News – Energy Materials

New paper published in Water Research on terminology and metrics for electrosorption of trace organic compounds

vpresser — Sat, 30 May 2026 09:13:23 +0000

New paper published in Water Research in collaboration with Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Navid Saeidi & Anett Georgi). Electrosorption is an emerging approach for removing and concentrating trace organic contaminants from water, including PFAS and pharmaceuticals, by combining conductive adsorbents with electrical control. This Making Waves article argues that such systems should not simply borrow terminology and performance metrics from capacitive deionization, because trace-organic removal is often governed by adsorption affinity, selectivity, pore accessibility, and controlled release rather than charge-storage capacity. We propose a clearer terminology and reporting framework centered on metrics such as adsorption coefficients, breakthrough behavior, recovery, and enrichment to support better comparison between studies and accelerate the rational design of electrosorption technologies for water treatment.

New paper published on nitrate reduction in Advanced Functional Materials

vpresser — Mon, 18 May 2026 08:00:41 +0000

In a new collaborative paper in Advanced Functional Materials, we report an exfoliation-induced electrochemical reconstruction strategy that transforms CuCoAl layered double hydroxides into an amorphous/crystalline heterostructure for efficient nitrate reduction to ammonia. The reconstructed catalyst combines metallic Cu, crystalline Co(OH)₂, and amorphous CoOOH, enabling high ammonia selectivity, excellent Faradaic efficiency, and strong cycling stability. Beyond catalyst design, the study also demonstrates a Zn-NO₂^– battery concept that links nitrate removal, ammonia production, and energy storage in one system.

Volker Presser elected Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry

vpresser — Mon, 11 May 2026 10:26:06 +0000

Prof. Dr. Volker Presser has been elected Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE). This distinction recognizes his scientific contributions to electrochemical materials and technologies. The ISE Fellowship is awarded to a small group of active researchers for continuing scientific and technical achievements in electrochemistry. Within ISE, Fellows represent only a small fraction of the active membership, and typically only a few new Fellows are elected each year.

Delvina Tarimo listed as outstanding 2025 reviewer for RSC Energy Advances

vpresser — Fri, 08 May 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Congratulation to Delvina Tarimo for being recognized as an outstanding reviewer for the RSC Journal Energy Advances in 2025!

Welcome new student intern Louisa Schöndorf

vpresser — Fri, 01 May 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Welcome new student intern Louisa Schöndorf, who will be working on next generation battery materials and technologies

New paper published on Li-ion extraction from battery shredder solutions for recycling in ChemSusChem

vpresser — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 06:18:51 +0000

New paper published on electrochemical Li-ion extraction in the context of lithium-ion battery recycling in ChemSusChem. In this collaborative work with Fachhochschule Münster, we demonstrate an electrochemical route to recover lithium ions directly from real battery recycling process water generated during the wet shredding of lithium iron phosphate batteries. Using an LFP-based selective desalination cell, the process produced a lithium-rich recovery solution with 96% purity, an average lithium uptake of 41 mg/g, and a low energy demand of only 1.10 kWh/kg. This study highlights electrochemical lithium recovery as a promising, lower-energy, and less chemically intensive pathway toward more circular battery recycling.

Several poster presentations at the Ph.D. day of Saarland University

vpresser — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000

As tradition over the last almos 15 years, our team presents our work at the Ph.D. day of Saarland University. This year, we had the following presenters:

Peter Burger: Electrochemical lithium-ion recovery from battery recycling process water

Jean Gustavo de Andrade Ruthes: Electrochemical Behavior of metal and covalent organic frameworks – toward tunable redox-active materials

Cansu Kök: Composite membrane-based lithium-ion extraction from brines and seawater

Liying Xue: Hierarchical MoO₂/Mo₂C nanoflowers for lithium-ion batteries anodes

Anna Seltmann and Stefanie Arnold presented work at the EEIGM International Conference in Nancy, France.

vpresser — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Anna Seltmann and Stefanie Arnold presented work at the 13^th EEIGM International Conference on Advanced Materials Research (AMR) in Nancy, France. Anna Seltmann presented a poster with the title “Ionic Liquids as Electrolytes in Supercapacitors” and Stefanie Arnold gave a talk on “Hybrids for Electrochemical Technologies: From Batteries to Desalination and Closed-Loop Recycling”.

Welcome new student intern Matthew Lowson

vpresser — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Welcome new student intern Matthew Lowesome, who will be working on next-generation battery materials and technology

Anna Seltmann, Nicolas Huth, and Volker Presser at the MNU Federal Congress of the German Association for the Promotion of Mathematics and Science Education in Saarbrücken

vpresser — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 11:14:04 +0000

Anna Seltmann, Nicolas Huth, and Volker Presser were involved with the 116^th MNU Federal Congress of the German Association for the Promotion of Mathematics and Science Education in Saarbrücken, Germany.

Volker Presser gave a seminar talk with the title “Quo vadis BatterienMythen, Fakten und Entwicklung”.

Anna and Nicolas provided a hands-on workshop to build your own battery (BYOB) to create (and test) functional coin cells.