Nanoporous carbons have been produced from starch, alginic acid, chitosan and urea at lab-scale using a Starbon-based process. Nanoporous carbons hybrid materials with metal/metal oxides or nitrogen have been prepared using both impregnation and sol-gel techniques: Pd/C, Co/C, C/LTO, C/LMO, C/TiO2 and N/C. Moreover, ionic liquid-based routes have shown to be promising allowing polysaccharides blending as well as direct carbonization. All this work has resulted in two patents, four published papers and four papers that are under preparation.
The fabrication of nanoporous carbon from starch and alginic acid (with/without LTO or N-doping) has been up-scaled (up to 900 g / batch) using up-scalable equipments: RoboQbo equipment for gelation, pilot scale freeze drier and pilot scale furnace for carbonization. Key process steps for up-scaling fabrication of materials have been identified and process optimizations have been realized.
The reaction mechanisms involved in the catalytic processes have been computationally identified. For that, Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations and Density Functional Theory calculations have been performed. Moreover, three generations of 3D-resolved performance models of composite electrodes for LIBs have been developed. The third-generation model allowed to investigate the influence of the spatial distribution and electronic conductivity of the carbon additive on the overall discharge capacity. Main conclusions were that more porosity is needed to see improvements in terms of discharge capacity and binder ratio optimization in the formulation is needed, as too much binder limits lithium transport. Data base of the developed models are already available (open access) for Pd catalysts and will be available in the next six months also for carbon catalysts. All this work has resulted in five publications.
Carbon doped metal oxides (C/LTO, C/LMO, C/TiO2) have shown promising results regarding high rate capability in lithium ion batteries. N/C or Co/C have shown also very promising cyclabilities and capacities in lithium-air batteries. POROUS4APP Pd/C samples have shown similar activity as commercial ones in case of hydrogenation reactions with improved selectivity. In case of biomass conversion, Pd/C samples have shown promising competitive materials regarding existing catalysts. All this work has given five open-access publications and one patent under preparation.
From sustainability assessment and taking into consideration the safety precaution principles currently implemented, the whole process has been declared as safe. Main conclusion of the LCA studies with the three different applications to improve the efficiency of the entire production processes is that the recovery of Pd and its re-use to bring up to 98% environmental impact savings. From these studies four papers are under preparation.
A website and a project brochure have been delivered as well as the establishment of social media communications and an Industrial Exploitation Board (IEB). A final workshop has been organized and partners have assisted to several conferences. A continuously updated business plan with focus on batteries and catalysis has been realized and the development of an IPR ownership strategy has been done. A complete market analysis report focused on batteries has been delivered.
