Research Overview

MOTIVATION & PURPOSE: Climate change is a key challenge for our society which requires more and more green electricity from wind turbines and solar panels. The storage of green electricity and its efficient use are important tasks for the coming decades. Think of rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, household and grid storage or electrosynthesis, for example. One of the key science disciplines forming the foundations for these technologies is electrochemistry. How can we make better batteries? What happens inside a battery during charging/discharging? Why do batteries age? Can we make batteries based on abundant elements that are not limited by any resource issues or supply risks?

STRONGHOLDS: Preparation and modification of electrode materials by solid-state synthesis (Sulfide, oxides, metals and alloys, carbon materials). Various electrochemical methods. development of call concepts and in situ / operando methods. Interdisciplinary team of (environmental) chemists, material scientists, electrochemists and physicists.

SCIENTIFIC AIMS: Studying physicochemical principles of electrochemically driven reactions. Understanding ageing processes of electrode reactions and their mitigation. Understanding ion-size effects on electrode reactions. Exploring “new battery concepts”. Establishing advanced characterization tools to study batteries in situ / operando.

News & Views article in Nature Energy 

Solution to dissolution 

by Gustav Avall and Philipp Adelhelm

Research article in Journal of Physical Chemistry C

Tin-Graphite Composite as a High-Capacity Anode for All-Solid-State Li-Ion Batteries 

by Thangavelu Palaniselvam et al.

Editorial

Special Issue on “Beyond Lithium-ion Batteries” organized by Batteries & Supercaps 

by Ivana Hasa (Warwick, UK), Philipp Adelhelm (Berlin, GER), Guozhong Cao (Washington, USA) and Liquiang Mai (Wuhan, CN).