Renewable Energy in Times of Insufficient Wind and Sunlight

Project for dual-ion storage starts / 2.8 million euros for scientists from Münster University

Münster (upm), Di, 19 Feb 2013

Scientists working on a new energy storage system based on dual-ion battery technology (archival source: research in the MEET-laboratory)

photo: MEET

Battery research at Münster University starts the year 2013 with a new project: under the title "INSIDER", scientists are working on a new energy storage system based on dual-ion battery technology. The dual-ion storage is a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries. It could for example be used in stationary installation for the intermediate storage of renewable energy. The teams participating from Münster University are project coordinator Prof. Martin Winter's team from the Battery Research Centre MEET/Institute of Physical Chemistry and Prof. Hans-Dieter Wiemhöfer's team from the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry. The preliminary meeting took place in Münster today (15 January 2013).

"INSIDER" stands for "Auf Anionen- Interkalation basierende Dual-Ionen-Energiespeicher", which means "dual-ion energy storage based on anion intercalation". The project is tendered and funded, with 5.5 million euros over four years, by three Federal Ministries: the Ministry of Economics and Technology, Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and Ministry of Education and Research. Münster University is to receive 2.8 million euros of this sum. Additional project partners are the teams working for Prof. Arno Kwade (Technische Universität Braunschweig), Prof. Karl-Ernst Wirth (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) and Dr. Hans Peter Buchkremer (Forschungszentrum Jülich). In the course of the project, the new technology, for which the University of Münster filed a patent last year, will be further developed.

The development of innovative battery systems for stationary use is essential in strengthening the decentralized energy supply. It also plays a vital role in making renewable sources of energy usable in times of insufficient wind and sunlight. One of the advantages of the dual-ion-technology over the lithium-ion-battery is that it avoids the use of polluting and expensive metals like nickel or cobalt. The project's primary objective is to identify new inexpensive and environmentally-friendly materials for the dual-ion-technology and at the same time to analyse their processing possibilities in the cell manufacturing process. Thus, the project wants to make sure that the dual-ion technology, including the concepts concerning the material, is quickly introduced to the industrial practice.

One of the main aims of the project is to use graphitic carbon as interstitial material at one of the battery terminals – the cathode. As a material, graphite has a lot of positive properties for usage in batteries, such as being very cost-effective. Another important aspect is safety. In this context the scientists of the INSIDER team depend on a combination of the graphite cathode with thermally stable electrolytes like ionic liquids. First, the researchers will test commercially available materials for their suitability and then, where necessary, modify them chemically, thermally and mechanically.

Translation team: Katja Politt, Anne Blumenthal, Sonja Röttgers

MEET battery research centre

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