Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MUSIC (Materials for Sustainable Sodium-Ion Capacitors)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-06-30
In the face of the global climate crisis and the urgent need to limit global warming below 2ºC by 2100, Europe aims to become a climate-neutral, circular, and competitive, zero polluting economy by 2050. Electrifying the key sectors transport, power, and industry will help to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are mainly responsible for global warming. The energy generation by renewables and their electrochemical storage will be key for such a transformation. Europe needs to take the lead in strategic value chains while reinforcing its independence and resilience with a secure supply in raw materials. Materials for sUstainable Sodium Ion Capacitors (MUSIC) develops a new supercapacitor (SIC) technology that reaches energy densities comparable to that of power batteries, but recharges within a few seconds and offers long cycle life with minimum efficiency loss over time for applications in renewables, industry and transport. Developing a technology that is sustainable by design and avoids the use of critical raw materials will reduce Europe’s dependencies along the raw materials value chain.
WP2 defined the requirements, specifications and testing conditions considering the functionality & performance (energy & power profiles, cycle life expectancy, etc.), to the environment in which the SIC will be operating (temperatures and humidity) as well as to the safety conditions. Further, we defined the requirements for future SIC designs and a comprehensive testing procedure as well as a plan to validate these materials under realistic laboratory conditions, ensuring their effectiveness and safety across diverse sectors such as railway or renewables.
WP3 focused on the synthesis and characterization of active materials, sacrificial components, binders and electrolytes for Sodium-ion Capacitors. A first set of materials, electrolytes and binders have been defined for scale-up. We screened commercial materials and components. Hard carbon (anode) and activate carbon (cathode) have been sent to all partners, E-Lyte produced 1 M NaPF6 EC:PC electrolyte. This is complemented by commercial SBR:CMC binders and sacrificial salt that have been scaled and shared with WP6, together with the current collector and separator. We further investigated the synthesis of optimized hard carbon and activated carbon has been investigated.
WP4 focused on acquiring and using advanced equipment to characterize electrodes and their behavior in half-cells and full cells. The equipment has been tested on both model materials and the project's first-generation materials. The analysis, using various complementary spectroscopic and analytical techniques, provided valuable insights into SIC components, such as the electrode/electrolyte interface, sodium intercalation in active materials, and the effects of incorporating new materials like recycled carbon fibers.
WP5 defined and supplied GEN 0 active and inactive materials to all partners. Regarding positive electrode processing, the optimization of slurry processing protocol, introduction of different binders together with first steps towards the integration of the pre-sodiation agent (i.e. disodium squarate sacrificial salt) have been carried out. Moreover, some insights on the roll-to-roll process of reference electrodes were also carried out by CICE and further steps were defined together with BYD.
WP6 focused on manufacturing MUSIC SIC cells on a pilot manufacturing line to demonstrate their suitability for large-scale production, a prerequisite for later commercial exploitation. During RP1, excessive swelling was produced in the LIC cells during development, so we concluded that pure LIC cells could not be produced within the given timeframe for task 7.1. To minimize the impact for WP7, a set of 8 “high-power” LFP cells, comprising 10% active carbon were developed for WP7.3.
WP7 contributes to the development of smart SIC modules with the integration of sensors and i-SMS. Available commercial LIC pouch cells have been screened, with a selection of 1000F pouch cells to develop the i-SMS. These cells have been tested in terms of electrochemical performance at different operation conditions (currents and temperatures). Aging tests have been started, with the aim to obtain cell degradation patterns for the algorithm development. We further started analyzing module mechanical configuration.
WP8 systematically gathered data from literature and past studies. The focus has been on methodically analyzing prior Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Analyses (LCC) within the field of supercapacitors. All accumulated data is intended to serve as a foundational reference for Task 8.3.
WP3 focused on the synthesis and characterization of active materials, sacrificial components, binders and electrolytes for Sodium-ion Capacitors. A first set of materials, electrolytes and binders have been defined for scale-up. We screened commercial materials and components. Hard carbon (anode) and activate carbon (cathode) have been sent to all partners, E-Lyte produced 1 M NaPF6 EC:PC electrolyte. This is complemented by commercial SBR:CMC binders and sacrificial salt that have been scaled and shared with WP6, together with the current collector and separator. We further investigated the synthesis of optimized hard carbon and activated carbon has been investigated.
WP4 focused on acquiring and using advanced equipment to characterize electrodes and their behavior in half-cells and full cells. The equipment has been tested on both model materials and the project's first-generation materials. The analysis, using various complementary spectroscopic and analytical techniques, provided valuable insights into SIC components, such as the electrode/electrolyte interface, sodium intercalation in active materials, and the effects of incorporating new materials like recycled carbon fibers.
WP5 defined and supplied GEN 0 active and inactive materials to all partners. Regarding positive electrode processing, the optimization of slurry processing protocol, introduction of different binders together with first steps towards the integration of the pre-sodiation agent (i.e. disodium squarate sacrificial salt) have been carried out. Moreover, some insights on the roll-to-roll process of reference electrodes were also carried out by CICE and further steps were defined together with BYD.
WP6 focused on manufacturing MUSIC SIC cells on a pilot manufacturing line to demonstrate their suitability for large-scale production, a prerequisite for later commercial exploitation. During RP1, excessive swelling was produced in the LIC cells during development, so we concluded that pure LIC cells could not be produced within the given timeframe for task 7.1. To minimize the impact for WP7, a set of 8 “high-power” LFP cells, comprising 10% active carbon were developed for WP7.3.
WP7 contributes to the development of smart SIC modules with the integration of sensors and i-SMS. Available commercial LIC pouch cells have been screened, with a selection of 1000F pouch cells to develop the i-SMS. These cells have been tested in terms of electrochemical performance at different operation conditions (currents and temperatures). Aging tests have been started, with the aim to obtain cell degradation patterns for the algorithm development. We further started analyzing module mechanical configuration.
WP8 systematically gathered data from literature and past studies. The focus has been on methodically analyzing prior Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Analyses (LCC) within the field of supercapacitors. All accumulated data is intended to serve as a foundational reference for Task 8.3.
MUSIC targets new supercapacitors with energy densities comparable to batteries and environmentally friendly electrolytes. They are able to recharge in a fraction of the time required for current batteries, have no loss of performance over time and longer life. Advanced materials used for the development of SICs in MUSIC will be free of any CRM, but use environmental-friendly and non-toxic alternatives, such as carbonaceous electrode materials, green binders and more environmentally friendly electrolytes. Advanced materials such as carbons, binders and electrolytes go beyond the state of the art at lab scale.
Applications range from consumer goods to electrification of transport and reduction of emissions. MUSIC targets railways as a key application, SIC prototypes will be tested and validated based on their requirements. Transport is of high environmental relevance and breakthroughs will result in significant societal impacts fostering electrification, hence, decarbonisation of passenger transport.
MUSIC will contribute to Innovative supercapacitor Management Systems (i-SMS) by developing smart SIC eco-designed modules, in which sensors are integrated with the SMS. The novel i-SMS will support the safety operation of the module by limiting high values out of the protection limits in terms of voltage, current and temperature by means of an integration of electrical protection circuit integrated in the H/W part of the i-SMS. A cell balancing feature, also integrated in the H/W, will imply ca. 15% lifetime extension of the SIC module by avoiding the imbalances at individual cell level.
In a longer term, MUSIC will establish new industrial value chains with new energy storage products, tailored to meet end user demands. The MUSIC partnership covers all segments of the industrial value chain. Individual technology components, namely the advanced materials, cells, cell component manufacturing, prototyping, first scale-up and demonstration in an industrial pilot line, development and integration of i-SMSs, testing and validation is covered in MUSIC. Thanks to the incorporation of UPC for carbon-based active materials via the HOP-ON-FACILITY all materials will be produced in Europe, which overcomes Europe’s dependency on imports.
Applications range from consumer goods to electrification of transport and reduction of emissions. MUSIC targets railways as a key application, SIC prototypes will be tested and validated based on their requirements. Transport is of high environmental relevance and breakthroughs will result in significant societal impacts fostering electrification, hence, decarbonisation of passenger transport.
MUSIC will contribute to Innovative supercapacitor Management Systems (i-SMS) by developing smart SIC eco-designed modules, in which sensors are integrated with the SMS. The novel i-SMS will support the safety operation of the module by limiting high values out of the protection limits in terms of voltage, current and temperature by means of an integration of electrical protection circuit integrated in the H/W part of the i-SMS. A cell balancing feature, also integrated in the H/W, will imply ca. 15% lifetime extension of the SIC module by avoiding the imbalances at individual cell level.
In a longer term, MUSIC will establish new industrial value chains with new energy storage products, tailored to meet end user demands. The MUSIC partnership covers all segments of the industrial value chain. Individual technology components, namely the advanced materials, cells, cell component manufacturing, prototyping, first scale-up and demonstration in an industrial pilot line, development and integration of i-SMSs, testing and validation is covered in MUSIC. Thanks to the incorporation of UPC for carbon-based active materials via the HOP-ON-FACILITY all materials will be produced in Europe, which overcomes Europe’s dependency on imports.