Young Poster Prize for Yosra Dammak
Investigating cathodes for lithium-ion batteries
At a glance
- Award: Young Poster Prize for Yosra Dammak at the 16th International Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries for Automotive Applications
- Research focus: Degradation mechanisms in high-nickel NMC cathodes
- Impact: Development of longer-lasting, high-energy lithium-ion batteries, e.g. for electric vehicles
- Methods: Electrochemical cycling, electron microscopy, X-ray-diffraction
Yosra Dammak, PhD researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI-SusMat), has received a Young Poster Prize at the 16th International Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries for Automotive Applications, held in Padova (Italy) from 3-5 November 2025. Her award-winning work sheds new light on how high-nickel cathode materials degrade during use, which is an important step towards more durable lithium-ion batteries.
Understanding degradation in high-nickel cathodes
High-nickel layered oxides such as LiNi0.09Mn0.05Co0.05O2 (NMC955) are among the most promising cathode materials for future lithium-ion batteries thanks to their high energy density. However, their performance tends to decline over repeated charge–discharge cycles due to mechanical and structural degradation.
Dammak’s research focuses on understanding exactly how and why this degradation occurs, and how microstructural design can improve long-term stability. Her comparison of two grain sizes measuring ~1 μm and ~0.5 μm revealed that fine microstructures outperform coarse grain sizes. “Smaller grain sizes show a higher energy capacity, capacity retention and rate capability”, explains Dammak. Advanced characterization with scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction showed that coarse grains develop intergranular cracking caused by heterogeneously distributed strain concentrated at grain boundaries. While fine grains remain mostly intact as their finer structure enables more evenly distributed deformation and faster grain boundary diffusion.
Implications for future battery design
The results demonstrate that finer-grained high-nickel cathodes offer clear advantages in both electrochemical performance and mechanical robustness. By linking microstructure to degradation mechanisms, Dammak’s research contributes important insights into designing more durable, high-energy cathodes for electric vehicles and other applications.
The International Conference on Advanced Lithium Batteries for Automotive Applications started in 2008 with the aim of enhancing global research and development of advanced lithium batteries for vehicles and strengthening global collaboration in this field. The conference brings together policy makers as well as car manufactures, battery industry makers, and leading scientists from academia and national labs.
