I had the pleasure today to inform mr. Frans Timmermans, European Commission Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, about research on batteries and solar cells at the University of Twente. Together with my colleague Prof. Monica Morales-Masis I have discussed the unique research facilities of the Nanolab and the activities of the Twente Centre for Advanced Battery Technology and the Solar Centre Twente. Furthermore, I was able to give an update on the latest national battery research programs, such as BatteryNL and NXTGEN Hightech, as well as the recently submitted Growthfund proposal ‘Materials Independence & Circular Battery Technology - NL’.

A VICI grant of 1.5 million euro was awarded to Prof. Mark Huijben by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to develop an innovative line of research in the coming years and further develop his research group. Vici is one of the largest person-centred scientific grants in the Netherlands and is aimed at advanced researchers. The research project is titled 'Superior microbatteries by tailoring interfaces for an interconnected society' . The research will be performed at the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente.

Marijn van de Putte has received his doctoral degree by successfully defending his PhD thesis titled 'Vertically Aligned Nanocomposites as Next-Generation Thermoelectric Architectures'. The external members of his PhD committee were Prof. Francisco Rivadulla (University of Santiago de Compostela) and Prof. Bart Kooi (University of Groningen). (27/01/2023)

The MUST battery school between battery experts from University of Münster, Stanford University and University of Twente was organised for the first time (Jan. 25/26, 2023). Prof. Mark Huijben was given the great honour to sign the Golden Book of the City of Münster together with the MUST battery partners : Prof. Yi Cui and Prof. William Chueh from Stanford University, Prof. Martin Winter and Prof. Simon Lux from University of Münster and our colleague Prof. Sebastian Thiede from University of Twente. We had the pleasure to visit the historic Friedenssaal where in 1648 the Peace Treaty of Münster was signed. 
MEET Battery Research Center, Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production FFB, Fraunhofer Innovation Platform for Advanced Manufacturing at the University of Twente, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, Twente Centre for Advanced Battery Technology, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Precourt Institute for Energy

Rui Xia has received his doctoral degree Cum Laude by successfully defending his PhD thesis titled 'Niobium-Based High Rate Electrodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries: From Materials Design to Electrochemical Origins'. The external members of his PhD committee were Prof. Hans-Dieter Wiemhöfer (University of Münster), Prof. Moniek Tromp (University of Groningen) and Prof. Fokko Mulder (Delft University of Technology). (5/10/2022)

BatteryNL – Next Generation Batteries based on Understanding Materials Interfaces (9.3 million Euros) This project will realize safer next-generation batteries with higher energy densities and longer cycle life, as demanded by a society based on renewable energy sources. Making use of the unique knowledge position of the Netherlands, the heart of these desired batteries, the electrolyte-electrode interface, will be investigated to reveal the bottle-neck processes, and improved with scalable interface technology. The consortium, existing of experts within academics, high-tech startups, multinationals and societal partners, creates a crucial position for Dutch parties in the development of next-battery technology. www.batterynl.nl

Probing inside a material, at the interface of two different layers, is one thing. Doing this under realistic circumstances, while the materials are active, is another, and it is not so easy. That is exactly what researchers of the MESA+ Institute of the University of Twente would like to achieve, using the special machine they are building. Thanks to a three-‘colour’ X-ray system, they will be able to look at three separate depths. The HAXPES system, for which Dutch Research Council NWO granted a large subsidy of 2.2 million euro, will prove its unique qualities in, for example, the development of new types of batteries for electric mobility and new catalysts for producing green hydrogen.

Daniel Monteiro Cunha has received his doctoral degree by successfully defending his PhD thesis titled 'Self-assembled Vertically Aligned Nanocomposites for Solid-State Batteries'. The external members of his PhD committee were Prof. Judith Driscoll (University of Cambridge) and Prof. Taro Hitosugi (Tokyo Institute of Technology). (10/3/2021)

Materials that turn from isolators into conductors by mechanical stress, could lead to valuable new components in electronics. Unfortunately, this type of materials doesn’t easily match with silicon, the basic material in chip technology. This could change soon: researchers of the University of Twente demonstrate a new way of adding their ‘exotic materials’ to a silicon base. The strain-controlled material could be a valuable new component on chips, and thanks to the ultra thin protective layer that comes from IBM Research, it is now possible to build the switch on top of silicon. The paper ‘Strain-engineered metal-to-insulator transition and orbital polarization in nickelate superlattices integrated on silicon’ is published in Advanced Materials.

A new technology to be used in lithium batteries can make them charge faster. The material graphite that was often used, already had a successor that could not further be improved, was the assumption. Until now, as researchers of the MESA+ Institute of the University of Twente found out that by nanostructuring the material, new ‘paths’ will be created for lithium ions. This makes the battery charge faster, the researchers show in their paper in Journal of Power Sources (‘Enhanced lithiation dynamics in nanostructured Nb₁₈W₁₆O₉₃ anodes, by Rui Xia, Congli Sun,Yang Wang, Daniel Cunha, Hayang Peng, Kangning Zhao, Mark Huijben and André ten Elshof). The researchers demonstrating these results earlier on, stated that NbWO already shows such excellent properties that nanostructuring it beforehand, would have no added value. The UT researchers now demonstrate that nanostructuring indeed has a substantial effect.

The kick-off meeting of the Accumulate research consortium was held on February 13 2020, in which several partners from Eastern Netherlands team up to realize a better, safer and more sustainable application of batteries. The project partners Contour Advanced Systems BV, Van Raam, BREKR, Hencon, DNV GL, Twente Safety Campus and University of Twente will collaborate to explore the production of next-generation batteries in the Netherlands. This will enable the development of form-free, modular and safer battery packs for several (niche) markets such as electric motorcycles, adapted bikes and heavy duty vehicles. Special attention will be given to innovative fire extinguishing systems for storage, as well smarter reuse and recycling. The Accumulate project is partially financed by OP Oost, the subsidy program for companies and knowledge institutes in Overijssel and Gelderland, which is part of the European Regional Development Fund (EFRO). (13/2/2020)

Ron Hendriks has received his doctoral degree by successfully defending his PhD thesis titled 'Interface-Engineering for All-Oxide Solid-State-Batteries'. The external members of his PhD committee were Prof. Dina Fattakhova (FZ Julich) and Prof. Marnix Wagemaker (TU Delft). (2/10/2019)

Rui Xia has won the Impact prize (Business Development) Poster Award during the annual MESA+ day, Enschede, Netherlands. Every year, the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology hosts the internal symposium to illustrate the various projects and programs of the MESA+ institute by means of lectures and scientific poster presentations. The title of his poster was 'Influence of grain size on the electrochemical properties of Nb18W16O93 anodes for lithium ion batteries'. (30/9/2019)

Rui Xia has won the Best Poster Award during the 'Batteries and supercapacitors: fundamentals, materials and devices' symposium at the European Materials Research Society Spring meeting, Nice, France. The title of his poster was 'Electrochemical study of lithiation in Nb18W16O93 electrodes'. (31/5/2019)

The University of Twente has become a partner of the Alistore European Research Institute. Within this prestigious European network in the field of battery research, top-level research groups work in close collaboration to develop the batteries of the future. The Alistore European Research Institute is the largest research network in the field of battery research in Europe. The network consists of 23 top groups that are engaged in cutting-edge fundamental research in the field of batteries and the materials involved in making batteries. Alistore is the point of contact for large European research institutes, coordinates research for the business community and is committed to obtaining financing for battery research. MESA+ researcher Mark Huijben, who focuses on conducting fundamental research into optimizing new and existing materials for batteries, sees this as validation of his team's work. “Here in Twente we are relatively new to the field of battery research, but we are making huge strides in our development. For me, joining Alistore is a recognition of our work." (1/9/2018)

Daniel M. Cunha has won the Best Poster Award during the 25th International Workshop on Oxide Electronics, Les Diablerets, Switzerland. The title of his poster was 'Mapping Electrochemical Activity at the Nanoscale for Enhanced Solid-State Battery Electrodes'. (3/10/2018)

Daniel M. Cunha has won the David Reinhoudt Poster Award during the annual MESA+ day, Enschede, Netherlands. Every year, the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology hosts the internal symposium to illustrate the various projects and programs of the MESA+ institute by means of lectures and scientific poster presentations. The title of his poster was 'Nanoscale Mapping of Electrochemistry for Enhanced Solid-State Batteries'. (25/9/2017)