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Course Contents
Electrochemistry for Energy Applications I&2

The two courses Electrochemistry for Energy Applications treat the fundamentals of electrochemistry as well as different electrochemical devices important for today’s and tomorrow’s energy economy (fuel cells, batteries, photo-electrochemical electrolysis- and solar cells). The lectures introduce the working principle of the devices, their components and materials, as well as their application and future potential for the energy economy. A mayor focus is the correlation of electronic and ionic properties of the functional materials with their performance in the device.

The first course in the winter term treats the fundamentals of electrochemistry as required to follow the second course in the summer term, which focuses on the treatment of material, component and system issues specific to the different devices.

Electrochemistry for Energy Applications II: Applications and Devices

Contents:

The second part of the lecture deals with electrocatalysis applications, photoelectrochemical processes/cells, and batteries.

The utilization of catalysts enables huge energy savings as chemical reactions can proceed faster and more selective. In this part of the course one main focus will be related to fuel cell catalysis. In addition to this, different concepts e.g. for chlorine electrolysis will be introduced in order to illustrate how the choice of the counter reaction can enable enormous energy savings. Finally, the water splitting reactions on dark catalysts will be introduced.

Photoelectrochemical cells allow the production of fuels using sunlight. Key element of these cells is a semiconductor electrode that converts light energy into electric energy, which is then directly used for fuel production by electrolysis. The course focuses on water splitting and the production of hydrogen, respectively, covering the basics of the process and the properties of the cells. In addition, the CO2 reduction for the production of carbon fuels and dye sensitized solar cells are introduced.  

Batteries can store and release electrical energy very efficiently, and are a cornerstone of electromobility. After an introduction into the principles and the most widely used cell types, the course focuses on Li-ion batteries. The course treats the properties of common Li-ion electrode materials and electrolytes, and demonstrates how key performance properties such as energy density, power density and life time depend on the cell chemistry. Moreover, next generation battery concepts such as the all solid state battery are introduced.