AnnualReport2020

HOST LABORATORIES IN
MATERIALS & ENERGY SCIENCES
GROUPE DE RECHERCHES SUR L’ENERGÉTIQUE DES MILIEUX
IONISÉS (GREMI) - UMR 7344 - UNIVERSITÉ D’ORLÉANS, CNRS
LABORATOIRE DE PHYSICO-CHIMIE DES MATÉRIAUX ET DES
ELECTROLYTES POUR L’ENERGIE (PCM2E)
EA 6299 - UNIVERSITÉ DE TOURS
Created in 1982, the GREMI is a joint University of Orléans/CNRS research unit focusing
on plasma and laser processes and their applications in a wide range of fields: energetics,
materials, micro- electronics, nanotechnologies, metrology, radiation sources, biomedicine,
transport, and the environment. About 30 permanent position professors and researchers develop their
research with the help of 10 engineers, technicians and administrative staff. The laboratory also welcomes
around 20 PhD students and post- docs. The GREMI is one of the major plasma processing laboratories in
France and its expertise is internationally recognized in many areas involving plasma properties. Its facilities
comprise a substantial experimental infrastructure dedicated both to the production of plasma media and to
state-of-the-art plasma diagnostics. Modeling, strongly linked to experimentation, is also an important aspect
of the performed research.
The Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of Materials and Electrolytes for Energy (PCM2E) was
created in 2012 and works in the field of energy conversion and storage (batteries, supercapacitors,
hybrid photovoltaic, ionic liquids), nanostructured materials and organic electrochromic devices.
Located in Tours, The PCM2E laboratory has about 35 people including 14 assistant professors, three
professors, a professor emeritus and a lecturer Excellence. It has been strongly renewed since the last fouryear
contract since nearly half of these members have been recruited since 2007.
The overall project of the laboratory is built around competences in electrochemistry, thermodynamics and
chemistry of materials. The laboratory has three priority themes:
Electrolytes, membranes and electrode materials for energy storage
Organic semiconductors and nanostructured materials
Ionic Liquids
Materials & Energy Sciences 2020
CONDITIONS EXTRÊMES ET MATÉRIAUX : HAUTE TEMPÉRATURE
ET IRRADIATION (CEMTHI) - UPR 3079 - CNRS
The lab was originally formed in 1969 and renamed the «Centre de Recherche sur les Materiaux à
Hautes Températures» in 1998. In 2008, it merged with the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches par
Irradiation laboratory. Its goals are to analyse and understand the physical and chemical properties
of materials under extreme conditions based on a detailed description of the atomic-scale structures and
defects in the solid state or the melt.
CEMHTI has an international level of expertise in chemistry and physics at high temperature and/or under
irradiation. Its objectives are the analysis and the understanding of the physicochemical properties of solid
and molten materials and their behaviour in extreme conditions of temperature (up to more than 2500°C) and
irradiation, from a better description of the local atomic structure and defects in the solid and liquid states.
The laboratory has expertise in the fields of high temperatures, fusion and solidification, phase transitions,
local order and disorder, meta-stability, in optical, radiative, thermic and electrical properties which are
studied in crystalline and amorphous oxides, ceramics, cements and molten salts.
In addition to the above mentioned directions of research, this laboratory is a unique research organisation
owing to its in-depth focus on the design and development of novel electrolyte compositions. The electrolyte
properties such as ionic conductivity, thermal behavior, potential range of stability, polarisability and dielectric
constant fundamentally impact the performance of all types of batteries and form the core of the research
activities.
The beneficial effect of choosing and designing novel materials and compositions of the electrolytes and
applying appropriately to different battery systems has been demonstrated through numerous publications
and patents at PCM2E.
Materials & Energy Sciences 2020
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