Petr Novák’s research interests include the electrochemistry of lithium-ion batteries. His long-term goal is to develop large lithium-ion batteries for vehicle applications.
At TU Braunschweig, the focus will be on developing and applying advanced characterization methods for battery materials and cells. The aim of these research activities will be the improvement of the performance and lifetime, reducing the costs of Li-ion cells.
Since March 2021, Petr Novák has been establishing a research group in the field of battery characterization and understanding of degradation as a senior professor at the Institute of Energy and Process Systems Engineering at TU Braunschweig.
Petr Novák was a lecturer at the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences of the ETH Zurich from 2002 to 2021 and an Adjunct Professor at the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry since 2009. He build up the Section “Electrochemical Energy Storage” of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland.
He was born in Brno in the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) in 1956.
Petr Novák completed his degree in chemistry at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague (Czech Republic, then Czechoslovakia) in 1980, where he went on to obtain a doctorate in electrochemical engineering three years later. From 1983, he worked as a research scientist at the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Prague for five years. 1988-1989 he worked at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the University of Bonn, Germany.
In 1994, Petr Novák received his habilitation in chemical technology of inorganic materials from the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. In 1990, he spent a year working as a group leader at the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Prague. From 1991 to 1995, he was a project leader at the PSI before working as a group leader and section head there.
| Year | Distinction |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Yeager Award of the International Battery Association for outstanding contributions to electrochemical energy conversion and storage science over a protracted period |
| 2016 | Fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry |
| 2008 | Elected Vice-President of the International Society of Electrochemistry |
| 2005 | Technology Prize of the Battery Division of the Electrochemical Society, Inc. |
| 1988 | Tajima Prize of the International Society of Electrochemistry, Lausanne, Switzerland |
Petr Novák was appointed full professor for material research of novel energy storage systems at KIT, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. He rejected the appointment.
Braunschweig:
The ETH Alumni List can be found below: LINK