Working on the Next Generation of Batteries in the New Battery Lab

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On 6 April, a new laboratory was opened at the Reactor Institute Delft (RID): the Battery Lab of Radiation, Science & Technology. This unique lab is an advanced facility for researching and testing current and future battery systems and related electrochemical devices. In the lab, TU Delft scientists Erik Kelder and Marnix Wagemaker and their research teams will work on the next generation of batteries: from cheap, static renewable energy storage to high energy density batteries for electric vehicles and electronics. 

Dr. Erik Kelder explains why the new lab was needed: “Battery research has expanded massively in recent years. Batteries are and will be key aids for applications such as mobile electronics, electric vehicles, human implants and renewable energy storage systems. We therefore needed a new lab, owing to increasing demand for the development of all kinds of new battery types.”

Combined with the RID’s unique structure 

According to Dr. Marnix Wagemaker, the new lab is unique in the Netherlands.

“The lab has been enlarged and offers even more possibilities for research. All of the lab facilities are now located together in one central place," said Wagemaker. "This can be combined with the RID’s unique infrastructure, including the ‘operando XRD' technologies and neutron depth profiling, neutron diffraction and solid state NMR. This will enable us to better understand the complex battery processes, so that we can develop better batteries."

The labs will use various coating and preparation techniques and cell assembly equipment, and there are both standard and unique testing systems. These include an electro-spray unit in a glove box and Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy coupled to an Atomic Force Microscope, which will allow batteries to be viewed on an atomic scale.