margret Wohlfahrt-Mehrens participated in a Taiwan-Germany joint workshop on advanced secondary battery technologies at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan. The workshop initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Taiwanese Ministry of Science and Technology was intended to develop joint activities in battery research. Leading battery researchers of both countries met at 7th and 8th February to present their latest findings and to discuss possibilities for cooperation.
Prof. Dr. Otmar Wiestler visited Ulm to inform about the latest research projects on 22 February 2017 and took the opportunity to exchange with HIU Director Prof. Fichtner and Deputy Director Prof. Passerini as well as other members of the board. In order to gain further insights into Ulm as a center for research, Prof. Wiestler also met Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Weber, President of the University of Ulm, and Prof. Klaus-Michael Debatin, Director of the University Clinic for Child and Adolescent Medicine.
Prof. Wiestler was impressed by the variety of battery research in the institute and was also very pleased with the cooperation of the various partner institutions of HIU. The main focus of the visit was on the structure and work program of HIU, the promotion of young scientists, the role of HIU nationally and internationally as well as possible energy systems of the future.
Prof. Wiestler has been President of the Helmholtz Association since 1 September 2015. During the period between January 2004 and August 2015, he chaired the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg (DKFZ) as Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director.
Prof. Dr. Christina Roth joins the HIU as a guest scientist: in collaboration with Dr. Zeis, she studies materials and methodical development for electrochemical energy technologies since March this year.
Both scientists know each other since 2012 when they worked together at the KIT. There, Christina Roth was employed as a group leader at the Institute for Applied Materials – Energy Storage Systems (Prof. H. Ehrenberg).
After her degree in materials science at the Technical University Darmstadt in 2001 and her habilitation in 2008, she worked in Darmstadt as a German junior professor. In 2012, she moved to the Free University of Berlin as a professor for Applied Physical Chemestry.
You can find further information at:www.bcp.fu-berlin.de/chemie/chemie/forschung/PhysTheoChem/agroth/index.html
– Ulm, 21/04/2017 –
What are your research topics at the moment? In particular, what do you study at the HIU?
I’m interested in electrochemical energy technologies, such as fuel cells (they were the starting point of my research activities), redox-flow batteries (which I have been studying since my days at the KIT), and CO2 electroreduction (recently at the FU Berlin).
In collaboration with Dr. Zeis, here at HIU, I study ageing processes of C-based electrodes as well as electrolyte-filled electrodes.
How did you get involved with this research topic? What do you find fascinating about it?
In fact, it was rather by chance: as a materials scientist, I planned on developing artificial knee joints – but “God moves in mysterious ways”. And by the way, saving the world is also quite nice!
How would you assess the development of the HIU in the past years?
I still remember the construction plans, before the HIU was even built. Now it is finished and I really like it. There is a wide range of expertise at the HIU and the methodical facilities are excellent. However, a more “diverse” staff would be even better: more international, younger, more female.
How do you evaluate the current battery technology in the context of media reports about burning smartphone batteries?
I’m not an expert in this field. RFB technology is primarily linked to stationary applications, e.g. the storage of excessive wind power (see ICT Pfinztal). But, of course, bad publicity is always bad for the particular technology, too.
In your opinion, did the German research institutions catch up in the international comparison?
We are getting better, but it’s hard to reverse the demolition of electrochemistry 25 years ago. To succeed, you need persistence as well as well-educated young scientists with career opportunities.
What do you think are the biggest challenges for research on batteries and fuel cells?
Costs, life expectancy, customer acceptance, infrastructure – the list is endless. Much remains to be done!
In the course of a two-day field excursion, pupils from the Robert-Bosch Secondary School Gerlingen visited the HIU on the 27th of April 2017. Following a presentation by managing director Dr. Dagmar Oertel, the visitors were given a guided tour through the laboratories by Dr. Oertel and scientist Tobias Braun.
The main purpose of the visit was to provide the pupils with an insight into research on batteries and to present possible career opportunities. The 20 students of 10th grade, who focus on natural sciences with their chosen subject NwT (natural sciences and engineering), showed interest in current research topics and alternative research focuses.
On 31.05.2017, Prof. Doris Wedlich and Dr. Christian Röthig came to the HIU during the annual visit of the divisional management. After a presentation of the activities of the HIU by the director Prof. Maximilian Fichtner and a subsequent discussion, three scientists from HIU presented their research areas and were available to answer questions: Dr. Franziska Klein informed about the research activity of the HIU regarding halide ion batteries. The research of Dr. Birger Horstmann deals with the use of zinc-air batteries with regard to novel electrolytes. Dr. Dominic Bresser, in turn, researches alternative anodes for lithium-ion batteries.
In a following round of questions, representatives of the directorate, the science and the administration also got into conversation. At the end of the meeting, the visit ended with a walk through the building and a guided tour of the labs.
Prof. Dr. Doris Wedlich has been Head of Division for the Division I since 2014. The Division I combines research, teaching and innovation in the scientific disciplines of biology, chemistry and process engineering. Dr. Christian Röthig, in turn, is responsible for the areas of human resources and resources.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been a further Young Investigator Group at HIU: Novel electrode materials for rechargeable electrochemical energy storage – in short: NEW E2. . It was officially acknowledged as KIT Young Investigator Group this month. In the next few years, the team around Dr. Dominic Bresser will focus on the research and development of innovative anode materials which store lithium ions reversibly through a combination of conversion and alloying reactions. The goal here is to enable higher energy and power densities.
The research project is funded by the Vector Foundation for the next three years.
http://www.hiu-batteries.de/battery-research-center-in-germany/news/spalte-1/news/dr-dominic-bresser-receives-funding-for-investigation-of-novel-electrode-materials/
In addition to Dominic Bresser, three doctoral students – Jakob Asenbauer, Tobias Eisenmann and Yanjiao Ma – will be researching the topic. The appointment of another doctoral student is scheduled for September.
The research work of NEW E2 responds to current developments in electromobility and the associated growing demand for advances in these storage technologies.
On 27 and 28 June, representatives of the Helmholtz Institutes of Ulm and Münster met at the HIU. The aim of the second-day meeting was to strengthen the future cooperation. A joint workshop, in which scientists from both institutes presented their research activities, offered all participants the opportunity to exchange ideas. The lectures covered a wide range of research and were therefore of great interest. This was shown in the following discussions.
The HI MS, like the HIU and currently seven other Helmholtz Institutes, belongs to the Helmholtz Association and is operated as an external center of the Forschungszentrum Jülich.
From the 25th to the 30th of June the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting was held in Lindau, Germany. This year, it was dedicated to the field of chemistry. In the course of the annual events, 28 Nobel Laureates and over 400 young international scientists – students, doctoral and postdoctoral students – came into contact with each other in order to foster the scientific and cultural exchange between the different generations and disciplines.
Dr. Dominic Bresser represented the HIU during the boat trip across the Lake Constance, which traditionally concludes the meeting. Also in this year, there was a large number of young scientists showing great interest in the activities carried out at HIU, many of them also with a scientific background in the field of energy storage and conversion. Among the interested visitors were also Mr. Ulrich Steinbach, head of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the state of Baden-Württemberg, and Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld, formerly CEO of Siemens and Alcoa, who was appointed as Honorary Senator of the Lindau Foundation in the course of this event.
The boat trip to the Mainau Island, including a final panel discussion – this year about “Ethics in Science” – and a subsequent picnic is organized by the State of Baden-Württemberg and offers the participants and visitors a platform for further informal exchange prior to the official end of the meeting.
Since 1951, the Lindau Conferences have been organized as an international forum for international scientific exchange. Alternately, they are devoted to the natural scientific Nobel Prize disciplines physiology/medicine, physics and chemistry.
