Battery Insights
Learn about the science and engineering behind different battery technologies.
The battery field is full of different concepts, acronyms and, at times, overly verbose claims about performance. The content in these pages aims to provide information to readers to better understand the battery field, the different technologies and the various considerations.
Furthermore, successful deployment of battery technologies will require practitioners to draw insights from multiple disciplines. Therefore, it is important to build a holistic understanding of the problems we are trying to solve. For more reflections, consider reading my Nature Energy World View article on “Addressing the battery talent shortage with interdisciplinarity“.
Scanning electron microscopy image of a lithium-ion battery cathode prepared with a focus-ion beam
Redox flow batteries
Under construction
Recommended reading
History of the battery industry and its societal impacts
These recommended books tell the history of the battery industry and its societal impacts in a clear and engaging way
Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green - Henry Sanderson - https://amzn.to/4cJ8lB2
The Powerhouse: America, China, and the Great Battery War - Steve LeVine - https://amzn.to/4bqwRWx
Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions - Akshat Rathi - https://amzn.to/3xEjmEK
Battery engineering
Interested in diving deep into battery engineering? These books provide great detail to help you become a battery engineer
Battery Management Systems, Volume I: Battery Modeling - Gregory Plett - https://amzn.to/3L5VbSU
Battery Management Systems, Volume II: Equivalent-Circuit Methods - Gregory Plett - https://amzn.to/4eNMlqj
Battery Management Systems, Volume III: Physics-Based Methods - Gregory Plett and Scott Trimboli - https://amzn.to/4clv7yR
Linden’s Handbook of Batteries - Kirby Beard - https://amzn.to/3zlFTqp
Battery materials
These papers give some great insights into battery materials
Navigating the minefield of battery literature. Xu. 2022. Communications Materials - https://www.nature.com/articles/s43246-022-00251-5
Theoretical vs practical energy: A plea for more transparency in the energy calculation of different rechargeable battery systems. Betz et al. 2018. Advanced Energy Materials - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aenm.201803170
Battery manufacturing
These resources give some great insights into battery manufacturing
Manufacturing of lithium-ion battery components. RWTH Aachen University. 2019 - https://www.pem.rwth-aachen.de/global/show_document.asp?id=aaaaaaaaaffpnvh
Lithium-ion battery cell production process. RWTH Aachen University. 2018 - https://www.pem.rwth-aachen.de/global/show_document.asp?id=aaaaaaaaabdqbtk
Battery module and pack assembly process. RWTH Aachen University. 2018 - https://www.pem.rwth-aachen.de/global/show_document.asp?id=aaaaaaaaabdqbtl
Current status and challenges for automotive battery production technologies. Kwade et al. Nature Energy. 2018 - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-018-0130-3
Electrochemistry
Want to learn about electrochemistry? This text book gives you the fundamentals
Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications - Allen Bard, Larry Faulkner and Henry White - https://amzn.to/3RQlmR4