Materials for Energy Conversion
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Mission We strive to solve industry-relevant challenges for sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies through materials and device innovation.
Expertise Our laboratory possesses strong competencies in the synthesis and processing of functional electronic and ion conducting materials, the characterization of their structural, electronic, ionic and thermal transport properties, as well as their integration and performance assessment in operational devices.
Research Our research aims at developing fundamental knowledge through experiment and modeling enabling new materials and processes that improve device performance, cost, and reliability. We are currently working on the following application-driven topics: batteries, electrochemical production of synthetic fuels, waste heat recovery by thermoelectrics, and photovoltaics.
News
January 2020: Our lab in the movie theaters! The premiere of Sabine Boss' thriller "Jadgzeit" will take place on January 24 at the Solothurner Filmfesttage and will be available in Swiss movie theaters from February 20. Some scences were filmed at Empa. The trailer is available here.
January 2020: We welcome Wengao, Francesco, and Patrick as new members of our lab.
December 2020: Our lab on national TV in the infotainment show Einstein. Watch the podcast here.
December 2020: Congratulations to Rabeb for winning a Horizon 2020 Marie Slodowska-Curie COFUND postdoc fellowship.
December 2020: Congratulations to Arndt for successfully definding his habilitation at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg.
November 2019: Congratulations to David for having been selected to represent Switzerland at the Global Young Scientist Summit in Singapore in January. More information here.
November 2019: We welcome Alessandro and Francesco as new members of our lab.
October 2019 Congratulations to Léo for winning the ECS Battery Division Student Research Award sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Research & Development. Léo will receive the award at the 236th ECS Meeting in Atlanta in October. More information here.
October 2019 Congratulations to Prof. John B. Goodenough, Prof. M. Stanley Whittingham, and Prof. Akira Yoshino for winning the 2019 Nobel prize in chemistry for their contributions to the development of the lithium-ion battery. More information here.
October 2019 We welcome Gustav and David as new members of our lab.
September 2019 Congratulations to Léo for winning an E-MRS 1st poster prize at the E-MRS fall meeting in Warsaw.
September 2019 Congratulations to Léo for successfully defending his PhD thesis at the University of Geneva.
September 2019 Congratulations to Francesco for winning the 2nd Swiss & Surrounding Battery Days Outstanding Poster Award.
September 2019 We welcome Florian and Fabian as new members of our lab.
August 2019 Our lab is organzing the 2nd edition of the Swiss & Surrounding Battery Days taking place from August 26 to 28 at Empa Academy. More information and registration here.
June 2019 Congratulations to Léo for winning an E-MRS graduate student award at the E-MRS spring meeting in Nice.
June 2019 We welcome Lukas and David as new members of our lab.
May 2019 Congratulations to Ryo for winning a "Travel Award" from the International Society of Solid State Ionics..
May 2019 Congratulations to all the runners that defended the colors of our lab at this year's SOLA Stafette! Impressions can be found here.
April 2019 Congratulations to Ryo and Léo for winning each a "Chemistry Travel Award 2019" from the Swiss Academy of Sciences and the Swiss Chemical Society.
April 2019 We welcome Isabel and Rabeb as new members of our lab.
March 2019 We welcome Chengyin and Christos as new members of our lab.
February 2019 We welcome Maximilian as new member of our lab.
January 2019 Kick-off to an exciting new project on all-solid-state batteries with project partner Fraunhofer ISC. Press release can be found here.
January 2019 Congratulations to Léo for winning the UniGe/UniTec Impact Award for the "Most Promising Invention 2018". Press release and video can be found here.
Seminars and Events
17.12.2019 11:00 Francesco Pagani, David Reber, Empa, Highlights: MRS Fall 2019, LA 373.
12.11.2019 11:00 Dr. Arkadiy Simonov, ETHZ, Hidden diversity of vacancy orderings in prussian blue analogues, LA 373.
05.11.2019 11:00 L. Duchêne, Empa, Highlights: ECS Fall 2019, LA 373.
29.10.2019 11:00 F. Wagner, ETHZ & Empa, Bachelor thesis presentation, LA 373.
03.10.2019 15:30 Dr. Léo Duchêne, Empa, PhD thesis seminar followed by apéro, VE102.
01.10.2019 11:00 Ryo Asakura, Arash Seyedhosein, Empa, Highlights: EMRS Fall 2019, LA 373.
17.09.2019 11:00 David Reber, Empa, Highlights: EECE 2019, LA 373.
29.08.2019 11:00 Dr. Dominique Guyomard, CNRS IMN & Université de Nantes, New electrode and electrolyte materials for the next generation of energy storage devices, VE102.
28.08.2019 13:30 Battery 2030+ information event, Empa Academy, satellite event to 2nd Swiss & Surrounding Battery Days.
26.08.2019 13:30 2nd Swiss & Surrounding Battery Days, Empa Academy, registration here.
09.07.2019 11:00 Ryo Asakura, Empa, Highlights: SSI-21 2019, LA 373.
16.05.2019 11:00 Ruben-Simon Kühnel, Empa, Highlights: IBA 2019, LA 373.
04.04.2019 13:30 Prof. Dr. Jürgen Janek, Justus Liebig University Giessen / Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Challenges on the route to solid-state batteries, VE102.
22.01.2019 11:00 Dr. Marina Gonzáles Vayá, EKZ, EKZ's experience with the operation of utility-scale battery energy storage, LA 373.
11.12.2018 11:00 Marie-Claude Bay, Francesco Pagani, Empa, Highlights: MRS Fall 2018, LA 373.
13.11.2018 11:00 Prof. Jeff Sakamoto, University of Michigan, Will solid-state batteries compete with liquid-based Li-ion technology?, VE 102.
16.10.2018 11:00 Dr. Arndt Remhof, Empa, Highlights: 2nd International Symposium on Mg Batteries, LA 373.