My name is Karin Kleiner. I have a team of junior researchers at MEET
and I work in the field of battery research.
Well, everyone knows lithium-ion batteries, of course – batteries in smartphones, craftsmen’s tools
as well as in cars nowadays. And I do research on the active components in these batteries and
in particular into how energy can be stored in these active components. In other words, the
chemical reaction which takes place when energy is stored in these materials.
We all know that in future we’ll have to change our thinking when we consider the environment. We know
for example that the transport industry’s CO2 emissions are very, very high, and in order to
change that, we’re researching into energy storage devices which are compact, inexpensive and
mobile too. So this means that they can be fitted in cars, which would greatly help
the environment. That’s why I think that it’s a really important area of research.
This is the variety that I have in my job – because one day
you’re a teacher, and the next you’re a student yourself, sitting in a lecture,
listening to something – then you’re in the lab again. It’s true – every day there is
something new that’s really exciting, and I really enjoy what I’m doing.