First Prize awarded to MEET Scientist Martin Kolek
At the 2020 Annual Conference, the Israel National Research Center for Electrochemical Propulsion (INREP) awarded MEET scientist Martin Kolek with the first student presenter prize. His lecture on "Electrolytes in Magnesium-Sulfur Batteries - Insights into Polysulfide Stabilization" was selected among ten outstanding presentations to receive the first place.
In his presentation, the MEET PhD student focused on magnesium-sulfur batteries. They are considered to be sustainable and extremely cost-effective batteries which are expected to be potentially smaller than lithium-ion systems at the same energy level. "However, the technology is currently still in its infancy and many fundamental, mechanistic studies are needed to gain detailed insights into the working principles and to pave a way for the production of this sustainable, cheap battery system," Kolek emphasized in his presentation. Although some aspects of the already intensively researched lithium-sulfur batteries could be transferred to the magnesium-sulfur battery, intrinsic differences are still present which often are buried within the details.
Fundamental insights into the understanding of sulfur-based batteries generated
During the charge and discharge of sulfur-based batteries, so-called polysulfides are formed. These soluble intermediate reaction species influence the performance of the battery cell. A stabilisation of the polysulfides can improve the reaction kinetics and pathways of the whole redox process. Within a German-Israeli collaboration, Kolek and MEET scientists Dr Georg Bieker, Verena Küpers, Dr Peter Bieker, and Prof. Dr Martin Winter as well as Dr Diddo Diddens from the Helmholtz Institute Münster, examined the influence of different polysulfides and their stabilisation on the electrochemical performance of the battery cells and identified criteria for the polysulfide stabilisation. After investigations in different electrolyte solutions, the research team concluded that the positive ions, the cations, are essential for the stabilisation of the polysulfides which occurred mainly through a mutual interplay with the electrolyte’s solvents.
"Based on these results, we were able to determine physical and chemical parameters of the polysulfide stabilisation process that not only describe but can even predict the electrochemistry of sulfur-based batteries", Kolek explained at the conference. This is an essential milestone for the mechanistic understanding of sulfur-based batteries. The Israel National Research Center for Electrochemical Propulsion honoured his presentation with first place. Second place went to Jiaxon Zhang from the University of Maryland, third place to Shira Haber from the Weizmann Institute of Science Israel.
About the Israel National Research Center for Electrochemical Propulsion
At the Israel National Research Center for Electrochemical Propulsion, local institutions bundle their forces to develop new batteries and fuel cells to push forward electromobility in the country. For this purpose, the center funds top-level research in the battery world.