Automated Laboratory Equipment for Energy Applications

The Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications (HIPOLE Jena), supported by the Helmholtz Association, is seeking automated laboratory equipment for the development of new materials used in energy storage and conversion. The focus is on the rapid and reproducible manufacturing, formulation, and characterization of these materials using automated robotic systems in a high-throughput manner. This involves the use of automated robotic platforms that allow for the parallel execution of various experiments under standardized conditions, resulting in comparable and reproducible data essential for machine learning methods. HIPOLE Jena has already acquired an automated platform for polymer synthesis and material production from Chemspeed Technologies, and now seeks to expand this platform to include processing and formulation aspects. This will enable the automated production of electrodes for batteries and encapsulation films for solar cells, as well as the establishment of automated electrochemical testing to cover the entire process from synthesis to characterization. While automated and robotic solutions are available on the market, there are unique challenges associated with chemical processes, particularly in the formulation of materials for electrodes and solar cells, and automated characterization. These challenges include handling chemicals with low air stability and various states (liquid, viscous, solid, powder), as well as safety considerations and the need to work under inert conditions to prevent material degradation or combustion. Currently, Chemspeed Technologies is the only provider of automated robotic solutions for these specific chemical processes, having developed various patented technologies aimed at automating chemical research and electrochemistry. Therefore, a negotiation procedure without competitive bidding is permissible under VgV § 14 (4) 5 due to this unique market position.