Materials to Electrodes (Advanced)

About this certificate:

How can electrical charge be stored using chemicals in an electrochemical cell? How are the charge capacity of a given material and its chemical and physical properties linked? The Materials to Electrodes course provides a deep yet simple explanation of the operational principles of a rechargeable battery. Specific attention is directed towards lithium-ion batteries. Specifically, you will learn the fundamentals of the ‘electrochemical cell’ which is the heart of any battery system independent of the storage size. You will learn to calculate crucial properties of active materials such as gravimetrical and volumetric capacities, electromotive force, and the maximum energy content of a battery. You will acquire knowledge on state-of-the-art active materials in lithium-ion batteries and synthesis routes relevant for the industrial production of commercial active materials for lithium-ion batteries. Lastly, you will learn how these influence the performance level of batteries.

This course empowers you to:

• Name the main components of a battery and know their purpose
• Summarize the main differences between lithium-ion batteries and other (earlier) types of rechargeable batteries
• Measure, report, and understand the status of a battery using the common technical vocabulary in the battery community
• Summarize what type of redox reactions happen at the anode and cathode of a cell
• Understand why the voltage/electromotive force of different battery technologies are different
• Summarize the state of the art active-materials in lithium-ion batteries
• Relate the structure of a material to its performance in the battery