CIC energiGUNE, a leading research centre in electrochemical and thermal energy storage and conversion, has today held “Shaping Electrochemical Energy Storage: The Michel Armand Scientific Journey” in Vitoria-Gasteiz, an international event organised to mark the 80th birthday of Professor Michel Armand, Honorary Scientific Director of the centre’s Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion area. The celebration also coincides with CIC energiGUNE’s 15th anniversary. Armand joined the centre in 2011, the same year it began operations.

The event brought together researchers from some of the world’s leading universities, research centres and companies working in electrochemical energy storage, alongside institutional representatives from the Basque Government and CIC energiGUNE. The gathering provided an opportunity to recognise Armand’s career and examine the continued relevance of ideas that have influenced the evolution of battery science for more than half a century and that remain central to the development of new energy storage technologies today.

Some of the concepts pioneered by Michel Armand several decades ago, such as solid polymer electrolytes and the development of new materials and salts to improve ion transport, are now part of research aimed at developing new generations of batteries. These include solid-state batteries, whose development seeks to increase energy density and improve safety performance, particularly important factors for applications such as electric vehicles.

Participants include Maria Forsyth, Ikerbasque Research Professor at POLYMAT, specialising in advanced electrolytes and batteries; Steve Visco, co-founder and CEO/CTO of PolyPlus, specialising in advanced lithium batteries; Maria Rosa Palacín, researcher at ICMAB-CSIC specialising in post-lithium-ion technologies; Christian Masquelier, Director of the Laboratoire de Réactivité et de Chimie des Solides (LRCS, CNRS-UPJV), specialising in materials for lithium and sodium batteries; and Władysław Wieczorek, Professor at Warsaw University of Technology and member of the Chemistry Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), specialising in electrolytes for electrochemical devices.

The programme was therefore conceived as a collective journey through the evolution of electrochemical energy storage and some of the major scientific advances to which Michel Armand has contributed throughout his career.

More than half a century transforming battery science

Born in France in 1946, Michel Armand has built a scientific career spanning more than five decades across France, the United States, Canada and the Basque Country.

His early work focused on intercalation materials, one of the fundamental principles on which the lithium-ion battery would later be developed — the technology that has enabled everything from portable electronics to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

In the late 1970s, Armand pioneered the development of solid polymer electrolytes, decades before solid-state batteries became one of the main research areas for manufacturers and technology centres around the world.

Almost half a century later, solid electrolytes remain a major research focus for the development of new generations of batteries. The continuing relevance of this field directly connects Armand’s early contributions with some of the technological challenges currently facing industry.

“Many of the scientific questions Michel raised decades ago are now at the heart of battery research. His ability to anticipate where electrochemical energy storage could evolve helps explain the enduring relevance of a legacy that continues to inspire new lines of research,” said Nuria Gisbert, Managing Director of CIC energiGUNE.

Throughout his career, he also contributed to the “rocking-chair” battery concept, the development of new electrolyte salts and improvements to lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄) through conductive carbon coatings.

His career also includes a patent on cathode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries in which he is listed as a co-inventor alongside John B. Goodenough, winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of lithium-ion batteries, and other researchers.

After completing his education in France, he arrived at Stanford in 1970 as a Fulbright Fellow and subsequently pursued his career at CNRS, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Université de Montréal. In 2011, he joined CIC energiGUNE, where he has played a fundamental role in consolidating research into polymer electrolytes and solid-state batteries.

His career has received numerous international distinctions in electrochemistry and energy storage. Among the most recent is the ISE Prize for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage in Honour of Bruno Scrosati, awarded in 2026 by the International Society of Electrochemistry in recognition of his contributions to the development of electrochemical energy storage. He has also consistently ranked among the world’s most influential researchers in the Clarivate and Stanford–Elsevier rankings.