With the Research and Development Award, presented by IISB director Prof. Jörg Schulze, Fraunhofer IISB honors outstanding research and development work by its employees.

This year's prize went to Dr. Ulrike Wunderwald, Dr. Maximilian Wassner, Dr. Franziska Jach, and Mirko Gerlach from the Battery Materials Group.

The team, led by Dr. Ulrike Wunderwald, succeeded in substantially increasing the energy density, the number of charging cycles, and the charging efficiency of low-cost aluminum-ion batteries (AIB).

Aluminum-ion batteries offer a great development potential as a high-performance, safe, cost-effective, and sustainable alternative to the established lithium battery technology.

Two of the award winners, Dr. Franziska Jach and Mirko Gerlach, received the award on behalf of the team on site at Fraunhofer IISB during our Christmas party.

Find more information on the aluminum based battery technology on the homepage of our branch lab Fraunhofer Technology Center High Performance Materials THM.