Learn from anywhere: Battery Basics with Anna Weichert

The second month of the year is already halfway over: a good opportunity to pause and take a closer look at your New Year's resolutions. Were topics such as further training or expanding your knowledge also on your list? Then now is the ideal time to take action.

Our expert Anna Weichert takes you into the world of battery cell research and development. As a research associate in the field of "Cell Design” at Fraunhofer FFB, she is ideally equipped to provide beginners and advanced learners from various industries with a comprehensive overview of the topic of battery cells. Benefit from her in-depth knowledge of current materials and modern research approaches for lithium-ion. Join us as we dive into the fascinating world of battery cells, the technology of the future, and get a comprehensive overview – from historical background, existing materials, structure, battery types, and manufacturing approaches for lithium-ion cells.

In our modern, high-performance society, energy storage systems are more relevant than ever, as they help to balance the supply and demand of renewable energies, enable CO₂-neutral mobility, and form the basis for the diverse range of electronic devices that shape our everyday lives.

To understand how today's battery cells work, the module begins with a look at the history of battery technology and explains the development of the cell, starting with Volta's column, through the Daniell cell, to the powerful nickel-rich cathodes and lithium-ion cells of modern systems. It becomes clear that rechargeable energy storage devices have continuously increased their energy content over the last few decades, and lithium-based batteries now offer the highest specific energy density. Accordingly, they are used in a wide range of applications, e.g., in consumer electronics, industrial applications, electric vehicles, and power tools. The cell design has a decisive influence on the battery properties and can affect energy and power density as well as safety behavior. A distinction is made between three cell formats. Due to their metal casing, which offers durability and efficient cooling, prismatic cells are safer than pouch cells, for example. However, the latter are more variable in size and shape, lighter, and more flexible. Prismatic cells are therefore more suitable for use in energy storage systems, while pouch cells are used in electronic gadgets. Round cells have the simplest design, which makes them quick and inexpensive to produce, but they lag behind the other cell formats in terms of packing density and heat management.

The modes of operation and applications are based on the internal structure of these cell formats. Upon successful completion of the seminar, you will have a detailed understanding of the structure of round, pouch, and prismatic cells, be able to recognize different types of storage devices, and classify them into chemical, mechanical, electrical/electromechanical, and thermal categories. You will also have gained in-depth knowledge of electrochemical voltage, potential differences between electrode materials, and the specific capacity of a battery. In addition to classifying the different types of energy storage devices and their respective storage capacity and discharge time, these are the central learning objectives of the seminar. This will enable you to better assess the energy storage devices used in both industrial and everyday applications.

The knowledge conveyed here serves as a basis for understanding other topics such as battery systems, specific manufacturing processes, and battery markets. 

Anna Weichert is a research associate in the group "Cell Design" and is responsible for the quality in battery cell production, ensuring that the batteries developed and produced by FFB meet high quality standards and can deliver the desired performance safely and reliably. The chemical engineer has been working in battery cell research for more than seven years, with her main focus on cathode development. Anna is particularly enthusiastic about her work in research production at Fraunhofer FFB because of the link between laboratory research and industrial application. This approach can shorten the duration of innovation cycles. Fraunhofer FFB acts as an accelerator in this regard and supports industry in solving research and development challenges on the threshold of industrial technology use.