Operando research infrastructure for energy materials and systems – OperaRI

The Operando research infrastructure for energy materials and systems (OperaRI) provides powerful in-situ and operando characterization techniques to deepen scientific know-how necessary for advances in hydrogen and green technologies. The three partners: University of Oulu, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, and Tampere University together create a research infrastructure with unique capabilities to accelerate new materials and processes for green transition and hydrogen economy and connect them under a single digital platform of national importance. OperaRI is part of Finland’s national infrastructure roadmap (FIRI) established by the Academy of Finland.

OperaRI will include a host of operando characterization modalities from atomic and nanoscale to micro- and macroscales and all the way to component / system level. Together, these capabilities provide the methods for detecting hydrogen, understanding its interactions with and effects on atoms, defects and their arrangements within the materials, and quantifying its effects on material, component and system level properties and performance. The methods are used to study materials under realistic use and operation conditions for processes related to the entire value chain, including P2X processes and CCU. A digital platform will be established for outreaching external stakeholders, information and data sharing, training, and connecting users, and experts in a single contact point for fast and easy access. OperaRI will significantly strengthen the experimental capabilities, know-how and expertise of Finnish RI landscape, which will directly benefit the national stakeholders, both academia and industry, and improve their competitiveness in the global scale.