Data Management Plans: the Importance of Data Management in the BIG‐MAP Project[]**

Open access to research data is increasingly important for accelerating research. Grant authorities therefore request detailed plans for how data is managed in the projects they finance. We have recently developed such a plan for the EU−H2020 BIG-MAP project—a cross-disciplinary project targeting disruptive battery-material discoveries. Essential for reaching the goal is extensive sharing of research data across scales, disciplines and stakeholders, not limited to BIG-MAP and the European BATTERY 2030+ initiative but within the entire battery community. The key challenges faced in developing the data management plan for such a large and complex project were to generate an overview of the enormous amount of data that will be produced, to build an understanding of the data flow within the project and to agree on a roadmap for making all data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable). This paper describes the process we followed and how we structured the plan

Evaluating the lead affinity of graphite additives in lead-acid batteries by electrochemical deposition

The improvement of lead-acid batteries with respect to charge acceptance and cycle life in partial state of charge operations due to carbon additives in negative electrodes is state of the art. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about the mechanisms which generate these enhancements. Especially the influence of the physicochemical connection between the carbon additives and the surrounding lead skeleton has not been investigated in much detail yet, but seems to play an important role. Therefore, we developed a new method for characterizing the degree of interaction between lead and carbon additives with focus on graphite materials. By potentiostatic deposition of lead on graphite electrodes, we observe a correlation between the deposition overpotential and the number density of nucleation sites. Chronoamperometry is used to calculate the number density of nucleation sites on graphite electrodes which is in accordance with microscopic observations. We found that expanded graphite exhibits a significantly higher number of nucleation sites than synthetic graphite. Finally, a correlation between this number density of nucleation sites and the integration of the graphite particles in real lead electrodes is observed. Thus, the technique can be used to predict the integration of different graphite particles into the negative active material

Manganese Oxide Coated Carbon Materials as Hybrid Catalysts for the Application in Primary Aqueous Metal-Air Batteries

One of the major challenges of metal-air batteries is the impeded oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) during discharge occurring at the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) of the battery. Due to the impeded ORR, high overpotentials emerge and result in a loss of energy efficiency. In order to improve the latter, suitable catalysts have to be employed. Transition metal oxides like manganese oxides (e.g., MnO2, Mn2O3, Mn3O4, Mn5O8, MnOOH) [1,2] are known as good and inexpensive materials for the ORR in alkaline media. A drawback of manganese oxide catalysts is the poor electrical conductivity. Hence, the approach presented in this work aims to enhance the catalytic activity of Mn3O4 and γ–MnO2 by the incorporation of conductive carbon material into the pure manganese oxide. The resulting hybrid catalysts are prepared either by impregnation of Super C 65, Vulcan XC 72, and Kuraray YP 50F via a sol-gel technique employing a MnO2 precursor sol or by direct precipitation of Mn3O4 or γ–MnO2 particles in the presence of the carbon materials mentioned above. Investigations by rotating disc electrode (RDE) show a noticeably higher catalytic activity of the hybrid catalysts than for the pure materials. For verification of the results measured by RDE, screen printed GDEs are prepared and tested in Zn-air full cells

Fabricating electrochromic thin films based on metallo-polymers using layer-by-layer self-assembly: An attractive laboratory experiment

Metallo-supramolecular polyelectrolytes (MEPE) based on iron(II)-acetate and 1,4-bis(2,2´:6´,2´´-terpyridin-4´-yl)benzene are assembled by layer-by-layer deposition on transparent electrode surfaces. When a potential is applied, the color of the film can be switched from blue to transparent. Due to the strong absorption and the fast switching speed, the color change is readily observed with the eye. The device shows reversible switching and long-term stability. The experiment demonstrates the basic concept of electrochromic windows, an upcoming technology

Facile Protection of Lithium Metal for All‐Solid‐State Batteries

A nanolayer of reactive propyl acrylate silane groups was deposited on a lithium surface by using a simple dipping method. The polymerization of cross‐linkable silane groups with a layer of ally‐ether‐ramified polyethylene oxide was induced by UV light. SEM analysis revealed a good dispersion of silane groups grafted on the lithium surface and a layer of polymer of about 4 μm was obtained after casting and reticulation. The electrochemical performance for the unmodified and modified lithium electrodes were compared in symmetrical Li/LLZO/Li cells. Stable plating/stripping and low interfacial resistance were obtained when the modified lithium was utilized, indicating that the combination of silane and polymer deposition is promising to increase Li‐metal/garnet contact

Discovering the influence of lithium loss on Garnet Li7La3Zr2O12 Electrolyte Phase Stability

Garnet-type lithium lanthanum zirconate (Li7La3Zr2O12, LLZO) based ceramic electrolyte has potential for further development of all-solid-state energy storage technologies including Li metal batteries, Li-S and Li-O2 chemistries. The essential prerequisites such as LLZO’s compactness, stability and ionic conductivity for this development are nearly achievable via solid-state reaction route (SSR) at high temperatures but it involves a trade-off between LLZO’s caveats owing to Li loss via volatilization. For example, SSR between lithium carbonate, lanthanum oxide and zirconium oxide is typically supplemented by dopants (e.g. gallium or aluminum) to yield the stabilized cubic phase (c-LLZO) that is characterized by ionic conductivity an order of magnitude higher than the other polymorphs of LLZO. Whilst the addition of dopants as phase stabilizing agent and supplying extra Li precursor for compensating Li loss at high temperatures become common practice in solid-state process of LLZO, the exact role of dopants and stabilization pathway is still poorly understood, which leads to several manufacturing issues. By following LLZO’s chemical phase evolution in relation to Li loss at high temperatures, we here show that stabilized c-LLZO can directly be achieved by an in-situ control of lithium loss during SSR and without needing dopants. In light of this, we demonstrate that dopants in the conventional SSR route also play a similar role, i.e., making more accessible Li to the formation and phase stabilization of c-LLZO, as revealed by our in-situ X-ray diffraction analysis. Further microscopic (STEM, EDXS, and EELS) analysis of the samples obtained under various SSR conditions provides insights into LLZO phase behavior. Our study can contribute to the development of more reliable solid-state manufacturing routes to Garnet-type ceramic electrolytes in preferred polymorphs exhibiting high ionic conductivity and stability for all-solid-state energy storage