Post-Lithium-ion battery, a new generation of an energy storage system

The primary goal of this project is to explore promise and challenge of a new type of a high-energy-density post-Lithium-ion battery, with the potential to efficiently store and supply electricity in a renewable manner.

by Weekly Spotlight on Energy Research

According to Swiss ENERGY STRATEGY 2050, nuclear energy which consists 38% of total energy consumption will be withdrawn in a step-by-step way. Therefore, alternative energy systems such as wind and solar energy, are going to replace nuclear energy. However, these green energy sources are not always producible when needed. They are effected by factors such as region and season. Since the current energy storage systems, including batteries and fossil fuels, cannot meet the requirement of ENERGY STRATEGY 2050 due to the low energy density and high CO2 emission, there is a strong and urgent need to develop a new energy storage system.

The project of post-Lithium-ion battery with high energy density is in collaboration with chemists at University of Fribourg (prof. K. Fromm’s group) and funded by Swiss National Science Foundation, NRP 70 “Energy Turnaround” that aims to contribute solutions to ensure a sustainable energy policy for Switzerland. There will be three work packages including electrode fabrication, electrolyte synthesis and full cell assembly. For the new electrode part, the key research question lies at how to keep the new generation battery working with high efficiency and stability. For example, Li-oxygen battery as one of the post-Lithium-ion batteries is already demonstrating the potential of higher energy density than the Lithium ion battery. However, there exist still challenging issues such as a choking cathode by pore blocking and a degrading catalytic activity. This project aims to tackle these problems by developing workable and stable post-Lithium-ion battery with high energy density.

Post-Lithium-ion battery
Source: http://www.leonics.com/system/solar_photovoltaic/solar_home_system/solar_home_system_en.php

The ESC member involved in this project is Prof. Hyung Gyu Park, Professor of Energy Technology.

The Nanoscience for Energy Technology and Sustainability (NETS) Group is a part of Institute of Energy Technology in D-MAVT. The group is interested in the development of nanomanufacturing techniques for bridging nanoscience and real world applications.

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