For a chance to get to know better the work of the project, we are introducing to you a series of interviews with the HEROES project partners, who will provide an insight into their experiences and tasks within the project.
This interview takes place with Hanne Flaten Andersen, Research Manager on Battery Technology and leader of WP4 - Cell characterisation for HEROES project.
IFE, the Institute for Energy Technology, is a Norwegian research institute and a frontrunner in international energy research.
What is the role of your organisation in the HEROES project? What about your
role?
IFE, specifically the department of Battery Technology, is involved in WP3 and focuses on preparing silicon nanoparticles which will be tested within Beyonder's cells. IFE is also leading WP4 on LiC cell characterization. Most of our work consists of testing the cells that Beyonder are producing and validating their lifetime, behaviour and degradation which will then be used by other partners as part of their modelling work. For the HEROES's end-product, knowing exactly how the cells are aging is important.
I am principally coordinating the efforts on LiC cell characterisation between IFE, AAU and Beyonder.
What do you like most about HEROES?
I like that HEROES is a highly ambitious project where we need to collaborate across countries and different scientific fields to obtain a very specific end goal, the hybrid energy storage system.
What is going to happen in the following months in your work?
In the following months, we are going to be producing and validating three different silicon-based anodes to examine if we can get an improvement in the anode material. We are producing silicon nanoparticles and will test different coating methods to include carbon to the anode mix as well. The silicon anode that proves the best performance will be upscaled at IFE to then be tested inside a Beyonder's cell next year. In addition to this, we will also continue the testing of Beyonder' cells and learn more about its life cycle and how to optimize the cycling characteristics.
What positive impact did the project activities have in your organisation?
Some of the positive impacts that come from the HEROES' activities are related to the cooperation between the partners. As the project will aim for higher TRLs than what IFE could obtain alone as a research institute, we can follow the work of the other partners as we get closer to the end-product of the project. It is also interesting to learn about the requirements of Beyonder when it comes to the testing of our silicon-based anodes inside their large pilot cell production and the volumes that they need for making a few cells. In addition, IFE is learning more about LiC cells as our work cell characterization was previously mostly focusing on lithium-ion batteries.
