Kerstin Neuhaus and Christina Schmidt from HI MS Win Poster Prize

HI MS scientists Kerstin Neuhaus and Christina Schmidt win poster prize at the Royal Society of Chemistry's "#RSCPoster Twitter conference".

11 January 2022 – Under the hashtag "RSCBatteriesPoster", Kerstin Neuhaus and Christina Schmidt from Helmholtz Institute Münster (HI MS; IEK_12) of Forschungszentrum Jülich were able to demonstrate the added value of nano-measurement methods for battery research. At the Twitter conference "#RSCPoster" of the Royal Society of Chemistry, they won with their poster "Measuring the potential gradient at interfaces in hybrid and ceramic electrolytes by Kelvin Probe Forbes Microscopy".

With their poster, Neuhaus and Schmidt addressed the central question of how potential differences in the structure and chemical composition at interfaces in electrolytes affect the surface potential of a sample that can be measured with an atomic force microscope (AFM).

Measuring Interfaces on the Nanoscale

Interfaces can be grain boundaries in a single-phase ceramic electrolyte or phase boundaries in a hybrid electrolyte consisting of a polymer and particles incorporated in it. The different interfaces play a major role in charge transport in an electrolyte because they can accelerate or slow down the movement of ions and, in the worst case, even prevent it.

With their model systems, the researchers were able to show that their measurement method using AFM works both in ceramic electrolytes and in hybrid electrolytes and that the measurement data correspond to the model ideas. AFM-based methods enable extremely high image resolutions, so that very thin interfaces can be measured on the nanoscale.

Collegial Exchange on the Web

#RSCPoster took place for the second time this year in December 2021. The conference focuses on innovations for batteries and energy storage research. The aim is to enable scientists of all career levels to share their work, exchange ideas and discuss with colleagues. The poster prize is awarded by a panel of experts and is worth £100.

Here you can find the winning poster on Twitter and here you can find the news about the new acquisition of the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) at HI MS.