Empa researches new measurement methods for batteries

(CONNECT) Researchers in the High-Performance Ceramics department at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) in Dübendorf are working on new measurement methods that can be used to visualize mechanical and electromechanical changes in batteries under operating conditions. The new methods will be used to develop new sustainable and recyclable batteries, according to a press release.

The research is part of the EU project HyMetBat (Hybrid metrology for sustainable and low-carbon footprint battery materials). The project runs until 2028. The researchers in Dübendorf are investigating the causal chain between material selection, material synthesis, processing, electrode production, cell construction, operation and failure of batteries. Methods such as neutron and X-ray analyses are combined with electroanalytical procedures.

"We want to understand batteries during charging and discharging - to record their stress ECG, so to speak," Artur Braun, physicist and group leader in the High-Performance Ceramics department at Empa, is quoted as saying in the press release. "To do this, we combine state-of-the-art radiation sources with electrochemical methods and theoretical calculations." Among other things, the investigations serve to support project partners such as the Federal Office of Metrology (METAS) in quantitatively classifying and metrologically validating processes. Empa is part of a consortium of 30 partner institutions coordinated by the German Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Berlin. ce/ww