Science at UM [S02-ep11]: From the Secrets of Batteries to the Geochemistry Platform

[Podcast] - Published on January 12, 2023 in Science and Society, Outreach

This week on *Science at UM*, Marie-Liesse Doublet from theICGM reveals the secrets of our batteries. Our report takes you to the geochemistry plateau with Michaël Bonno, a researcher at GM. Finally, Aurélie Lieuvin presents the Café & Video from the CNRS. A program broadcast on Divergence FM 93.9 every Wednesday at 6 p.m.

And to kick things off, we’d like to wish you a very happy new year, of course, and hope that the holidays gave you a chance to recharge your batteries so you can start 2023 off on the right foot! To help you ease back into things, this first episode of the new season is all about batteries. Phones, computers, tablets, electric toothbrushes, razors, game consoles, cameras, lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, drills, and now scooters, bikes, or cars… The list of battery-powered devices has grown steadily over the past few decades to the point where plugging in and unplugging a charger has become one of our most routine daily actions.  But have you ever wondered how a battery works? What happens when it charges? When it discharges? What magical processes lie behind that little icon symbolizing a battery charging? That’s the question we’re exploring today.

In fact, a team of researchers from the Collège de France, the CNRS, the University of Rennes 1, and the University of Montpellier has developed a new method that allows scientists to observe the inside of a commercial battery in real time. It may not seem like much, but this is a major breakthrough, and the study was published in *Nature Energy*.

Our guest is Marie-Liesse Doublet, a researcher at the Charles Gerhardt Institute in Montpellier and, of course, a member of that team. She is also among the latest recipients of the Academy of Sciences awards.

In the second half of the program, we head to Geosciences Montpellier, specifically to the geochemistry lab, where Michaël Bonno goes back in time to reconstruct the history of the Earth.

Finally, our last-minute guest is Aurélie Lieuvin, the communications manager at CNRS Occitanie-Est, and she’s here to introduce us to the 2023 season of the CNRS Café & Vidéo series. The first event takes place on January 19, and it’s not to be missed.

At UM Science, you’ve got the program—let’s get started!

Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Reporting and editing: Aline Périault
Director: Naomi Charmetan

Tune in to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM, Research, Science, Company