| Project Detail |
A boost for polymer-based redox flow batteries
The success of the EU’s energy transition hinges on how efficiently electrical energy can be stored. This is one of the most critical components, allowing for the integration of fluctuating renewable resources into the base load. One promising energy storage technology is redox flow batteries (RFBs). Their ability to independently vary power and capacity makes them the most suitable type of batteries for large scale stationary applications. In this context, the EU-funded FutureBAT project will develop new organic active materials for RFBs in order to increase their efficiency, capacity, lifetime, and temperature stability. FutureBAT will explore advanced polymer structures, colloidal systems, and hybrid organic systems in search of new photo-rechargeable RFBs and RFBs with all charged species in one tank.
The efficient storage of electric energy represents a major challenge for a successful energy transition, enabling the utilization of fluctuating renewable resources also as base load. Redox-flow-batteries (RFBs) are the only type of battery where intrinsically power and capacity can be varied independently from each other, making this type of battery perfectly suited for scalable stationary applications.
RFBs based on aqueous electrolytes with organic / polymer active materials have the potential to be suitable alternatives for commercial metal-based RFBs, with low CO2 footprint perfectly fitting to the goals of the EU Green Deal.
In particular, polymer-based RFB systems enable the use of cost-efficient dialysis membranes together with pH neutral table salt solutions as electrolytes. Nevertheless, systems still reveal restrictions in terms of capacity, lifetime and temperature-stability.
FutureBAT targets a breakthrough in the development of novel organic active materials for RFBs, by combining the search for new active entities with the improvement of current polymeric materials on the molecular level, by this providing new functions / properties. The key question will be how far polymeric electrolytes can be tuned by adjusting the molecular structure. Advanced polymer structures (incl. (hyper-) branched structures) and colloidal systems (with varied morphologies) as well as novel hybrid organic systems will provide access to hitherto unknown properties, e.g. new photo-rechargeable RFBs or RFBs having all charged species within one single tank. Furthermore, new sensor systems (SOC and SOH) will be applied, which also will form the basis for novel 3D-printed lab cells for (high-throughput) screening.
As the outcome, pioneering breakthroughs in the field of polymer-based RFBs will be enabled, surely targeting high risk / high gain step-changing research but built up on the know-how of one of the leading international research teams in this rather new field. |
