Editorial Empa Quarterly #81
High time to think big
There is no question that solutions for the energy transition and the climate crisis are Herculean tasks that require one attitude above all: Think big!
In other words: take a holistic stance and involve all stakeholders who can contribute to finding practicable solutions. This is exactly what we have set out to do at Empa, for instance in battery research, the focus of the current issue. Whether with our sister institutions within the ETH Domain, with industrial partners or in pan-European research consortia – interdisciplinary collaboration is always at the heart of our research activities.
Being able to store energy – in whatever form – is a central pillar of a sustainable energy system, since solar and wind energy are not always available in sufficient quantities when they are needed. That's why battery storage plays a crucial role on the road to net zero.
That is only half the story, though. Over the last 200 years, we have literally littered the Earth's atmosphere with CO2 from fossil sources. And if you make a mess, you should clean it up afterwards – and maybe do something clever with it.
That – in a nutshell – is the idea behind our large-scale new research initiative Mining the Atmosphere. You can get a foretaste in this issue - in the next issue, we will present this ambitious project in more detail. Now that's one hell of a cliffhanger, don't you think?
Michael HagmannHead of Empa communication
Empa Quarterly#80 Accelerating research
The young people of today are the decision-makers of tomorrow. In this issue, the focus is therefore not (only) on materials and technologies, but also on the people who make them possible: Researchers, founders, apprentices and students. Through support at all professional and academic levels, these talents can reach new heights in science or enter the Swiss economy as urgently needed skilled workers.
Read the latest EmpaQuarterly online or download the pdf-version.
Empa Quarterly#81 Battery research
Being able to store energy is a central pillar of a sustainable energy system, since solar and wind energy are not always available in sufficient quantities when they are needed. Good batteries are indispensable for the energy transition, and thus for a more sustainable world. Empa researchers are developing batteries for different applications, from stationary energy storage to electromobility. They are also working on analyzing and recycling end-of-life batteries.
Read the latest EmpaQuarterly online or download the pdf-version.
Empa Quarterly#82 Mining the Atmosphere
To limit climate change, we need to compensate not only for future emissions, but also for historical ones. One solution would be the "atmospheric vacuum cleaner": we remove the excess CO2 from the atmosphere. But what do we do with it? Instead of extracting the carbon for polymers, medicines, fibers, fuels and the like from crude oil, we use atmospheric CO2. This is the simple – yet extremely challenging in technical terms – idea behind Empa's new research initiative, Mining the Atmosphere.
Read the EmpaQuarterly online or download the pdf-version.
Empa Quarterly#83 Perovskites: Versatile cristals
Over 180 years ago, a curious crystal was discovered in the Ural Mountains. Today, it has given rise to an entire class of materials that is of great interest to researchers: perovskites. What all perovskites have in common is their crystal structure, which gives them unusual properties. By changing the exact composition of the perovskite, scientists can control these properties. Empa researchers are using this promising material to develop solar cells, detectors and quantum dots.
Read the EmpaQuarterly online or download the pdf-version.