All‐solid‐state batteries (ASSBs) with silicon anodes are promising candidates to overcome energy limitations of conventional lithium‐ion batteries. However, silicon undergoes severe volume changes during cycling leading to rapid degradation. In this study, a columnar silicon anode (col‐Si) fabricated by a scalable physical vapor deposition process (PVD) is integrated in all‐solid‐state batteries based on argyrodite‐type electrolyte (Li6PS5Cl, 3 mS cm−1) and Ni‐rich layered oxide cathodes (LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2, NCM) with a high specific capacity (210 mAh g−1). The column structure exhibits a 1D breathing mechanism similar to lithium, which preserves the interface toward the electrolyte. Stable cycling is demonstrated for more than 100 cycles with a high coulombic efficiency (CE) of 99.7–99.9% in full cells with industrially relevant areal loadings of 3.5 mAh cm−2, which is the highest value reported so far for ASSB full cells with silicon anodes. Impedance spectroscopy revealed that anode resistance is drastically reduced after first lithiation, which allows high charging currents of 0.9 mA cm−2 at room temperature without the occurrence of dendrites and short circuits. Finally, in‐operando monitoring of pouch cells gave valuable insights into the breathing behavior of the solid‐state cell.

Silicon anodes offer a very promising approach to boost the energy density of lithium-ion batteries. While silicon anodes show a high capacity and, depending on the system, a good cycle stability in half-cells vs lithium, their integration in industrially applicable lithium-ion full-cells is still challenging. Balancing described as the capacity ratio of negative and positive electrode (n/p ratio) is a crucial necessity for the successful design of lithium-ion batteries. In this work, three different silicon based anode systems, namely carbon coated silicon nanowires, columnar silicon thin films and silicon-carbon void structures are compared in LIB full cells containing NMC111 cathodes. By varying the areal capacity of the NMC111 cathode, the influence of the balancing was investigated over a broad n/p range of 0.8−3.2. The aim was to find an ideal compromise between lithium plating suppression, high cycling stability and maximized energy density. To underline the high volumetric energy density, the columnar silicon thin films are additionally analyzed in multilayered pouch cells with NMC622 and NMC811 cathodes resulting in 605 Wh L−1 and 135 Wh kg−1 and even 806 Wh L−1 and 183 Wh kg−1 as demonstrated on stack level.

Label-free biomolecular interaction analysis is an important technique to study the chemical binding between e.g., protein and protein or protein and small molecule in real-time. The parameters obtained with this technique, such as the affinity, are important for drug development. While the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) instruments are most widely used, new types of sensors are emerging. These developments are generally driven by the need for higher throughput, lower sample consumption or by the need of complimentary information to the SPR data. This review aims to give an overview about a wide range of sensor transducers, the working principles and the peculiarities of each technology, e.g., concerning the set-up, sensitivity, sensor size or required sample volume. Starting from optical technologies like the SPR and waveguide based sensors, acoustic sensors like the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and the film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR), calorimetric and electrochemical sensors are covered. Technologies long established in the market are presented together with those newly commercially available and with technologies in the early development stage. Finally, the commercially available instruments are summarized together with their sensitivity and the number of sensors usable in parallel and an outlook for potential future developments is given.

In recent years, both silicon thin films and nickel-rich layered oxides have received much attention as promising anode or cathode materials for next generation lithium ion batteries, respectively. In this work, full cells containing Li[Ni 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 ]O 2 (NCM811) as cathode in combination with amorphous columnar silicon thin films as anode are evaluated in coin cells and 3-electrode cells with varying capacity balancing. Full cells with area capacity ratios of negative to positive electrodes (n/p-ratio) reaching from 1.15 : 1 to 2.70 : 1 are studied. The cells with a high n/p-ratio (2.00 : 1 and 2.70 : 1) show significantly lower specific capacity of 115 mA h g NCM −1 after 50 cycles of galvanostatic cycling in comparison to 130 mA h g NCM −1 for a cell with a n/p-ratio of 1.15 : 1. One reason for this phenomenon is the decline of the initial coulombic efficiency with increasing n/p-ratios. Secondly, through only partial utilization of the silicon anode by using high n/p-ratios, the anode potential is increased at the end of charge. This leads to a higher cathode potential and therefore a faster degradation of the cell. In summary, for designing high performance NCM811/Si full cells, high n/p-ratios should be avoided.