Winner Analytik Jena Science Award 2022 Winner in the Category of “Best Scientific Paper in the Field of Chemical Analysis”

Winner in the Category of “Best Scientific Paper in the Field of Chemical Analysis”

Alexander Winckelmann, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM)

High-resolution atomic absorption spectrometry combined with machine learning data processing for isotope amount ratio analysis of lithium

Justification: "The potential of machine learning algorithms up to artificial intelligence is becoming apparent in more and more areas and topics. The possibilities opened up by adding such technologies are currently only in their infancy but often already impressive. The work of Alexander Winkelmann and team⁽ⁱ⁾  here excitingly shows how machine learning algorithms can increase the validity of measurement results to such an extent, that the next higher class of devices is partially matched in performance. The team investigated the extent to which AAS technology from AJ (HR-CS-AAS) is able to sufficiently analyze the distribution of lithium isotopes using gradient boosting algorithms (XGBoost).

As a reference, the established ICP-MS method was used as the current standard analysis method for this purpose. The results proved to be comparable and sufficient to detect the isotopic distribution of Li in the samples using AAS, instead of the much more laborious analysis using ICP-MS.

Lithium is a widespread light element in the Earth's crust with two naturally occurring isotopes, 6Li and 7Li. The study of Li isotope distribution is used to explain many processes on the surface of the Earth. In addition, Li isotopic analysis can be used to gain a better understanding of lithium ion transfer and to determine the electrochemically active lithium losses in lithium ion batteries. This is critical for understanding aging mechanisms, and thus can help develop batteries with longer lifetimes and performance."

^{(i) Alexander Winckelmann,1,2 Sascha Nowak,3 Silke Richter,2 Sebastian Recknagel,2 Jens Riedel,2 Jochen Vogl,2 Ulrich Panne,1,2 Carlos Enrique Abad Andrade,2
1 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Chemistry, Brook-Taylor-Str. 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany
2 Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und –prüfung (BAM), Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, 12489 Berlin, Germany
3 MEET Battery Research Center, University of Münster, Corrensstr. 46, 48149 Münster, Germany}

The paper was also published in " ResearchGeate", Accepted July 2021