Systems Materials Engineering for Post-Lithium-Ion Batteries
Batteries will be key in our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions but require major progress in sustainability, cost, and energy density. Our research focuses on understanding the interplay between individual materials, multiphase structures, and the overall system properties in future electrochemical energy storage. Systems of interest are supercapacitors, metal-air batteries and metal-sulfur batteries or, broadly, any system with complex physical-chemical phenomena in confined geometry.
Our research is based on
The development of new methods: Operando small angle x-ray/neutron scattering and cryo transmission electron microscopy are combined with stochastic modelling and machine learning for data analysis. Machine learning will be integrated into the experimental workflow to deal with the complexity of future battery systems.
The focus on the fundamentals: Electrochemical phase transformation and charge storage mechanisms, as well as structure-property relationships at mesoscopic length scales from 1 – 1000 nm.
A holistic systems materials engineering approach: We aim to put emerging energy storage systems into practice by identifying how the physicochemical interplay of materials across length scales defines overall systems properties. So far, much of the focus to realize post-lithium-ion batteries has been on materials chemistry; We aim to shift the focus on the rational structuring at mesoscopic length scales (1 - 1000 nm), to enhance transport and control phase transformation.
News
Welcome to our new Ph.D. student Klara Neumayr!
Klara studied Physics at Ludwigs-Maximilian University Munich (LMU) and has expertise in machine-learning-based battery lifetime prediction. Her research will build on that and combine data science methods with electrochemical testing and X-ray scattering of post-Li-ion batteries. The team looks forward to learning from Klara´s expertise in Machine Learning and applying this knowledge to conversion-type battery systems.
– 01/02/2024
Our new SAXS/WAXS facility, XEUSS 3.0 from Xenocs, has arrived! It has been installed in the last three weeks. We are looking forward to the first measurements starting next week. The new SAXS/WAXS facility will be crucial for operando testing post-Li-ion batteries and electrochemical phase conversion in confinement.
– 15/11/2023
Welcome to our new Postdoc Pronoy Dutta!
Pronoy did a PhD at the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. His interdisciplinary background in physics, materials characterization, and synthesis will be ideal for working on electrochemical energy storage in confinement. The team looks forward to working with Pronoy on Na-based energy storage in nanoporous carbons!
– 24/10/2023
In July 2023, Christian Prehal started a tenure-track position at the University of Salzburg (PLUS).
He is now looking for motivated Ph.D. candidates and Postdocs with a background in Materials Science, Physics, or Chemistry to work on the ERC Starting Grant project SOLIDCON
and establish the fundamentals of sustainable metal-sulfur batteries.
Key facts: You are joining an interdisciplinary research group in its start-up phase with significant funding from the European Research Council (ERC). You are working on an exciting research project: The ERCStG project SOLIDCON will use real-time SAXS/SANS, cryo-TEM, machine learning, and electrochemical methods to establish the basis of future high-energy batteries. You are working at the University of Salzburg in a new lab building with fantastic facilities for materials research. You are located in Salzburg (Austria), a great place to pursue outdoor activities and enjoy cultural life.
From 10/2023, also Master and Bachelor projects are available. More info: https://www.prehal-lab.eu/jobs
– 06/08/2023
Christian Prehal will move from ETH Zürich to the University of Salzburg (PLUS) in the summer of 2023. He will set up his laboratory at the Department of Chemistry and Physics of Materials to work on the ERC Starting Grant project SOLIDCON.
Job announcements are coming soon!
– 20/01/2023
Department Chemistry and Physics of Materials
(C) Christof Reich
We are excited to announce that Christian Prehal has received an ERC Starting Grant and 2.37 M Euro funding to work on next-generation lithium-sulfur batteries. The SOLIDCON project will focus on developing new metrologies, advanced data analysis methods, and understanding the fundamentals of solid-liquid-solid and solid-state sulfur conversion. Based on mesoscopic structuring (1-1000 nm), we aim to realize stable high-energy lithium-sulfur batteries. A big thank you for all the support in recent years, to Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg, and to the European Research Council (ERC) for funding curiosity-driven fundamental research.
– 22/11/2022
We are happy to share our most recent work on Li-S batteries: Nature Communications 2022
Understanding the fundamentals of the solid-liquid-solid phase conversion between sulfur and lithium sulfide is key to developing practical devices. In this work, we developed methods to quantify the phase evolution at nanometer length scales during battery operation. Great collaborative work between ETH Zürich, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Kemijski inštitut - National Institute of Chemistry, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, and ILL - Institut Laue Langevin.
– 20/10/2022
Christian Prehal
Since the summer of 2023, Christian has been an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics of Materials at the University of Salzburg. Until then, he was a researcher and lecturer in the Materials and Device Engineering Group at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zürich. In Salzburg, he will work on his recently funded ERC Starting Grant and set up his research laboratory for batteries and energy materials. In his research, he wants to tackle the complexity problem of future battery systems by developing new experimental methods and combining them with machine learning for data analysis and experiment optimization.