Dr. Robert Hahn

Robert Hahn is head of the Micro Energy Group at Fraunhofer IZM in Berlin. Since completing his M.Sc. and PhD in electrical engineering at the Technical University of Dresden in 1986 and 1990, he has been in charge of coordinating several domestic and European research projects for the development of new batteries and integrated power supplies for micro systems and autonomous electronics. Dr. Hahn has filed 30 patents in the area of micro energy systems and authored or co-authored more than 100 periodical and conference papers and contributions to monographs. His research focusses on the development of wafer-integrated micro batteries, 3D silicon processing, and energy harvesting. He was coordinator of the FP7 project MATFLEXEND that developed integrated micro batteries and capacitive harvesters. His team is currently working on several projects for the development of micro batteries for medical micro systems and miniaturized data loggers.

The Weakest Link – Aging Lithium-Ion Batteries

In electronics, batteries are always the weakest link. Many factors can influence how rechargeable batteries age. Their capacity is affected not just by the number of charging cycles, but also by environmental factors like temperature or by the behaviour of…

Rechargeable Bees? The Surprising Uses of Miniature Batteries

Fraunhofer IZM is pushing the boundaries for extremely small lithium-ion batteries, with the tiniest battery coming in at only one square millimetre. These super-small batteries are used in tiny in-ear devices or, unexpectedly, on the backs of worker bees. Robert…