Press releases

Solid-state batteries promise greater safety, higher energy density, and new degrees of freedom in cell design. Yet the path from laboratory cell to industrial production is challenging. Laser processes can overcome key hurdles and enable a breakthrough.

Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister of Research, Technology, and Space, explains:“Only those who master battery technology and can also manufacture battery cells competitively will be able to hold their own in international competition. Batteries are indispensable for climate-neutral mobility and energy generation. As a flagship measure of Germany's High-Tech Agenda, the FFB focuses on ”Lab to Fab" – from science to industry. The first battery cell from FFB PreFab therefore marks a decisive milestone for batteries ‘Made in Germany’.“

Battery housings in electric vehicles must be impact-resistant, absorb crash energy, protect against short circuits, and be heat-resistant. Efficient heat dissipation is essential, but cells also need protection from excessive cooling. The housing must resist damage from stones and salt, fit the vehicle’s underbody, add rigidity, and, being lightweight, help increase range. Aluminum foam satisfies these requirements.

An innovative measurement method enables optimized battery management in electric vehicles, helping to make them safer and extend their lifespans. Impedance spectroscopy from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM analyzes detailed measurement data on the battery’s state in real time during operation. This means batteries can also be used for safety-critical applications.

Fraunhofer FEP has developed a new roll-to-roll production process for manufacturing metal-on-polymer current collectors. This technology enables the precise application of copper and aluminum layers onto polymer films to produce current collectors with electrical conductivity and thickness comparable to conventional metal foil-based current collectors. These results provide industry with a valuable basis for optimizing lithium-ion batteries.

To promote the sustainability of electromobility and enhance resource efficiency, upcycling of lithium-ion batteries is gaining increasing importance. Efforts are focused on slowing down material cycles by repurposing used batteries from electric vehicles for new applications instead of transferring them directly to recycling processes.

Today in Münster, a significant step was taken in the research and production of sustainable, resource-efficient battery cells with the inauguration of the first phase of the Fraunhofer Research Fabrication Battery Cell FFB, known as "FFB PreFab". Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister-President Hendrik Wüst, and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft President Prof. Holger Hanselka opened the facility, which spans approximately 6,800 square meters of research space. With this launch, Fraunhofer FFB begins research activities at the site, utilizing cutting-edge European machinery technology.

Optimizing batteries, whether for e-mobility or for large storage systems, is one of the most important tasks for industry and science. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, the simulation of battery models has been part of day-to-day business for years. The Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Science and Health is now supporting a new project with just under one million euros to model the entire manufacturing process.

A new environmental report from Fraunhofer FFB focuses on sodium-ion batteries as an alternative battery technology. The researchers examine the technological characteristics of the battery as well as the activities in research and industry related to this technology - from the production of materials and cells to the emergence of user markets. The environmental report was prepared as part of the overall "FoFeBat" project funded by the BMBF.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are indispensable key components for electro mobility and the success of the energy transition. They offer high energy density and high cycle stability. Eight partners from industry and science are developing technologies and components in the funded project "revoLect" (funding reference: 03ETE041) in order to be able to produce resource-saving and more efficient LIBs. The project is pursuing two key innovations: the replacement of the usual metal foils with a metallized fabric structure and the use of silicon as anode material.