From Theory to Practice: School Day at MEET Battery Research Center

Whether in smartphones, tablets or electric vehicles, batteries are an essential part of our everyday lives. Around 40 participants of the two school visit days on March 11 and 12, 2025, gained insights into research on energy storage systems at MEET Battery Research Center at the University of Münster. Equipped with lab coats and safety goggles, the chemistry classes were able to follow the work of the institute's scientists in the various laboratories and conduct their own experiments.

Diving into the Battery World

Dr Katrin Junghans introduced the world of batteries. Anode, cathode, electrolyte, separator and various materials – the MEET scientists explained the structure of a battery cell as well as the various aging mechanisms, which occur during fast charging or charging at low temperatures, for example. “In order to understand how we can improve batteries, we need to analyze exactly how the different materials in a cell change over the lifetime,” explained Junghans. And it was precisely these effects that the students were able to observe for themselves in the labs.

First, the students built lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide batteries and graphite-nickel-manganese-cobalt-oxide cells in the state-of-the-art dry rooms. Afterwards, the MEET scientists demonstrated how to safely open an aged cell in order to determine the effects of charging and discharging. Finally, the guests were given a high-resolution view of the inside of a cell using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), which is used to examine battery electrodes.
The researchers not only gave insights into their work, but also shared their personal backgrounds.

The next school visit day is planned for September 2025.Further information about the offers of MEET Battery Research Center for young people can be found here.