In order to make batteries safer and longer-lasting, the processes inside them must be understood down to the atom.

Using a special method, atomic probe tomography, Prof. Dr. Tong Li can improve our understanding of electrochemical processes with atomic resolution. For her ERC project “Unveiling atomic-scale elemental distribution of electrode/electrolyte interfaces and interphase in batteries”, Tong Li will receive around 2.2 million euros over five years. The work began in 2024.

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Hydrogen is considered to be the energy source of the future. To produce it, reactions have to be catalyzed, some of which take place under extreme conditions. Current electrocatalysts usually cannot withstand this for long – new materials are needed.

A Danish-German-Swiss research consortium is systematically looking for a new approach in the project “Directed Evolution of Metastable Electrocatalyst Interfaces for Energy Conversion”, or DEMI for short. DEMI is being funded for six years with around 10 million euros as part of a Synergy Grant from the European Research Council ERC, the highest award for researchers in the EU. Prof. Dr. Alfred Ludwig from RUB is involved in the grant.

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Hydrogen plays an important role in all concepts for reducing CO₂ emissions. How it can be produced and liquefied for transportation is known in principle – but the processes need to be established on a much larger scale if hydrogen is to become the basis of a future global energy market. Basic research is still lacking.

As part of the ThermoPropHy project, Prof. Dr. Roland Span is developing material data models that precisely describe the properties of hydrogen under various conditions and, among other things, form the basis for simulations of liquefaction plants. The European Research Council ERC is funding his work with an Advanced Grant, which is endowed with 2.5 million euros for five years. The project started in October 2022.

You can find more information here.