History, Unit Location

The LRCS is now over 55 years old. Created in 1968 by Professor Michel FIGLARZ, a renowned specialist in the synthesis of new materials in solution or by “soft chemistry 1”, the LRCS, with the arrival of Professor Jean-Marie TARASCON in 1994, resolutely turned its attention to materials for energy storage and conversion. Since 2000, the LRCS has been a joint research unit of the CNRS and the Université de Picardie Jules Verne in Amiens (UMR 7314), and has been behind the creation and management of the ALISTORE (since 2004) and RS2E (since 2013) networks. Since January 2008, the LRCS has been directed by Mathieu MORCRETTE, who was succeeded by Christian MASQUELIER on January 1, 2025. Since February 2017, the LRCS has been housed in a new 5500 m2 building called the Energy HUB, at 15 rue Baudelocque in Amiens.

The lab workforce

Around 140 people work in the Energy HUB, with close links to LRCS research activities, including 4 companies hosted in the HUB: TIAMAT, G-Lyte, A2MAC1 and CRYSTAL ENERGY. It is important to emphasize that our scientific activity is largely networked (ALISTORE / DESTINY, RS2E) and that a significant number of PhD students are affiliated to / co-directed by 2 laboratories.

As at December 31, 2024, the LRCS had 35 permanent staff (including 12 women) and 8 staff on fixed-term contracts to support administration and research. The permanent staff includes 3 PAR (Personnels d'Appui à la Recherche, administrative), 7 SAR (Personnels de Soutien à la Recherche, technical), 8 Professors, 11 Associate Professors (5 of whom have HDR), 3 CNRS Research Directors and 3 CNRS Research Fellows. Staff on fixed-term contracts work on the many projects we coordinate and on the prototyping platform. The average age of LRCS permanent staff is 47.

Scientific Topics

The LRCS operates as a single-team facility, focusing on materials for energy storage and conversion: batteries, fuel cells, hydrogen storage, photovoltaic devices. All the scientific achievements of the LRCS can be presented in a “matrix” format, which has the advantage of listing our field of action exhaustively and making it easy to understand. In this way, each published article, each thesis defended, can be “stamped” according to one of the 8 Technologies calling on (at least) one of the 9 Skills and Methods of LRCS members.  

• Technologies: Li-Ion batteries, Na-Ion batteries, organic batteries, redox flow batteries, all-solid-state batteries, hydrides for hydrogen storage, perovskite photovoltaic cells, dye-sensitized photovoltaic cells,

• Skills and methods: electrochemistry, 3D printing of electrochemical systems, synthesis, crystallochemistry and in situ / operando mechanisms, spectroscopies and spectrometries, multidimensional imaging, data science and deep-learning for characterization, physical modeling and artificial intelligence modeling of electrochemical systems

Teams, platforms, common services

The LRCS hosts the UPJV Microscopy Platform in the Energy HUB. The LRCS's X-ray diffraction equipment is also available free of charge to UPJV researchers. We also make daily use of the Analytical platform (Mass Spectroscopy, NMR) and the UPJV MATRICS computing platform, which has computing nodes dedicated to the LRCS, now hosted at MIPHI, including an enhanced service.

Under the responsibility of Mathieu MORCRETTE, the LRCS manages the RS2E network's pre-transfer and prototyping platforms, with the capacity to manufacture 18650 and Pouch-Cells (cylindrical batteries). 

The Materials “Upscaling” platform: Created at the end of 2015, this platform aims to facilitate the development of materials synthesis routes to go from a few grams to several hundred so that they can be evaluated on the scale of the battery prototyping platform and thus anticipate possible transfers to industry. Investments in equipment and infrastructure have enabled us to create a tool that is out of the ordinary in an “academic” research laboratory. They enable the synthesis of a wide range of materials (electrodes, inorganic solid electrolytes) on a scale of a hundred grams. In particular, we have focused on positive electrode materials (lamellar, polyanionic) for Na-ion technology.

Battery prototyping platform: Historically, this prototyping platform was created in 1999 by J.M. TARASCON, with strong support from the CNRS. Set up by M. MORCRETTE, it had 3 objectives: i) electrochemical testing of materials for French laboratories lacking the tools, ii) in situ characterization of electrochemical mechanisms within batteries and iii) training. In 2013, to encourage the transfer of research to industry, the RS2E decided to fund tools for manufacturing 18650 format batteries (18 mm x 650 mm), whose machines and equipment are now installed in the new HUB building, with numerous m2 as well as a dry room.  Today, the platform is involved in 4 major projects concerning the manufacture of hybrid supercapacitors (ANR IVEDS), the integration of high-capacity positive electrode materials (ESA project), the manufacture of high energy or power density prototypes (CELIA, IRT Saint Exupéry), the RS2E Na-ion project and then TIAMAT.

The platform produced 2,500 cells for screwdrivers marketed by Leroy Merlin, a world first in terms of Na-Ion battery applications.

Research, formation and animation environment

The laboratory is strongly involved in two very active networks: RS2E (French network on Electrochemical Energy Storage) and ALISTORE (European network on batteries). These networks provide funding for theses and post-doctorates, thanks to contributions from industry and institutions, and, in the case of RS2E (in addition to Labex funding), from research contracts. Both networks are managed administratively by the Laboratory. The DESTINY Co-Fund Marie Curie project (50 theses in the European network) and the MESC Master's program (renewed i-MESC in 2024), which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024, are also worthy of mention.

In the more specific field of Redox-Flow batteries, we are partners in the GDR of the same name, headed since January 1 by Emmanuel BAUDRIN. Here again, the “administrative” and “financial” aspects are handled by the Laboratory.

In the photovoltaic field, we are one of 16 research laboratories involved in the FedPV Federation, through the activities of Frédéric SAUVAGE. We have also established a strong partnership with the IPVF, which has enabled us to direct 3 theses thanks to funding from IPVF industrialists.

In the field of hydrogen, we are a member of, and make a financial contribution to, the Fédération de Recherche sur l'Hydrogène, FRH2, particularly in the area of hydrogen storage through the discovery of new materials (Raphaël JANOT) and stationary storage through our work on modeling (Alejandro FRANCO).

We continued our involvement in the Institut de Chimie de Picardie, an institute bringing together the LRCS, LG2A and the characterization platforms of the UFR des Sciences. Led by Matthieu BECUWE and Gwladys POURCEAU, this research federation was accredited by the CNRS until 2022, when it was taken over by the University (following the disassociation of LG2A from the CNRS) and extended to cover the A2U perimeter (Artois, UPJV, ULCO).

We are involved in three PEPRs: Batteries, H2 and TASE, both at project level and in the governance of the Batteries PEPR (Mathieu MORCRETTE is deputy scientific director of this PEPR). We are involved in 11 projects.

• For BATTERIES : BATMAN (data mining, Artificial Intelligence, digital twins), FRISBI (fluoride ion all-solid batteries), OPENSTORM (operando characterization), DISCOVERY (organic redox aqueous circulation batteries), HIPOHYBAT (high-power Na-ion & hybrid), SONIC (organic anionic all-solid batteries), LIMASSE (Li-metal/NMC Li metal/C-S all-solid batteries), HIPOBAT (Franco-German project), EQUIBAT-CNRS (PEPR equipment);

• For TASE: Smart4Modules;

• For H2: SOLHID (Materials for H2 storage).

Involved as coordinators of numerous Work Packages in these projects, we lead 3 of them: EQUIBAT-CNRS (Mathieu MORCRETTE), HIPOBAT (Mathieu MORCRETTE) and LIMASSE (Christian MASQUELIER).

We are partners in the MAIA project, winner of the PIA4 “excellence in all its forms” program, which focuses on mastering the uses of Artificial Intelligence in the Chemistry and Artificial Intelligence axis, applied in particular to the batteries axis (Alejandro FRANCO and Arnaud DEMORTIERE).

Also within the framework of PIA4 “excellence in all its forms”, the E-SENSE project (“Energy Storage sciENces for Sustainable arEas”) led by Matthieu BECUWE has just been awarded a prize (September 2023). The project is part of UPJV's drive to find innovative and sustainable solutions to current and future energy problems, while promoting the autonomous management and disconnection of energy systems from the grid.

In terms of training, with the installation of Gigafactories (Verkor, ACC, AESC, TIAMAT, PROLOGIUM) in the Hauts-de-France region, there is a significant need for training at all levels (operators, technicians, engineers) and in numerous specialties (production, maintenance, electrical, R&D, etc.). On the initiative of the SGPI, a number of training-related calls for projects have been launched for the trades of the future (called CMA for Compétences et Métiers d'Avenir). We are involved in two projects (Electro'mob and Fodublive) to train people in battery manufacturing processes, in conjunction with the prototyping unit.

These 2 CMA projects also rely on a Campus des Métiers et des Qualifications d'excellence (CMQe) project/label called Chimie, Energie, Innovation Territoriale (CEIT), deployed in the A2U territory. Located at the Energy HUB and led by Laurent Gueude (financed by the Rectorat), this campus plays an important role in promoting the attractiveness of the chemical professions to young people.

To conclude

As a fundamental research laboratory working on highly applied subjects, the LRCS facilitates technology transfer from research to industry by hosting and leading RS2E pre-transfer platforms (18650 battery prototyping, safety, materials synthesis). We therefore work closely with a number of industrial companies (AMPERE-RENAULT, SAFT, EDF, SYENSQO, UMICORE, MERSEN, etc.) to transfer our discoveries to you, so that you can benefit from them on a day-to-day basis. The LRCS, a highly international research unit with an impressive network of alumni, aims to provide its staff with a high quality working environment and conditions, enabling the emergence of young talent destined for successful careers in academia or industry.

Amiens, February 18th 2025

Christian MASQUELIER
Professor at UPJV
LRCS Lab Direct