Volker Presser gives an oral presentation titled “Electrochemical Lithium-Ion Separation” at the Symposium on Direct Lithium-Extraction (SDLE) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany).

Our latest research in Energy & Environmental Science explores an eco-friendly, high-performance lithium-ion anode made from self-assembled organic nanowires. By evaporating water on a copper current collector, we achieved a nanowire network without harmful solvents, enhancing lithium-ion diffusion and storage capabilities. The result? The self-assembled organic nanowire anode delivers a remarkable lithium storage capacity of up to 1888 mA h/g at 0.1 A/g, retaining 508 mA h/g even at a high current rate of 10 A/g. In lithium-ion capacitors, it achieves a specific energy of 156 W h/kg at 0.34 kW/kg and maintains 60.2 W h/kg at 19.4 kW/kg, outperforming many state-of-the-art systems.

This Czech-German research collaboration was carried out by Ievgen Obraztsov, Rostislav Langer, Jean G. A. Ruthes, Volker Presser, Michal Otyepka, Radek Zboril, and Aristides Bakandritsos.

Our new paper, Electrochemical recycling of lithium-ion batteries: Advancements and future directions, is now available online at the Wiley journal EcoMat. Our review provides a perspective of different recycling techniques currently used for lithium-ion batteries. We begin by reviewing the more established pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods, which have been widely adopted in industrial applications. These methods, while effective, often involve high energy consumption and the use of chemical reagents, raising concerns about their long-term sustainability.

Building on this foundation, we focus on emerging electrochemical approaches, which offer a more sustainable alternative by using electricity to recover valuable metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel. This method reduces the need for harmful chemicals and promises lower energy demands, especially when powered by renewable energy sources. However, despite these advantages, electrochemical recycling is not without its challenges. Our paper critically examines key issues such as scalability and selectivity. We emphasize the need for further research to address these obstacles and unlock the full potential of electrochemical recycling to improve metal recovery efficiency while minimizing waste and environmental impact.

In the broader context of the energy transition, efficient battery recycling is becoming increasingly important. As demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage rises, ensuring the sustainable recovery of metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel is crucial. While electrochemical methods are promising, significant technical challenges remain to be addressed before these processes can be widely adopted. We believe our work contributes to a deeper understanding of the current landscape and offers insights into future directions.

New paper published on cation separation during flow electrode capacitive deionization in Desalination. This work is about improving water treatment and resource recovery through selective ion removal using flow electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI). We explore separating specific cations like calcium and magnesium from multi-ion solutions, helping to optimize water desalination processes. Our data show that while the overall ion separation order follows a universal order, the kinetics (down to full ion depletion) can be adjusted as a function of carbon mass loading, presence or absence of conductive additive, and flow rate.

Volker Presser delivers an invited (online) talk on “Electrode design of supercapacitors (and beyond)” at the 1st International Conference of Advanced Energy and Functional Materials Research (AEFM 2024) in Ilmenau, Germany.

New paper published in Nature Communication. This highly collaborative work (spearheaded by Dr. Gündoğ Yücesan) presents polyphosphonate covalent organic frameworks (COFs) constructed via P-O-P linkages, synthesized through a one-step condensation reaction. This process involves heating a hydrogen-bonded precursor made from phenylphosphonic acid and porphyrin, without chemical reagents. At temperatures above 210 °C, the COF transforms into an amorphous microporous structure due to P-O-P bond oligomerization, confirmed by 31P NMR. The COF shows excellent stability in water, water vapor, and in 0.5 M Na2SO4 electrolyte, filling a gap in COF literature for stable, microporous materials. Additionally, its narrow pores effectively capture CO2, with a sustainable synthesis route.

Two contributions from our team at the 38th Topical Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (Nanomaterials in Electrochemistry): Volker Presser is giving an oral presentation with the title “MXene and hybrid electrodes for high performance energy storage” and Cansu Kök present a poster on “Continuous Lithium-Ion Extraction via Fuel Cell Desalination”.

Stefanie Arnold gives an oral presentation at the International Symposium on Beyond Li-Ion Batteries 2024 (BeLI24) in Padua, Italy. Her presentation has the title “Electrochemical perspectives for Lithium-ion battery recycling”

New research paper from our collaboration with Michael Naguib: “Nitrogen-Doped Graphene-Like Carbon Intercalated MXene Heterostructure Electrodes for Enhanced Sodium- and Lithium-Ion Storage” published in Advanced Science.

We’ve developed a novel N-doped graphene-like carbon intercalated Ti3C2Tx (NGC-Ti3C2Tx) heterostructure. But wait… why would one want to add something in-between the MX-layers, the wonderful interlayer space that should host lithium- and sodium-ion for battery application?


By adding a thin carbon layer, we do not block ion uptake but create additional intercalation sites above and beneath the carbon layer! This yields a reversible specific capacity of 305 mAh/g for sodium-ion batteries and 400 mAh/g for lithium-ion batteries.

Our findings address the critical challenge of low reversible capacity in many MXenes, making a contribution to the field of energy storage materials. By intercalating thin carbon layers into MXene, we provide a promising route to enable enhanced capacity for MXene battery electrodes, backed up both by experimental data and modeling data.

A heartfelt thanks to the wonderful international (co)authors KUN LIANG, Tao Wu, Sudhajit Misra, Chaochao Dun, Samantha Husmann, Kaitlyn Prenger, Jeffrey J. Urban, Raymond Unocic, De-en Jiang and Michael Naguib.

New paper on solvation effects inside carbon nanopores during electrosorption published in Carbon.

Our British-German study explores the solvation effects on ion adsorption and electrosorption within carbon micropores, employing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to gain insights. Our data investigate how ionophilicity and ionophobicity – the tendency of ions to be uptaken by uncharged nanopores – affect the partitioning behavior of ions. The nanopore diameter significantly influences ion adsorption, with narrower pores creating higher barriers for ion entry. The research also reveals that ion-specific solvation effects impact on the charge storage mechanism, with ionophilic systems favoring counter-ion adsorption, while ionophobic systems tend toward co-ion ejection under applied voltage.

In a broader context, this work contributes to the ongoing efforts to enhance the efficiency of energy storage technologies, especially fast charge/discharge capable supercapacitors. By unraveling the interactions between ions and carbon nanopores, the research provides insights that could inform the development of more effective materials for supercapacitors and capacitive deionization, key components in sustainable energy systems.

Acknowledgments: Ryan J. Bragg (Lancaster University), Kieran Griffiths (Lancaster University), Imgon Hwang (The University of Manchester), Mantas Leketas (The University of Manchester), Kacper Polus (The University of Manchester), Robert Dryfe (The University of Manchester), and of course John M. Griffin (Lancaster University).#

New paper published in Chemical Engineering Journal on “A sustainable approach: Repurposing harmful algal biomass as carbon-based catalysts for nitrogen fertilizer electrosynthesis from nitrate and CO2“.

📜 Our research focuses on repurposing harmful algal blooms (HABs) biomass into carbon-based catalysts, specifically Cu1Mo1/NC, for the electrosynthesis of nitrogen fertilizers (urea and ammonia) from nitrate and CO2. This method not only addresses the environmental issue of HABs but also offers a sustainable approach to fertilizer production. The Cu1Mo1/NC catalyst demonstrated a high yield rate of 772 μg/h/mg(cat) for urea and 1531 μg/h/mg(cat) for ammonia, with a Faradaic efficiency of 68.4%.

🌐 The production of nitrogen fertilizers, essential for global food security, is currently dominated by energy-intensive processes such as Haber-Bosch, which contribute significantly to global CO2 emissions. Our approach explores how to mitigate these environmental impacts by using renewable resources and recycling waste. An approach like ours could potentially reduce CO2 emissions by millions of tons annually, equivalent to the emissions of hundreds of thousands of people.

🌱This study is a step towards sustainable agriculture, integrating renewable energy and waste recycling. Although the current system’s efficiency needs improvement to achieve positive profit and net CO2 emission reduction, it paves the way for future advancements in green and low-carbon fertilizer synthesis.

👩‍🔬👨‍🔬 Thanks to all of our partners: He Wang, Shuaishuai Man (who visited our laboratory 2021-2022), Han Wang, and Qun Yan.

New paper published on “Freestanding Films of Reduced Graphene Oxide Fully Decorated with Prussian Blue Nanoparticles for Hydrogen Peroxide Sensing” in ACS Omega.

This work explores freestanding graphene/Prussian blue (PB) electrodes for detecting hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Using a two-step method, we synthesized reduced graphene oxide/PAni/Fe2O3 freestanding films, followed by electrochemical deposition of PB nanoparticles. This approach balances the structure of the electrodes with their electrochemical performance for H2O2 sensing.

Thanks to all authors for this Brazilian-German collaboration: Vitor H. N. Martins, Monize M. da Silva, Daniel A. Gonçalves, Samantha Husmann, and Victor H. R. Souza.

Delvina Tarimo (PhD) Tarimo has started her Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) Fellowship in our group. Delvina has a strong background in Materials Science. With a Ph.D. from the , her work was dedicated to electrochemical energy storage, with a focus on bio-sourced carbons and supercapacitors. Delvina’s fellowship project explores advanced lithium-sulfur batteries using MXene and activated carbon composites. She will look at fundamental mechanisms of these materials and optimize toward enhanced performance. We are grateful to have Delvina with us and we are excited about the joint journey ahead of us!

Welcome to your new Postdoc Meenu! She will be working on Lithium-sulfur batteries and advanced electrode materials.

New review article “Functional gel-based electrochemical energy storage” published Chemistry of Materials. This paper reviews the research field of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs), which combine the ionic conductivity of liquid electrolytes with the mechanical stability of solid materials. GPEs are versatile materials in various electrochemical applications, including sensors, actuators, and energy storage devices. These quasi-solid materials can withstand significant mechanical stress, making them attractive for flexible and wearable electronics. This collaborative work was done by Jean Gustavo De Andrade Ruthes, Stefanie Arnold, Kaitlyn Prenger, Ana C. Jaski, Vanessa Klobukoski, and Izabel C. Riegel-Vidotti.

Panyu Ren gives a poster presentation on the topic “Carbon additives: friend or foe of capacitive deionization with activated carbon?” at the 37th Topical Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) in Stresa, Italy.

Thanks to the creativity of Uwe Bellhäuser and the patience and positive energy of our whole team, we are happy to launch now our new team feature video – to share our team’s excitement about research and to showcase the real heroes and heroines of science: the people of our group! Enjoy the video and get inspired… to join us. 🚀 Explore! Create! Apply!

Jonas Oehm presents a poster with the title “On the development of a digital data management platform for battery material and processing data?” at the 245th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society in San Francisco (USA).

New paper published in Energy & Environmental Materials. A few years ago, then-PhD-student Zhang Yuan explored with us the adoption of a fuel cell for continuous water desalination. Basically, a fuel cell can be “fooled” to desalinate an inflowing water stream by replacing the common proton exchange membrane with a flow channel, contained within a pair of an anion and a cation exchange membrane. Thereby, while consuming fuel (e.g., hydrogen and oxygen), electricity is generated and water desalted all at once. Now, we have moved one step further: making fuel cell desalination lithium-ion selective for direct lithium-ion extraction from seawater or mine water (other water media work too).

Our team, lead by Cansu Kök, and with Lei Wang, Jean Gustavo De Andrade Ruthes, Antje Quade (from the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP Greifswald) e.V.), and Matthew Suss (from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology; now at Form Energy), has developed the first-ever fuel cell system designed specifically for continuous lithium-ion extraction. This approach utilizes a lithium superionic conductor membrane alongside advanced electrodes to enhance efficiency and environmental sustainability.

A titania-coated electrode in our fuel cell achieves a 95% lithium-ion purity and produces 10.23 Wh of energy per gram of lithium. Thanks to atomic layer deposition, we’ve significantly improved the electrode’s uniformity, stability, and electrocatalytic activity, maintaining stability even after 2000 cycles.

It is a tradition at the Natural Science Faculty of Universität des Saarlandes to have the annual PhD Day in the Aula. This year, 60 PhD student presented their research, ranging from artificial muscles, to much real mucus, from 3D printed nanofluids to very solid metals, from quantum communication to quorum sensing inhibitors. From our team:

Nikolaos Papadopoulos shared his insights into electrochemical modelling.
薛丽颖 introduced us to the concept of high-entropy battery electrodes.
Jean Gustavo De Andrade Ruthes demonstrated the exciting field of gel electrolytes.
Panyu Ren taught us the value of electrochemical ion separation.
And Le Thao presented the latest results from our collaboration with the spherogel team of Michael Elsaesser on hybrid carbon spherogels for battery applications.