May 23rd, 2025
Battery research funded for another seven years
Celebrations in Ulm, Karlsruhe and Giessen: The joint battery research network POLiS (Post Lithium Storage) has prevailed in the competition and remains a cluster of excellence. POLiS scientists have been conducting research into innovative battery materials and storage technologies since 2018. This has earned them an international reputation: POLiS is the flagship of the Green Energy Campus at Ulm University. In the upcoming funding period from 2026 to 2032, the researchers will focus on the realisation of full cells and the interactions between the battery components along the entire cell.
“We are delighted that our POLiS battery research cluster is being funded for another seven years. The extension is a huge success,” say the cluster managers Professor Birgit Esser, Professor Helmut Ehrenberg and Professor Jürgen Janek. In the “Post Lithium Storage” cluster of excellence at Ulm University, KIT and the University of Giessen, which was approved initially in 2018, scientists from Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science and Engineering are researching pioneering solutions for electrochemical energy storage (EES). The aim is to develop lithium-free batteries that are safe, powerful and sustainable.
With the Excellence Strategy, the federal and state governments are promoting world-class research at universities so that they can compete internationally. 98 applications for clusters of excellence at German universities made it to the final selection of the Excellence Commission and 70 have now been selected for funding. The German Research Foundation (DFG) announced the successful clusters on Thursday, 22 May.
The President of Ulm University, Professor Michael Weber, is extremely happy about the success in the highly competitive competition: “POLiS II is a clear signal: Ulm is and will remain the centre of German battery research, and is also internationally recognised. Together with our partners, we will continue to expand this position and our highly specialised research in the coming years: from the fundamental understanding of electrochemical processes to the application-oriented development of sustainable battery systems.”
In the first funding phase, everything centred on the development of individual battery components. The focus was on the search for suitable materials for electrodes and electrolytes as well as analysing fundamental processes at the interfaces. POLiS II is now taking a major step forward and is dedicated to the realisation of full cells and the interactions between the battery components along the entire cell. “Our approach to this is unique: we want to follow the ion on its path through the battery cell,” says Professor Birgit Esser, designated cluster spokesperson at Ulm University.
What makes POLiS so unique worldwide: The battery cluster is investigating a wide range of different shuttle ions and materials, both organic and inorganic, substances from solid-state chemistry and liquids. Sustainability is particularly important to the researchers. “Our common goal is to find future-proof solutions that make both economic and ecological sense,” says Esser. Sustainability screening, life cycle analyses and the identification of “game stoppers” such as the limited availability of raw materials are therefore also on the battery cluster’s agenda. Electrochemical energy storage is an elementary cornerstone of sustainable energy technology. As a key technology, it makes a decisive contribution to the success of the energy transition.
“The approval of POLiS II is the result of the exceptional track record of a unique infrastructure with world-leading expertise of the involved scientists. The extension of the successful cluster of excellence will have a lasting impact on the German battery landscape,” Esser, Ehrenberg and Janek are convinced.
In addition to POLiS II, Ulm University had applied for another cluster of excellence, which was not selected for funding by the Excellence Commission: The “Chem4Quant” network had applied with a project to develop atomically precise material structures for quantum technologies.
About the partners in POLiS II
The applicant universities for the cluster of excellence application for POLiS II are Ulm University, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Justus Liebig University Giessen, which is a new applicant university. It reinforces the consortium with its expertise in interface analysis. Further cooperation partners are the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB).
About the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments
The Excellence Strategy is a permanent financial support programme of the German federal and state governments. Its central aim is to promote the research excellence of German universities in internationally competitive areas, to reinforce them institutionally and to further develop the German higher education system. To this end, the Excellence Strategy comprises two separate but interlinked funding lines. The panel of experts and the Excellence Commission for the Excellence Strategy decide on draft proposals and applications.
The “clusters of excellence” funding line supports internationally competitive research areas at German universities on a project basis. The clusters of excellence applied for by universities form alliances of outstanding scientists who work together in a specific field of research. Approved clusters of excellence are funded with 3 to 10 million euros per year. The financial support programme is administered by the DFG.
Text and media contact: Andrea Weber-Tuckermann, Christine Liebhardt