LF Energy’s Battery Data Alliance Releases Largest-Ever Open Source Battery Data Format (BDF) Contribution
The LF Energy Battery Data Alliance announced the release of its largest open source dataset formatted in Battery Data Format (BDF). The dataset derives from an autonomous robotic battery materials research platform and establishes a new benchmark for high-quality, machine-readable battery data.
The collection contains cycling data from 199 coin cell batteries with NMC//graphite and LFP//graphite chemistries, each tested for 1,000 cycles under automated, controlled workflows.
A peer-reviewed study titled “Toward an Autonomous Robotic Battery Materials Research Platform Powered by Automated Workflow and Ontologized Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable Data Management” was published in Batteries & Supercaps (2025).
The Aurora robotic platform experiments occurred at Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology), specifically within the Laboratory for Materials for Energy Conversion.
The formatted dataset ensures full provenance tracking, compatibility with analysis tools, and compliance with FAIR data principles. The dataset is available on Zenodo.
“This is a great example of how open standards and international collaboration can drive better science.”
— Dr. Simon Clark, Battery2030+ Executive Board
“Data structured with semantic annotations and provenance becomes a shared resource that can drive collaboration.”
— Prof. Dr. Corsin Battaglia, Head of Laboratory, Empa
“This dataset showcases how automation, ontology, and data standards can work together.”
— Gabe Hege, BDA Chairperson
Contributing Organizations
- Empa — Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
- ETH Zürich
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
- SINTEF — Applied Research, Technology and Innovation (dataset curator)