Hey Everyone,

This week was the most hands-on I have been in my lab since my arrival. On Monday I hit the ground running by using the cathode strips I prepared last week to prepare actual coin cells in the glove box. I do have to say that at the beginning of this week, the glove box was my worst enemy. I felt like I was working extremely slowly because it was difficult to have three pairs of gloves on while being inside a vacuum. I can now see that they started me with thin cathodes because they are generally uniform and flat. The lack of curvature helps me practice building the battery, but as the cathode gets thicker then it will be a bit tricky dealing with it curving inside the cell. Eventually, when I had three coin cells built, I began testing them and learned how to read the graphs that the program makes. These tests take a very long time, usually around 80 hours or more, which also tests my patience. The test works by going through cycles of charging and discharging the batteries, and the goal is to have smooth curves in the graph (which I did not have at all). With this first batch, 2 of the 3 short-circuited, meaning that we could not test them and they were wasted. The last one is still currently being tested, and the curves originally were all over the place, but now they are looking somewhat better.

Moving on from the first batch, I used the same cathode materials that were left over to assemble three more cells. I was much faster inside the glove box now that I got the hang of it. Unfortunately, one short-circuited as soon as it was attached, and the other did not have enough voltage flowing through it. Therefore, these two cells could not be tested. The last one, however, is doing amazing so far and it shows great promise with a good capacity.

This week, I also prepared another cathode strip, and not a single part of it fits within the parameters in weight for me to use in a battery cell, so that felt like a waste of two days’ worth of working and waiting on it. I was assured by my mentors that it is pretty common for that to happen and that I need to just keep trying. As of right now, I just made another strip and it is drying in the oven. On Monday I will keep working on it and hopefully it fits within the weight requirements. I can start testing my own recipes for the cathodes as soon as I master the original one, and hopefully I will be able to find something useful for this lab.

Not much happened this week outside of the lab, but my routine is still holding together. I am very excited for this weekend since Eid is on Sunday, and I will be spending time with my family in celebration of it.

Overall, I would call this another successful week, and I honestly can not believe that is has been three weeks already. I can only hope for great results this upcoming week.