The project has been extended by the Foundation for Polish Science to the end of June 2021 due to pandemic circumstances and technical challenges we faced on the way. Thanks to this extension we will be able to sum-up our research on high-voltage cathode structural investigations including theoretical DFT calculations, solid-state electrolyte improvements with detailed analysis on conduction mechanism (including temperature EIS and NMR studies) and thin layer all-solid-state battery design trails and prototype selection.
I participated in the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) which is the biggest annual event dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe organized by the European Commission.
At this first online conference held on 25-26 of May the partners of BATTERY 2030+ presented a selection of European research and participated into later discussions. The aim of the conference was to discuss the latest research in Europe in relation to the newly launched BATTERY 2030+ roadmap.
I am happy to inform that the PCT/US2020/028471 international patent application was filed April 16, 2020. This invention will be shared between the University of Louisville and the University of Warsaw. I thank both parties for their help. I would like to congratulate to my partners and co-inventors: Dr. Hui Wang, and Dr. Thad Druffel! This application covers the method for wet chemical synthesis of lithium argyrodites, the materials that are one of the most promising solid-state electrolytes in next generation Li batteries.
Maciej came back from his international internship in USA. He collected many interesting structural and morphological data on battery materials. Especially important are in situ Raman data collected on working Li-ion battery. He observed the cycling performance in connection with the structural changes. He focused on the high voltage window and possibility to use such cathode materials once better high-voltage electrolytes will be available. He also started ex situ examination of the electrodes (XRD and XPS) which he plans to continue here, at the University of Warsaw.
Between 18-20 December one of my coworker and I from the University of Warsaw attended the Final review of the iKNOW-WHO Challenge. The meeting was organized in Berlin, Germany. All attending groups presented their final work, achievements, and remarks. Biotronik company team evaluate these mini-projects based on the technology advancements and their company needs. We had a chance for great scientific discussion and networking with some European university groups. Biotronik staff chose the Fudan University project that was based on conventional Li-ion battery due to its technological readiness. Biotronik team was although impressed of the technology advancements in the novel battery topics and proposed a future collaboration in term electrochemical tests at the company facilities and possibility for common projects. We were glad we had a chance to take a part of that challenge. We change a bit our perspective and hope for more such interesting initiative in the future.
During 2019 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston, USA, Maciej Boczar presented a poster presentation entitled: Optimization of NMC Electrode for High-Voltage Lithium Batteries. He received took several interesting discussions during a poster session and had a chance to discuss NMC technology with gathered researchers from around the world. During this conference he had also the opportunity to learn from several talks on lithium batteries. He gained new knowledge on battery materials, their modifications and advanced characterizations and have several new ideas for future experiments.
PhD student Maciej starts his three-months doctoral internship in USA. He will be staying at the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research at the University of Louisville. He is going to be supervised by Dr. Jacek Jasinski, the Theme Leader of Materials Characterization group, an expert in electron microscopy and spectroscopic methods. His laboratory is equipped with highly specialized characterization machines including HR-TEM, HR-SEM with EDX, XPS and Raman spectrometers, and X-ray diffratometer. Maciej will be trained in most of that equipment and will continue his work on high-voltage cathode materials. The main aim for him is to receive in situ Raman data on cathode materials and complementary ex situ data sets (XRD, XPS). He will also performed measurement on raw materials using Raman, SEM and XRD. Most interesting samples will be check in TEM.
As a member of the BATTERIES 2030+ initiative, I participated today in BatteRies Europe Working Group 1 (New & Emerging Battery Technologies) meeting and General Assembly organized by the European Commission. The WG1 composed of European researchers working on batteries discussed on the novel energy storage technologies, battery research and funding that should be focused on during the next EU perspective (2021-2027). Furthermore, the general remarks and recommendations of the WG1 panel was shown during the General Assembly at the EC.
Our laboratory members had the honor to participate in the very special battery conference ABAA-12 in Ulm, Germany. Today, during the special session where Professor M. Stanley Whittingham was a plenary speaker, he received the message that he just got the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019! I have never seen any bigger applause at the conference meeting. This was a unique moment for Professor Whittingham, and for entire community of electrochemist researchers and battery manufacturers.
On 16th Sep Maciej Boczar presented his talk during the E-MRS Fall Meeting held
in Warsaw (Poland) at the Warsaw University of Technology. This presentation,
entitled: NMC Electrode Stabilization Study for High-Voltage Battery
Applications, was found very interesting by the audience. He received several
comments and questions and had a chance to discuss his topic with gathered
researchers. During this conference we had an opportunity to listen to several
talks and see posters presented on lithium battery and post lithium technologies
(Na-ion batteries, Zn-batteries, all-solid-state systems, solid electrolytes,
supercapacitors etc.). We also had an occasion to step back and reevaluate some
of our goals.
This week 2 coworkers and I from the University of Warsaw attended the Mid-Term
review of the iKNOW-WHO Challenge. The meeting was organized in Senoren, Sweden
between 7th and 8 th August 2019. All attending groups presented their current
works and achievements and the Biotronik company had a chance to evaluate these
mini-projects. We had a chance to scientifically discuss found challenges and
network with some European university groups as well to further discuss possible
doubts/comments about shown results with Biotronik staff to better understand
their point of view and company vision. This is a really interesting experience
since none of us have taken part in such an initiative before, and it will also
improve our interpersonal skills.
This week we hosted a Biotronic R&D employee and I-Know-How personnel at the
Faculty of Chemistry University of Warsaw. We showed them our laboratories and
equipment. They had a chance to look closer at the battery preparation
techniques, our battery set-ups, characterization methods etc. we established in
Warsaw. We had a few meeting afterwards to discuss the most important milestones
and questions. We look forward to the next meeting in August.
We are happy to announce that thanks to the Foundation for Polish Science we
welcome a new battery tester with an EIS module in our laboratory this month.
This equipment has 8 channels and will greatly improve our efficiency in the
project. We will now be able to perform measurements such as
chronopotentiometry, cyclic voltammetry as well as EIS characteristics.
Over the last 2 days Maciej Boczar and I attended a very interesting
Interdisicplinary FNP Conference held in Warsaw, Poland. We had the opportunity
to present a poster presentation showing the aims and challenges of this project
(“Challenges of a new generation lithium battery: finding suitable components
for the all-solid-state system”), and talk to other FNP laureates working on
similar topics. We enjoyed many lectures and discussion with researchers and FNP
personnel. This was very constructive and informative meeting.
I had the pleasure to take part in the Biotronik challenge organized by the
I-Know-Who company in Berlin (Germany). Our battery group from the University
of Warsaw was invited to participate in the competition about new bio-medical
energy storage systems to be used in future pacemakers produce by Biotronik
(Litronik) company. During this trip we had several interesting meetings with
officials from the R&D departments of this company, saw their current
production plant, and understoo their challenge much better. We are looking
forward to possibly fulfilling their requirements and providing interesting
solutions for their applications.
Today, Maciej and Justyna joined in our first Group Meeting. Since now
we will meet together on a biweekly basis discuss current results, new
directions, new literature findings to stayed tuned with other
researchers. They both presented short reports about their field of
interest (literature search and first results). We have a really great
scientific brainstorm and I hope it gave them as much of an additional
motivation as I gained today.
I have a pleasure to announce that I was invited to the AVL Software and Functions company and had a very interesting meeting and discussion about all-solid-state batteries including expecations and perspective of the industial sector. This was a very informative session to me and refreshed my viewpoint on the manufacture needs.
I hope that I also identified the scientific challanges we are phasing right now working on this energy storage problem.
On 30 November 2018 at 2:30 pm I will present a lecture about solid-state batteries and this project assumptions during the Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Sources (LEES) Seminar in the room 305 (the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw).
