Committee

Scientific Committee:

Jürgen Janek, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

Olivier Guillon, Forschungszentrum Jülich

Pascal Hartmann, BASF SE, Ludwigshafen

Thorsten Ochs, Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart

Local Organizers:

Jürgen Janek, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen;
Thomas Leichtweiß, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

Biographies

Jürgen Janek

Jürgen Janek received his doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.) in chemistry from University of Hannover, mentored by Hermann Schmalzried and Alan B. Lidiard in the field of physical chemistry of solids. He finished his Habilitation and became assistant professor at University of Hannover in 1997. After a short period in Kiel 1999, he accepted the offer of a chair for physical chemistry at Justus-Liebig University in Giessen (Germany) and became director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry. In 2004 he was invited as visiting professor to Seoul National University and Tohuku University in Sendai, and in 2008 he was invited as visiting professor in D´Aix-Marseille. Since 2011, he is scientific director of BELLA (Batteries and Electrochemistry Laboratory), a joint lab of BASF SE and KIT in Karlsruhe/Germany, and member of the International Network for Batteries and Electrochemisty of BASF SE.

His research in physical chemistry of solids and electrochemistry spans a wide range from fundamental transport studies in mixed conductors, electrode kinetics and interface phenomena to plasma electrochemistry and in situ studies in electrochemical cells. Where possible, he attempts to combine electrochemical studies of interfaces with spectroscopic and microscopic in situ experiments. Current key interests include new materials and their reactions in lithium solid state batteries, lithium- and sodium-based next generation batteries and the defect chemistry of porous and nanostructured oxides. The interest in the kinetics of solid state electrodes—in comparison to conventional electrodes in liquid electrodes—forms a red line through major parts of his research. Janek holds several patents and is author of about 200 peer-reviewed papers in a wide range of journals.

Olivier Guillon

After his engineering degree at the Ecole des Mines d’Alès and PhD on the non-linear behaviour of ferroelectric ceramics in France, Olivier Guillon joined as a post-doc the group of Prof. Jürgen Rödel at TU Darmstadt. Focusing on constrained sintering he also visited the group of Prof. Raj Bordia at the University of Washington (USA) and  established in Darmstadt an DFG funded Emmy Noether Group on new ceramic processes.

After two years spent at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena as professor of mechanics of functional materials, he has been director at the Institute of Energy and Climate Research - Materials synthesis and processing (Forschungszentrum Jülich) and professor at the RWTH Aachen University since 2014.

His achievements have been recognized at an international level (DGM-Masing Prize, FEMS Materials Science and Technology Prize, R.L. Coble Award of the American Ceramic Society). He coordinates the new DFG priority programme  „Manipulation of matter controlled by electric and magnetic fields: Towards novel synthesis and processing routes of inorganic materials“, and is  speaker of the expert committees „Field Assisted Sintering Technology/Spark Plasma Sintering“ as well as „Ceramics for energy technologies“  (DKG).

His interests encompass Thermal Barrier Coatings and Ceramic Matrix Composites, Solid Oxide Fuel/Electrolytic Cells, gas separation membranes and batteries. The development and processing of solid electrolytes for lithium and sodium ions, and their integration into all-solid-state batteries play a key role in this regard.

Pascal Hartmann

Pascal Hartmann studied „Advanced Materials“ at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. In 2014 he received his doctoral degree (Dr. rer. Nat.) in chemistry, mentored by Juergen Janek and Philipp Adelhelm in the field of electrochemistry. For his thesis on sodium-superoxide batteries he received the “Förderpreis auf dem Gebiet der Elektrochemie” conferred by the GDCh “Fachgruppe Angewandte Elektrochemie”. In December 2014 he joined corporate research at BASF SE working on lithium-ion batteries and next generation batteries. Since April 2016 he is laboratory manager at BELLA (Batteries and Electrochemistry Laboratory), a joint lab of BASF SE and KIT in Karlsruhe/Germany. At BELLA ten postdocs and Ph.D. students work on fundamental research in the field of both lithium-ion and solid state batteries.