News
Cooperation with Tokyo University of Science – Welcome Yuki!
Yuki is a visiting PhD student from the lab of Prof. Komaba (Tokyo University of Science). He will work on the characterization of anodes (hard carbon, graphite and Si) for Alkali-ion batteries.
© Hui Wang
© Stefan Klenke
Sodium Battery Symposium (SBS-5)
Thank you for a wonderful Sodium Battery Symposium (SBS-5) in Berlin! 31 talks, 90 posters, 10 exhibitors and 330 attendees from academia and industry over 3 fantastic days.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this event and the many helping hands. Go Sodium!
“Electrochemistry 2024 in Braunschweig” – Talks and posters
Vinita, Archana, Knut, Youhyun, Guillermo and Philipp attended this year’s “Electrochemistry” conference in Braunschweig with two talks and four posters!
Knut presented results from his PhD thesis on characterizing co-intercalation reactions with impedance spectroscopy and other methods. Well done! Thanks to Vinita, Archana, Knut, Youhyun & Guillermo
Three Flash Talk Awards at SALSA Make and Measure
Congratulations to Youhyun Son, Guillermo Alvarez and Jonas Geisler, who were awarded prices for their Flash presentations at this year’s SALSA Make and Measure. We would also like to thank the SALSA team for the great conference. Further information can be found here.
Cooperation with Tokyo University of Science – Welcome Kodai!
Kodai is a visiting student from the lab of Prof. Komaba (Tokyo University of Science). He will work on the characterization of layered oxides for Alkali-ion batteries.
© Hui Wang
Firmenlauf Adlershof 2024
Once again this year, the Adelhelm Group entered a team in the annual Adlershof Firmenstaffel. Following last year’s success, where the team exceeded their own expectations, this year’s participants pushed themselves even further, driven by mutual support and motivation.
Master thesis defended!
Congratulations to Goutham who defended his master thesis on the use of metal sulfides in solid-state batteries!
Visit of Prof. Bhattacharyya
We were delighted to welcome Prof. Aninda Bhattacharyya from the Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru as a guest in our group. Thanks for a great talk on alternative battery concepts.
Ane Gondra- summer student
We are pleased to welcome Ane Gondra from the MESC+ (Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion) master’s programme. She joins us this summer thanks to an Erasmus+ Traineeship scholarship.
© Ane Gondra
SSI24 Mid-Career Award
Philipp Adelhelm receives Mid-Career Award from the International Society of Solid State Ionics on the 2024 London conference for his contribution on developing new battery electrode materials.
Welcome Alice Rodgers – summer student
Alice from Imperial College London joins as part of a summer student program funded by HZB. Welcome Alice!
© Alice Rodgers
© Stefano Tagliaferri
Humboldt Research Fellowship awarded to Dr Stefano Tagliaferri
We are pleased to share that our postdoc, Dr. Stefano Tagliaferri, has been awarded a Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Congratulations, Stefano, and best of luck with your research!
Prof. Adelhelm is partner-PI of the Japanese ASPIRE program “Decentralized international collaboration network for innovative battery technology and net-zero society” (Prof. Masashi Okubo). This program provides opportunities for staff exchange and will enable a more intense cooperation with Japanese researchers in the field of Na-ion batteries. Yanan, Katherine, Guillermo and Philipp were happy to attend the kick-off meeting in Tokyo and the International Symposium on ‘Green Technologies for Excellence (GteX)’ for Young Researchers. Further information can be found here.
Visit from Dr. Arnd Garsuch (BASF SE)
It was great to have Arnd as a guest speaker in our institute colloquium talking about the role of electrochemistry for battery materials synthesis and recycling.
Thanks for visiting us!
Visit from Dr. Simon Fleischmann from KIT/HIU
Simon gave a talk on nanoconfinement effects in layered 2D materials.
Thanks for coming by!
Potluck-Dinner
Celebrating our diverse team with an international potluck dinner. Each dish brought a unique taste of our rich cultures. Cheers to the culinary journey and the teamwork that makes us thrive!
A visit from a group of PhD students from Wageningen University (The Netherlands)
We were happy to welcome a group of Dutch PhD students from Wageningen University to visit our labs and hear about their work. Thanks for the great networking opportunity and the chance to hear about your program!
AG Adelhelm partner of large national project ENTISE on Na-ion batteries
The ENTISE project lead by Varta AG aims at developing Na-ion batteries in Germany. Our team will contribute with cathode material development and NMR measurements. Further information can be found here.
Goodbye Houlin!
Big thanks to Houlin, our temporary assistant for supporting our group – we will miss you!
And welcome back Cristina!
© Houlin He
Goodbye of Yongchun
After receiving his PhD degree Yongchun is carrying on his research career at Uppsala University in Sweden. Thanks for being part of the group, Yongchun!
Congratulations to Nadezda and Lorenzo
During this DBU-funded stay, Nadezda will be working under the supervision of Dr. Archana Kumar on the investigation and characterization of aqueous/nonaqueous sodium insertion ion batteries.
Lorenzo will be working under the supervision of Dr. Neelam Yadav on the study of manganese oxides from mining waste as lithium-less and sodium-less electrodes in aprotic batteries, in a shared project with Brutti group thanks to an Erasmus+ Traineeship scholarship.
© Lorenzo Angeletti
© Yanan Sun
Congratulations to Dr. Yanan Sun and Dr. Guillermo Alvarez Ferrero from the Adelhelm Group who were awarded 2024 - School of Analytical Sciences Adlershof (SALSA) short term research projects
Yanan will be working with Dr. Florian Ruske from the electron microscopy core lab (CCMS) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) on “Cathode-electrolyte interface studies by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy on Air-Sensitive Layered Sulfides for Na-Ion Batteries”. Guillermo will be working with Dr. Brian R. Pauw in the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) in Berlin on “Small-angle X-ray scattering of graphite through solvent co-intercalation in sodium ion batteries”. Further information on SALSA can be found here.
Humboldt Research Fellowship for Dr. Archana Kumar
Congratulations to our Postdoc Archana Kumar on receiving the Humboldt research fellowship by AvHStiftung. Best of luck with your research!
© Archana Kumar
Good bye of Meena, Josias and Gustav
Meena Ghosh, Gustav Avall (not on the picture) and Josias are leaving the group end of the year. Thanks to all of them for being part of the team – it was great to have you here! Meena is moving to The Netherlands, Gustav returns to Sweden and Josias will finish his PhD work in Brasil. Good luck for the future!
Prof. Adelhelm becomes member of the Advisory Committee of the Bavarian Center for Battery Technology (BayBatt)
Prof. Adelhelm was elected as member of the Advisory Committee of the Bavarian Center for Battery Technology (BayBatt) which is located in Bayreuth. Find more here.
A new Dr.!
We are pleased to announce that today, Yongchung Li successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled: "Aging mechanisms and cation doping effects of Ni-Mn based layered oxides as cathode materials for Na-ion batteries". Congratulations and good luck for your future endeavors!
Master thesis defended
Winni defended his master thesis on “Characterization of the Kinetic Properties of Glyme-Based Electrolytes for Sodium Ion Co-Intercalation in Graphite via Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy“! Congratulations for a very successful thesis and welcome to the group as forthcoming PhD student.
A new Master!
Cristina defended her master thesis on the intercalation of solvated potassium ions into graphite. An early step for the groups activities on K-ion batteries. 😊 Congratulations Cristina and welcome as a PhD student!
Top 100
Prof. Adelhelm selected as one of the 100 most important persons in science in Berlin
Tagesspiegel: „100 Köpfe der Hauptstadt-Wissenschaft 2023“
Poster prize for Dr. Yanan Sun!
Yanan attended the International Sodium Battery Conference (ICNaB) in Liyang, China, and won a poster prize for her contribution on layered sulfides as cathodes for Na-ion batteries. Congratulations Yanan!! Moreover, we drove a EV car with Na-ion batteries!
Goodbye Christiaan!
Thanks to Christiaan for being part of our team! Christiaan is a master student at Utrecht University (Prof. Peter Ngene) and studied in the last half year cathode materials for Na-ion batteries with Yanan. His stay was also supported by the HZB international program. Hope we stay in touch!
Prof. Adelhelm to hold the Debye Annual lecture at Utrecht University.
Prof. Adelhelm was awarded to hold the Annual Debye lecture at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Title “Na-ion batteries: Energy storage based on abundant elements” The lecture included meeting former colleagues Prof. Petra de Jongh and Dr. Peter Ngene. And of course the day had to end in a beer bar at a Dutch canal.
Visit by Prof. Kaghazchi
Prof. Payam Kaghazchi from Forschungszentrum Jülich was visiting us to discuss the structure of layered oxides for Na-ion batteries. Thanks for a great lecture on “Mechanism of incorporation of dopants into layered oxide cathode materials”. The cooperation with Prof. Kaghazchi is funded by the DFG.
ECS Meeting Boston: Dr Gustav Åvall presentation award winner
Gustav received a “best presentation award” on the 243rd ECS Meeting in Boston for his talk on “Uncovering the Electrochemical Sodium-Solvent Co-Intercalation Reaction with Graphite” (Sodium/Zinc batteries). Congratulations Gustav!
Sai Gautam Gopalakrishnan's visit
Prof. Sai Gautam Gopalakrishnan from the Indian Institute of Sciences, IISc Bengaluru, visited our institute at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Thanks for giving a great talk on "Materials discovery for energy storage using computations and machine learning". And of course it had to end with a nice dinner!
Master theses completed - Tamino Bosse
Tamino defended his Master thesis on the “A bottom up mechanochemical synthesis of tin animonide (SnSb) nanoparticles as anode materaisl for sodium-ion batteries”.
Congratulations Tamino! Best of luck!
Good bye of Jia Guo from Aalborg University
Jia says Good Bye after his research stay on characterizing Li-ion battery materials. Thanks for being here!
© Archana Kumar
Congratulations to Dr. Archana Kumar and Dr. Katherine Mazzio from the Adelhelm Group who were awarded 2023 - School of Analytical Sciences Adlershof (SALSA) short term research projects
Archana will be working with Mr. Carlos Sanchez Gutierrez from the Dumele Group in the Department of Chemistry at the Humboldt University of Berlin on “2D-Covalent Organic Frameworks for Na-ion battery: Elucidation of Solid Electrolyte Interphase.” Katherine will be working with Ms. Xia Zhang from the group of Ingo Manke in the Institute of Applied Materials at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin on “In-situ Tomography of All Solid-State Batteries with Sulfide Cathode Active Materials.” Further information on SALSA can be found here.
Rinaldo Raccichini and Sara Renfrew visit!
Rinaldo Raccichini and Sara Renfrew from Nature Communications visited our lab in Berlin (including the historic Trudelturm known from the Rammstein cover :-)) Thanks to Rinaldo for giving a presentation on publishing and to both of them for showing such great interest in science!
One more Dr.! Many congratulations to Jonas Geisler!
Another accomplishment is that Jonas Geisler's PhD defense took held on February 07, 2023. "Online gas analysis of electrochemical reactions" was the presentation's theme. We all in Professor Adelhelm's research group would like to congratulate Dr. Geisler on this incredible accomplishment and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors!
Congratulations to Ines Escher for receiving her doctoral degree!
At the Chemistry Department at Humboldt University of Berlin, Ines Escher's doctoral defense took held on February 06, 2023. "Hard carbon and graphite as electrode materials for sodium ion batteries" was the focus of the talk. The entire research team of Professor Adelhelm would like to congratulate Dr. Escher on her incredible achievement and wish her the best of luck in her future undertakings.
Humboldt Research Fellowship for Dr. Meena Ghosh
Congratulations to our postdoc Meena Ghosh on receiving the Humboldt research fellowship by AvHStiftung. Meena, we are happy to have you on board and wish you good luck with your research on Sodium batteries.
© Meena Ghosh
Prof. Adelhelm becomes a board member of the GDCh division of electrochemistry
Prof. Adelhelm was elected as board member of the GDCh division of electrochemistry for the period 2023-2026. Find more under: www.gdch.de/elektrochemie
© Moritz Exner
Keyence optical microscope
First results from our new Keyence optical microscope: Formation of dendrites during the plating and stripping of sodium on aluminum foil. The aim is to find a well-functioning anode-free sodium ion battery design. Video by Moritz Exner.
It's Christmas!
How can we resist the magic of the Christmas market, especially after drinking Glühwein? The beauty of this night continues with an unbelievably delicious special Greek dinner that will leave everyone happy.
Congratulations to Zhenggang Zhang for receiving his doctoral degree!
On the 25th of August 2022, the doctoral defense of Zhenggang Zhang took place at the Department of Chemistry, Humboldt University of Berlin. The topic of presentation was "Li Storage Behavior of Transition Metal Thiophosphates (Cu3PS4) and Copper Sulfide (CuS) in Solid-State Batteries". We all at the research group of professor Adelhelm want to congratulate Dr. Zhang with this amazing accomplishment and wish him all the best in his future endeavors!
2nd prize on the Forum Junge Spitzenforschung!
Congratulations to Guillermo Álvarez Ferrero and Katherine A. Mazzio from the group who won the 2nd prize on the Forum Junge Spitzenforschung! Guillermo pitched our paper on Co-Intercalation Batteries (CoIBs).
copyright fotos: Alexander Rensch
A book on "Sodium-Ion Batteries" - Finally!
So happy to announce that the book on "Sodium-Ion Batteries" is finally in press.
20 chapters and more than 700 pages on materials, characterization and technology of Na-ion batteries. The book was written by many researchers from the Na-ion battery research community, so big thanks to everyone who contributed to it.
Joint BMBF project on solid-state batteries starts.
The 3-years project KAROFEST focuses on developing Lithium solid-state batteries with sulfides as cathode active materials (CAMs). The project is coordinated by Humboldt University Berlin (Adelhelm group) and includes the partners University Giessen (Janek group) and University Münster (Zeier group).
Prof. Adelhelm becomes member of the BMBF-Beirat Batterieforschung Deutschland
Find out more about the BMBF-Beirat Batterieforschung Deutschland under:
Inaugural lecture
"After more than two years of delay due to Covid, I finally gave my inaugural lecture at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, teaming up with two other new colleagues from physical chemistry, Michael Roemelt and Julia Stähler. Thanks to all current and previous team members as well as my former mentors Jürgen Janek, Markus Antonietti, Petra de Jongh, Bernd Smarsly. I am happy to be part of the Institute of Chemistry! Title: "Chemical Aspects of Making Better Batteries"."
Prof. Dr. Philipp Adelhelm
New journey - Palaniselvam
Dr. Palaniselvam Thangavelu reached the end of his journey in Adelhelm's group and he got an Assistant Professor Position in India. We wish you good luck for your brilliant future!
© Palaniselvam Thangavelu
Tasty goodbye lunch – Nazia
Indian cuisine by Nazia, who will leave the group following a job offer from a battery startup company in Norway. Thanks for being a group member for several years!
© Nazia Nazer
Bachelor theses completed - Alexander Schwab
Alexander defended his bachelor thesis on the “Investigation of Electrode Preparation Methodology of Prussian Blue Cathodes in Sodium Ion Batteries”.
Congratulations Alexander!
Best presenter award for Dr. Palaniselvam Thangavelu
Dr. Palaniselvam Thangavelu has presented his results at the ICRAMC-2022 conference held in India on Sodium storage and electrode dynamics of tin-carbon composite electrodes from bulk precursors for sodium-ion batteries and has been selected for the best presenter award.
Congratulations Palani!
Master theses completed - Moritz Exner
Moritz defended his master thesis on the “Investigation on the intercalation of solvated sodium ions in graphite by in-situ Raman spectroscopy”.
Congratulations to a new master of chemistry! 
Master thesis completed - Junlin Chen and Shu-Han Wu
Junlin Chen and Shu-Han Wu succesfully completed their master theses on electrodes for Na- and Mg- batteries. Congratulations to Junlin and Shu-Han, well deserved!
Contribution to the Berlinale 2022 by the SEED project team:
Lab exchange with CIC Energigune, Spain
Guillermo, Ines and Annica stay at CIC Energigune for NMR and XRD studies on battery materials. The visit is part of the LIBRA project funded by the CONCERT-Japan initiative.
Forum Junge Spitzenforschung
Congratulations to Katherine and Baris for taking 4th place in the finals of the 2021 Forum Junge Spitzenforschung! The prize is awarded for innovative basic research under the theme “Future Energy Supply,” which they won for their project “Scalable Solventless Production of Nanoparticles.”
"Adelhelm Group treibt alternative Batteriekonzepte voran" in Adlershof Journal
Wenn es um Stromspeicher für Elektrofahrzeuge und für den stationären Einsatz geht, führt bisher kein Weg an Lithium-Ionen-Akkus vorbei. Doch weltweit treiben Forscherteams alternative Batteriekonzepte voran. So auch die Arbeitsgruppe von Philipp Adelhelm, die am Institut für Chemie der Humboldt-Universität (HU) und am Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) neue Materialansätze verfolgt.
A new Dr.!!
Wolfgang Brehm defended his doctoral thesis “Mechanochemically synthesized conversion electrodes and their application in sodium- and lithium-ion batteries with diglyme electrolytes”. Congratulations Wolfgang!
© Wolfgang Brehm
CATL´s First Generation Sodium-ion Battery is coming!
Exciting news from CATL, one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery producer.... Jul 29 is sodium day!
Congratulations to Santhosha Aggunda Lingamurthy for receiving his doctoral degree!
We all at the research group of professor Adelhelm want to congratulate Dr. Aggunda Lingamurthy for this amazing accomplishement and wish him all the best in his future endeavours!
Congratulations to Liangtao Yang for receiving his doctoral degree!
On the 21st of August 2020, the doctoral defense of Liangtao Yang took place at the Department of Chemistry, Humboldt University of Berlin. The topic of presentation was "Structural and electrochemical studies of P-type layered oxides as cathode for sodium-ion batteries". We all at the research group of professor Adelhelm want to congratulate Dr. Yang with this amazing accomplishement and wish him all the best in his future endeavours!
© Liangtao Yang