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Silicon-rich lithium-ion batteries promise high energy densities for applications in electric mobility, aerospace, and stationary energy storage. However, their industrial application has so far been limited primarily by their limited cycle life. In the project “StrOboBatt,” researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE succeeded in operating in-house-manufactured 25-Ah pouch cells with silicon-rich anodes for more than 1,000 full cycles. The full cells subsequently retained over 83 percent of their original capacity, with a gravimetric energy density of 280 Wh/kg in a non-optimized research cell format. This marks an important step toward the application of silicon-rich anodes in high-energy batteries.

What would happen to the price of electricity if significantly more battery storage systems were traded on the market? The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is releasing a price simulator today on its Energy-Charts.info platform that answers this question using real market data. The tool uses the actual buy and sell bids from the daily electricity exchange auction and adds a freely selectable number of battery storage units. For each quarter-hour, users can see how the exchange electricity price would have changed, how the batteries charge and discharge, and what their charge levels are. The freely accessible simulator is updated daily with the latest electricity trading results.

Researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have developed a prototype of a manufacturer-neutral app for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and plumbing contractors that enables the virtual planning of heating systems. Unlike software tools already available, the “Heat Pump PlanAR” app combines various steps of the planning and installation process into a single application. The software prototype is the result of the “WESPE” collaborative project led by the Zentralverband Sanitär Heizung Klima (Central Asso-ciation for Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning) ZVSHK and was designed in close collaboration with trades businesses. The application is now set to be further developed in collaboration with interested software companies and brought to market.

Since 1986, the calibration laboratory at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has been measuring solar cells, and since 1991, photo-voltaic (PV) modules as well. Over the course of its forty-year history, it has calibrated the performance of thousands of solar cells and modules using a wide variety of technologies. To date, the “CalLab” has confirmed 152 record results. Sixty-six of these records were for PV modules—primarily silicon modules—while 86 referred to solar cells. The first record was set in 1992 by a mini silicon solar module with an efficiency of 16.4 percent, submitted by Deutsche Aerospace Aktiengesellschaft and featuring Bayer silicon wafers. The most recent record measured by CalLab confirmed that a module from AZUR SPACE, temicon and Fraunhofer ISE, with an efficiency of 34.4 percent, is currently the world’s most efficient solar module.

Together with partners from research and industry, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has modified the structure of battery electrodes so that the battery cells can store 10 to 15 percent more energy at the same weight. They achieved this by more than tripling the coating thickness of the battery electrodes—for example, in lithium-ion batteries—which simultaneously reduces the number of current collectors in the battery cell. The research team implemented the new electrode architecture in lithium-ion pouch cells manufactured using industry-standard processes. Furthermore, they successfully applied the concept to zinc-ion and sodium-ion battery cells.