Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

Ionic liquid based Lithium batteries

Final Report Summary - ILLIBATT (Ionic liquid lithium based batteries)

The ultimate aim of the ILLIBATT project was to contribute to the development of safer and better performing lithium batteries that make use of solid-state electrolytes, containing non-volatile and thermally stable ionic liquids and nanostructured anodes. These newly developed materials were expected to be useful in an extended range of different cell sizes: from small scale e.g. micro-batteries to very large scale, e.g. delocalised storage units (10-20 kW) and also for various types of electric vehicles (up to 50 kHz).

The specific objectives of ILLIBATT were the following:
(i) development of a green and safe solid-state electrolyte chemistry based on ionic liquids and unique ionic liquid based composites with high performance;
(ii) use of novel nano-structured high capacity anodes, prepared with the help of novel ionic liquids;
(iii) investigation of the peculiar electrolyte properties and the specific interactions of these electrolytes with advanced commercial and self-prepared electrode (anode and cathode) materials with the aim of understanding and improving the electrode and electrolyte properties and thus their interactions;
(iv) construction of rechargeable lithium cells with optimised electrode and electrolyte component.

Accordingly, ILLIBATT aimed to overcome the well-known technical problems of the present rechargeable lithium battery technology with the goal to:
1. perform breakthrough work to position Europe as a leader in the developing field of high energy and environmentally benign and safe batteries and to maintain the leadership in the field of ionic liquids;
2. develop appropriate solid electrolytes and nano-structured electrode materials which combination allows to realise true solid state lithium batteries;
3. develop all-solid-state concept-cells operating at room temperature with energy higher than 180 W/kg with respect to the overall weight of the cell, coulombic efficiency in average higher than 99 % during cycling, cycle life of 1000 cycles with 20 % maximum loss of capacity, cycling between 100 % and 0 % System on a chip (SOC) and evaluate their integration in renewable energy sources.