Sharif Haidar

My name is Sharif Haidar. I am a mechanical engineer and have a master's degree in sustainable energy engineering. I am currently working as a research associate at the Institute for Particle Technology at the TU Braunschweig.

My current research topic is generally concerned with the solid-state lithium-sulfur battery and in particular with the development of the solid electrolyte, one of its main components.

Solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries (SSLSBs) have recently emerged as a promising energy storage technology due to their high energy density and safety features. Despite the advantages of SSLSBs and the high capacity that has been achieved, they exhibit rapid degradation during operation over multiple charge-discharge cycles, which is known to be caused by several mechanisms such as the polysulfide shuttle effect, which however are not understood in detail.

Therefore, this project focuses on the design and fabrication of SSLSBs with high stability during operation. In the part I am working on in this project, polymer-based hybrid solid electrolytes (HSEs) with polysulfide-trapping additives will be implemented to improve the cycling stability.

What inspires me in this project is the issue of realizing sustainable energy conversion and storage systems. Along with the novelty of the topic, and the questions it raises which require a lot of research and experimentation to answer, also the challenges it entails which require a lot of work to overcome. In addition to the associated future prospects, which can lay the foundations for the use of this type of energy storage systems in many applications.

One strategy for sustainable aviation in the future is the development and use of battery-powered electric aircraft. However, the currently dominating lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) do not meet the requirements of aviation applications, especially the high specific energy demand. While lithium-sulfur batteries are one of the candidate technologies for electric aircraft due to their specific energy density, which is five to seven times higher than that of LIBs.

For me, the interdisciplinary research network offers a wide scope for getting to know other research fields and collaborating with projects within the cluster, which improves the own research method for each field, thus contributing to achieving the desired goal, namely sustainable, energy-efficient and climate-friendly electric aviation.