Cell Systems and Aging

The researchers of the Department for Battery Aging and Lifetime Prediction of the Helmholtz Institute Münster deal with battery aging by means of electrochemical, chemical and optical methods. In this way, they gain insights into fundamental electrochemical and coupled processes. The group cooperates with the Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA) at RWTH Aachen University.

Innovative Materials

By studying innovative battery materials, also in cooperation with MEET Battery Research Center at WWU Münster the team identifies routes to improved property profiles for next-generation batteries. The fundamental understanding of electrochemical processes in batteries gained is used for physical-chemical model building. This is carried out in close cooperation with the working group of Prof. Dirk Uwe Sauer of HI MS at the Chair of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage Systems Technology.

Comprehensive Service Life Investigations

The battery test center operated in Aachen enables electrical tests to be carried out as well as service life investigations on several hundred batteries cells in parallel. To gain a deeper understanding of the different stages of aging of electrochemical cells, they can be disassembled and analysed in the post mortem analysis laboratory. Structural and chemical changes in the active materials and electrolytes as well as the formation of boundary layers and inhomogeneity are made visible. A wide range of physico-chemical methods and optical imaging are available to the researchers.

Expansion of Laboratories

With the move to the newly constructed cluster building "Center for Aging Reliability and Lifetime", shortly CARL, the laboratory space will once again be significantly increased. The added technical facilities, for example a micro- and nano-CT, can provide additional valuable results. For the simulation of batteries, the institute's own simulation servers as well as the computing cluster of RWTH Aachen University and the Supercomputer at Forschungszentrum Jülich are available.

Selected Publications:

Advanced Materials Technologies 2024, 9, 8, 2301965, DOI: 10.1002/admt.202301965

Journal of Power Sources Advances 2024, 28, 100152, DOI: 10.1016/j.powera.2024.100152

ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2023, 6, 6, 3413-3421, DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.2c04128

Nature Communications 2021, 12, 5459, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25334-8

Journal of Energy Storage 2021, 35, 102098, DOI: 10.1016/j.est.2020.102098

Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2021, 168, 020510, DOI: 10.1149/1945-7111/abdeeb

Batteries 2020, 6(1), 8, DOI: 10.3390/batteries6010008

Sustainability 2020, 12(2), 557, DOI: 10.3390/su12020557

ChemSusChem 2019, 12, 12, 2515-2539, DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201900209

Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2019, 166(15), DOI: 10.1149/2.0551914jes

Journal of Power Sources 2019, 433(1), 126631, DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2019.05.039

Journal of Cleaner Production 2018, 201, 325, DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.036

Journal of Power Sources 2018, 392, 168, DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.03.065

Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2018, 165(5), DOI: 10.1149/2.1161805jes

Journal of Power Sources 2017, 357, 188, DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.05.010

Journal of The Electrochemical Society 2014, 161(5), A7383, DOI: 10.1149/2.066405jes

Further information:

• ISEA
• CARL
• MEET Batterieforschungszentrum
• Jülich Supercomputing Centre