New Young Investigator Group for Electrolyte Formulation
On 1 January 2021 a new Young Investigator Group with a focus on electrolyte formulations for lithium batteries started.
If you visit Masoud Baghernejad at work, you can often watch him placing small laboratory batteries in diverse research tools. In his laboratory space at Helmholtz Institute Münster (HI MS, IEK-12) of Forschungszentrum Jülich the PhD chemist investigates the interphases of electrolytes with electrodes as key components in lithium batteries. A higher energy density, lower costs and an extended lifespan for advanced energy storage – these are the goals he wants to achieve with his new Young Investigator Group from 01 January 2021. The plan is embedded into the project EFoBatt, which stands for “Electrolyte Formulation for Lithium Batteries” and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) over five years.
Higher Energy Density and Extended Lifespan
“Conventional electrolytes are unstable against the anode and the cathode in lithium batteries. This leads to the formation of interphases at the expense of electrolyte material loss which limits the attainable performance, stability and lifespan of the energy storage to a great extent”, explains Baghernejad. To address the challenge, he and his team will scrutinize the formation, evolution and degradation of the interphases carefully. “We want to create a deeper understanding of these processes to be able to develop the next-generation batteries with a higher energy density and an extended lifespan.”
If everything goes according to the plan, the results of the project may be directly transferred into the relevant energy storage industries. With a new doctoral student, the scientist will get reinforcement from July 2021. From December 2021 on, another doctoral student and a postdoctoral researcher will complete the Young Investigator Group.
Time and Cost-efficient Research
In order to avoid time-consuming and costly 'trial-and-error' approaches of repeated measurements and analyses, the team around Baghernejad will make use of the near-field Raman and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. By these spectroscopy techniques, vibrations are used to make the chemical nature at the boundaries visible. Liquid and solid electrolytes of lithium batteries can be investigated by the method equally.
Baghernejad convinced the companies BASF SE, Wacker Chemie AG and E-Lyte Innovation GmbH to cooperate with his Young Investigator Group. Born in Iran he already conducted research in three different countries and at six different institutes, for example at the University of Bern and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. “These experiences prepared me well for the interdisciplinary features of the project”, says the scientist.
Prof. Martin Winter, Director of HI MS and MEET Battery Research Center of the University of Münster appreciates the new project: “I am very happy to have Masoud Baghernejad with his expertise and competent lead for our new Young Investigator Group in Münster. With the new focus area we sharpen our scientific profile in the area of electrolytes.”
About EFoBatt
The project EFoBatt with the name affix „Electrolyte formulations for next-generation lithium batteries with high energy density and high durability” deals with synthetic chemistry, electrochemistry and operando vibrational spectroscopy. In a first project phase new electrolytes will be developed to improve the performance and stability of the interphases. In a second step of the project, these interphases will be investigated on a molecular level by operando characterisation to achieve a deeper understanding of the processes at the interphases for the application in future batteries.
Further information about the Young Investigator Group "Interfacial Spectroelectrochemistry"