From active materials to battery cells: A straightforward tool to determine performance metrics and support developments at an application-relevant level

Large-scale electrochemical energy storage is considered one of the crucial steps toward a sustainable energy economy. Science and industry worldwide are conducting intensive research into various ways to improve existing battery concepts or transferring novel concepts to application. The development of materials and electrodes is an essential step in this process. However, the evaluation of the achieved performance parameters and the comparison of the different studies at this technological level with regard to practical applications is challenging, since special electrodes and cell concepts are typically used at laboratory scale. In the present work, a straightforward computational tool (Ragone calculator) is provided to estimate performance data at the full cell level based on electrochemical measurements on electrodes. Application of the Ragone calculator simplifies the comparability of the different studies and allows an appropriate classification of the reported performance data. In addition, extrapolation of the results to the battery level can make a valuable contribution to assessing at early stages whether a development is target-oriented or in which direction it needs to be advanced.