Recap: Future Days Battery Edition 2025
On May 21, we hosted the 2025 edition of our live studio event, Future Days, with a special focus on batteries. This virtual event featured a panel of specialists from the Malvern Panalytical team and the wider industry, covering topics including the future of battery technology, battery metrology solutions, on-line solutions, and how to integrate analytical techniques into battery recycling. If you missed the event or would like a recap of the day’s highlights, read on.
Part 1: Batteries of the future
For the first part of the event, we explored the research and innovations shaping the future of the battery industry.
Solid-state microbattery developments
We kicked off with Prof. Dr. ir. Mark Huijben from Twente University, who shared the latest insights on solid-state microbatteries. With a forecasted 19% annual growth rate up to 2028, these batteries have the potential to transform 5G communications, wearable electronics, medical systems, and many more applications.
Mark presented a solution for epitaxial thin-film microbattery design that aims to boost the energy storage performance of next-generation microbatteries.
Optimizing battery materials for the best energy storage performance
Next, Dr. Xuehang Wang shared how she and her Storage of Electrochemical Energy (SEE) team at Delft University are exploring fundamental processes and improvements in the development and preparation of battery materials.
Xuehang shared results from her research on MXenes and conjugated polyelectrolytes as emerging high-rate energy storage materials with promising performance. She also highlighted that electrolyte behavior at the electrode-electrolyte interfaces is highly correlated with the energy storage performance, and that proper application of characterization methods is essential to understand these mechanisms correctly.
Enabling next-generation battery innovation at scale with the right production environment
When it comes to battery production, Fraunhofer FFB’s open battery cell factories are driving efficient and sustainable battery production at scale. Dr. Jonas Höwedes introduced us to Fraunhofer’s infrastructure in Germany and how it aims to meet rising battery demands amid global competition, while managing production costs.
One of the ways that Fraunhofer’s factories do this is through their innovative production environments, known as ‘mini-environments’. Here, energy consumption is reduced thanks to a compact process line using 50-60% of the manufacturing equipment of a typical line, all while maintaining quality. Within these environments, Jonas’ team is able to innovate with materials like sodium-ion batteries and dry-coated electrodes to scale the next generation of batteries.
Supporting advanced battery analysis with a comprehensive set of instruments
Next on the agenda, our experts Lillian Arbenz and Dr. Umesh Tiwari presented advanced battery analytical solutions from Malvern Panalytical, Micromeritics, and SciAps. Powerfully combining the skills of three market leaders, our solutions cover the entire battery workflow, from cathode material manufacturing to anode materials, cell manufacturing, and recycling. These processes are supported by our instruments for high-precision particle size and shape analysis, elemental analysis, crystal size analysis, and in-situ and in-operando X-ray diffraction (XRD).
The first part of the session concluded with a roundtable discussion on the topics presented.
Part 2: Battery recycling trends
How can we best optimize the end-of-life process of batteries? With production covered, the second part of the event was dedicated to recycling techniques and solutions.
Sustainable metal recovery in battery recycling
Dr. Margarita Merkulova from Umicore kicked off with a presentation on integrating analytical techniques into battery recycling. As a circular materials technology company, Umicore aims to develop and recycle materials that make our everyday lives better. The company’s proprietary pyro-hydrometallurgical technology for lithium-ion battery recycling generates high recovery rates for cobalt, nickel, copper, and lithium.
Margarita emphasized safety, quality, metal recovery, and the environment as key factors in the characterization of materials during the recycling process. She concluded that as battery volumes grow, battery recycling still faces several challenges. Thorough sampling and analytical processes contribute to the highest recovery of valuable metals.
Exploring options for black mass characterization
Putting this theory into action, Malvern Panalytical specialists Rajendra Mishra and Michel Zoontjes presented our battery recycling solutions. They gave an overview of the typical composition of a 60 kWh lithium-ion battery and the steps of its recycling process, resulting in black mass.
The material properties of black mass can be determined via elemental analysis (such as via X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy), particle size analysis (via laser diffraction), and phase identification. Rajendra and Michel walked participants through the various techniques available and presented Malvern Panalytical’s “recycling toolbox”.
We closed off the event with a live roundtable discussion featuring all our expert speakers! This session covered both of the topics discussed during the afternoon, and our audience members got the chance to share their burning questions.
Thank you to everyone who organized and attended the event – we’re looking forward to welcoming you back to the next Future Days!
You can take a look at all the presentations and products featured at Future Days on our dedicated post-event webpage here.
Let’s stay connected
Malvern Panalytical is at the forefront of providing solutions to tackle the challenges of battery technology. To stay up to date on Future Days and all our other specialist content, follow our Advanced Materials page on LinkedIn.
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