Christian Punckt

Semantic technology is revolutionizing how the battery research community collaborates. It is becoming even more important as artificial intelligence agents emerge in the field. This article explores the role of semantic resources in advancing battery research by enabling the formalization of knowledge in a way that can be understood by both people and computers. Domain‐specific ontologies provide definitive frameworks for structuring knowledge, while open‐source software packages enable the creation, validation, manipulation, and sharing of data. To link ontologies with other resources, articles, and multimedia content, a new web‐based platform called the Battery Knowledge Base, which provides a centralized hub to enhance knowledge sharing and collaboration, is introduced. In this article, how these semantic tools address critical challenges in knowledge and data management, driving progress in the field, are highlighted.

This roadmap presents the transformational research ideas proposed by “BATTERY 2030+,” the European large‐scale research initiative for future battery chemistries. A “chemistry‐neutral” roadmap to advance battery research, particularly at low technology readiness levels, is outlined, with a time horizon of more than ten years. The roadmap is centered around six themes: 1) accelerated materials discovery platform, 2) battery interface genome, with the integration of smart functionalities such as 3) sensing and 4) self‐healing processes. Beyond chemistry related aspects also include crosscutting research regarding 5) manufacturability and 6) recyclability. This roadmap should be seen as an enabling complement to the global battery roadmaps which focus on expected ultrahigh battery performance, especially for the future of transport. Batteries are used in many applications and are considered to be one technology necessary to reach the climate goals. Currently the market is dominated by lithium‐ion batteries, which perform well, but despite new generations coming in the near future, they will soon approach their performance limits. Without major breakthroughs, battery performance and production requirements will not be sufficient to enable the building of a climate‐neutral society. Through this “chemistry neutral” approach a generic toolbox transforming the way batteries are developed, designed and manufactured, will be created.

While graphene and other carbonaceous nanomaterials have shown promise in a variety of electrochemical applications, measurement of their intrinsic performance is often confounded with effects related to the complexities due to diffusion in a porous medium. To by-pass this limitation, we use effectively non-porous tiled monolayers of reduced graphene oxide as a model platform to study how rates of heterogeneous electron transfer evolve as a function of graphene structure/chemistry. A variety of electrochemical systems are investigated including the standard ferri/ferrocyanide redox probe, several common biomolecular redox systems as well as copper electrodeposition. We show that the rates of heterogeneous electron transfer can vary by as much as 3 orders of magnitude depending on the reduction or annealing conditions used and the redox system investigated. Performance changes are linked to graphene chemistry, and we show that the graphene oxide reduction procedure must be chosen judiciously to maximize the electrochemical performance for particular applications.

We demonstrate that functionalized graphene, rich with lattice defects but lean with oxygen sites, catalyzes the reduction of Co(bpy)₃(III) as well as platinum does, exhibiting a rate of heterogeneous electron transfer, k₀, of ~ 6 × 10^-3 cm/s. We show this rate to be an order of magnitude higher than on oxygen site-rich graphene oxide, and over two orders of magnitude higher than on the basal plane of graphite (as surrogate for pristine graphene). Furthermore, dye-sensitized solar cells using defect-rich graphene monolayers perform similarly to those using platinum nanoparticles as the catalyst.

Graphene-TiO₂ nanocomposites are a promising anode material for Li-ion batteries due to their good high-rate capacity, inherent safety, and mechanical and chemical robustness. However, despite a large number of scientific reports on the material, the mechanism of the enhanced high-rate Li⁺ storage capacity that results from the addition of graphene to TiO₂ – typically attributed to improved electrical conductivity – is still not well understood. In this work, we focus on optimizing the processing of surfactant-templated graphene-TiO₂ hybrid nanocomposites. Towards this end, we examine the influence of various processing parameters, in particular the surfactant-mediated colloidal dispersion of graphene, on the material properties and electrochemical performance of graphene-TiO₂. We investigate the influence of electrode mass loading on Li⁺ storage capacity, focusing mainly on high-rate performance. Furthermore, we demonstrate an approach for estimating power loss during charge/discharge cycling, which offers a succinct method for characterizing the high-rate performance of Li-ion battery electrodes.

Experiments on the voltage-induced buckling instability of thin, flexible plates to pump fluids within a microfluidic channel.