How to extend battery life of ELECTRIC VEHICLES ft. Anastasiia Mikheenkova

In Other Words

A recently finalised multi-technique study (XAS, RIXS, TEM; ~12 authors) of how the redox activity of different transition metals and oxygen inside commercial Li-ion cells changes as the cells age.

Key Takeaways

PhD student at Uppsala University who ‘destroys batteries for a living’, ageing commercial EV cells under realistic conditions, then tearing them apart to study the positive electrode at electrode, particle and atomic level.
Favourite tools: SEM and XRD for fast morphology/structure, plus synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy.
A Erasmus Mundus master on large-scale facilities and a Switzerland internship on sodium-ion batteries set her path.
Values deep scientific conversations that leave your ‘brain heavy’, and the diversity of backgrounds in battery science; stresses PhD students are scientists, not ‘just students’.
Wishes: equal opportunities and more diversity, transparency about career paths with less rivalry/politics, and more focus on mental health (less romanticising of working 24/7).