The Helmut Ehrenberg Lab

Helmut Ehrenberg’s lab focuses on understanding and improving materials for electrochemical energy storage, with a strong emphasis on lithium‑ion, sodium‑ion, and solid‑state batteries. The core research goal is to reveal how atomic‑scale structure, defects, and interfaces govern battery performance, aging, safety, and recyclability. The lab is particularly known for its comprehensive use of advanced characterization methods. These include X‑ray and neutron diffraction, synchrotron‑based techniques, Mössbauer spectroscopy, solid‑state NMR, X‑ray absorption spectroscopy, electron microscopy, and impedance spectroscopy. By combining these tools across multiple length and time scales, the group investigates key processes such as SEI formation and growth, cation disorder, redox mechanisms, electrolyte degradation, binder effects, and chemo‑mechanical coupling in electrodes. Research topics span the full battery lifecycle: from the design of cobalt‑free and Ni‑rich cathode materials, coatings and solid electrolytes, to degradation mechanisms in large automotive cells and innovative approaches for battery recycling and lithium extraction. The work has direct societal relevance by supporting safer batteries, longer lifetimes, sustainable raw‑material use, and circular battery value chains—critical for electric mobility and renewable energy storage. The lab is an excellent fit for students interested in materials science, solid‑state chemistry, or physics. Ideal candidates enjoy experimental research, data‑driven analysis, and linking fundamental structure–property relationships to real‑world battery challenges.