During this first year of the project, the 3 partners involved (Sonaca, Albufera and Leitat) have developed a scheme of the electrochemical characteristics that the developed battery must present at unit, cell and module level, and of the requirements of the external module of the battery. Starting materials for the anode and electrolyte have been selected for the development of the battery. These have been adapted and selected to meet the requirements defined in the case of having to work with commercial cathodes. Development of an improved air cathode made by electrospinning and testing of its electrochemical compatibility with the other components has been carried out. Design and stress analysis of the battery modules and structural casings have been done.
In the second and last year of the project, work has continued to develop an own cathode, but due to the results obtained, it has been decided to switch to the commercial component for device testing and real test conditions. When trying to scale the device, it was necessary to identify a new commercial cathode material due to the discontinuation of the previously planned commercial cathode. This material was analyzed in parallel to the construction of the test devices. The results showed that despite very similar characteristics, the new commercial cathode material did not meet the expected and necessary requirements. To try to identify the reasons for this difference, both components were characterized to determine the causes of the difference in results.
