Innovating the Batteries of the Future
Speaker
Dr. Corsin Battaglia
Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering
ETH Zurich
Abstract
Innovating the Batteries of the Future
Lithium-ion batteries are currently driving the transition to electric mobility and the integration of renewable energies into the electric grid. In my presentation, I will provide an overview of recent advances in understanding and controlling the interface between the electrodes and the electrolyte in lithium-ion batteries. To achieve batteries with high energy density, electrodes are typically operated outside the electrochemical stability window of the electrolyte requiring the formation of a passivating solid electrolyte interphase to guarantee long cycle life. I will demonstrate how operando transmission electron microscopy and automated experimental workflows provide new insights in solid electrolyte interphase formation. I will also discuss the potential of solid-state batteries and sodium-ion batteries as next-generation lithium-ion batteries and describe our efforts in reducing the environmental footprint of battery cell manufacturing via dry processing. Where batteries are not an option, synthetic fuels produced by electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 represent a promising alternative. I will present our recent efforts in understanding gas diffusion electrodes in terms of operando synchrotron experiments and parallel high-throughput experiments.
Bio
Corsin Battaglia is directing the laboratory Materials for Energy Conversion at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories of Materials Science and Technology, and is Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich, Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Adjunct Professor of Materials Science at EPFL, School of Engineering, Institute of Materials, and currently Visiting Research Professor at NYU, Tandon School of Engineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering hosted by Prof. Miguel Modestino's group. His current research focuses on sustainable next-generation lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, post-lithium-ion batteries, and the electrochemical conversion of CO2 to synthetic fuels.
After receiving his PhD in Physics from the Université de Neuchâtel, he was a postdoctoral researcher at EPFL, the University of California Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, before joining Empa in 2014. He is co-author of ~200 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 8 patent applications. He is currently the president of the Swiss Battery Association iBAT, member of the Alistore European Research Institute, Swiss representative in the long-term large-scale European battery initiative Battery2030 , scientific committee member of the Upcell Alliance , and founding member of the Battery European Partnership Association.