Jürgen Otto Besenhard

Jürgen Otto Besenhard (born May 15, 1944 in Regensburg ; † November 4, 2006 in Graz ) was a German chemist ( electrochemistry ) and professor at the University of Münster and Graz University of Technology . He dealt in particular with the chemistry of lithium batteries and lithium-ion accumulators and was internationally recognized as a leading expert.

Live and act

Besenhard received his doctorate in 1973 from the Technical University of Munich (reversible electrode reactions of poorly soluble substances in non-aqueous electrolytes). As a post-doctoral student he was with Roger Parsons at the University of Bristol (1977) and then taught and researched in Munich. In 1986 he became a professor at the University of Münster. In 1992 he organized the 6th boarding school. Meeting on Lithium Batteries in Münster. In 1993 he moved to Graz University of Technology as director of the Institute for Chemistry and Technology. There he was head of the research program Electroactive Materials and was a member of the advisory board of the competence center for applied electrochemistry ECHEM.

In addition to lithium batteries, he also dealt with many other areas of electrochemistry (such as fuel cells , supercapacitors ). Besenhard worked closely with the industry, so that many of his research results were not published because they were proprietary in-house.

He published over 800 scientific papers, supervised over 100 undergraduate and postgraduate students and held over 50 patents. Besenhard was editor of the Handbook of Battery Materials and co-editor of the Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry, ITE Letters on Batteries, New Technology and Medicine, Ionics, and the International Journal of Electrochemical Science . He was a member of the Christian Doppler Senate in Vienna, received the Loschmidt Medal in 2002, the Hawaii Battery Award in 2000 and the Yeager Award of the International Battery Material Association (IBA) in 2000 for pioneering work on the anodes of lithium batteries. In 2004 he organized the IBA conference in Graz and became President of the IBA in 2006.

He was visiting professor at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology for Energy Science .

Fonts

• with Martin Winter: Rechargeable batteries. Part 1: Batteries with aqueous electrolyte solution. In: Chemie in our Zeit , 33, No. 5, 1999, pp. 252-266, Part 2: Accumulators with non-aqueous electrolyte solution, in: Chemistry in our time, 33, No. 6, 1999, pp. 320-332.
• Editor: Handbook of Battery Materials. Wiley-VCH, 1999 (2nd edition 2011 in two volumes; edited with Daniel Claus).
• with HP Fritz: Cathodic reduction of graphite in organic solutions of alkali and NR ₄ ⁺ salts. In: J. Electroanal. Chem. 53, 1974, p. 329.
• The electrochemical preparation and properties of ionic alkali metal and NR ₄ ⁺ graphite intercalation compounds in organic electrolytes. In: Carbon . 14, 1976, p. 111.
• with R. Schallhorn, R. Kuhlmann: Topotactic redox reactions and ion exchange of layered MoO ₃ bronzes. In: Mat. Res. Bull. 11, 1976, p. 83.
• with R. Schallhorn: The discharge reaction mechanism of the MoO3 electrode in organic electrolytes. In: J. Power. Sources. 1, 1976/77, p. 267.
• with G. Eichinger: High energy density lithium cells, part I. electrolytes and anodes. In: J. Electroanal. Chem. 68, 1976, p. 1.
• with G. Eichinger: High energy density lithium cells, part II, cathodes and complete cells. In: J. Electroanal Chem. 72, 1976, p. 1.
• Reversible electrochemical alloying of metals of main group V in organic Li ⁺ solutions. In: Electrochim. Acta. 20, 1975, 513.

Web links

• In Memoriam Jürgen O. Besenhard from Martin Winter