Christian Prehal

Dr. Christian Prehal is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Physics of Materials, University of Salzburg, leading research on post-lithium-ion energy storage systems. Previously, he held roles at ETH Zürich, including senior assistant and lecturer in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering. His research focuses on nanoscale structural evolution in batteries, combining in situ scattering methods, mesoscopic modeling, and machine learning. He holds an ERC Starting Grant (2022) and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship. Key interests include lithium-sulfur, metal-air, and supercapacitor technologies.

Research emphasizes material interfaces, confinement effects, and sustainable design. His work bridges electrochemistry, materials science, and engineering, addressing energy density and sustainability challenges. Supervised PhD students include Klara Neumayr (machine learning in batteries) and Sven Dunkel (sodium-ion batteries). The Prehal-Lab (www.prehal-lab.eu) develops novel analytical tools and systems materials engineering approaches.

Notable achievements include explaining anomalous capacitance in supercapacitors (Nature Energy 2017) and foundational studies on aqueous batteries (Nature Communications 2020). Awards include the Christian-Doppler Preis and Fonda-Fasella Award (2017). Current grants include the ERC SOLIDCON project (€2.37M) targeting lithium-sulfur battery advancements.