European
Magnesium Interactive
Battery Community
European Commission
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824066
European
Magnesium Interactive
Battery Community
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824066
CIDETEC Energy Storage is specialized in creating new battery technology according to specific challenges, and its ultimate transference to the industry. The institute has the capacity to develop complete products and processes and offers material validation, pilot manufacture, pack engineering and battery testing services.
CIDETEC Energy Storage cooperates closely with the industry in the context of bilateral, direct contract research and product development projects, both at the National and International level.
Main role in the project:
CID will act as project coordinator (WP1); provide the general administrative management of the project, ensuring its effective implementation and progress. From CID's know-how on electrode formulation and processing for different energy storage technologies, CID will take relevant role on the validation and up-scaling towards the realization and the assembly of cells (WP5).
Additionally, CID has the key role of leading the dissemination activities as well as to reinforce the Mg-battery community beyond the frame of the consortium (WP7).
Website: https://www.cidetec.es/en/home
Main Contacts:
Alberto Blázquez: ablazquez@cidetec.es
Ana Fernández Barquín: anafernandez@cidetec.es
The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is Israel’s primary technological university and the country’s largest centre of basic and applied research. It is ranked among the leading technological universities in the world. The Technion has earned three Nobel prizes (one of the Laureates is Prof. Dan Shechtman, from the same Department involved in E-magic) and has a worldwide reputation for its pioneering work in electronics, information technology, aerospace technologies, nano(bio)technology, materials engineering, and electrochemistry. Technion is dedicated to the creation of knowledge and the development of human capital and leadership, for the advancement of the State of Israel and all humanity.
The Technion department involved in E-magic is the department of Materials Science and Engineering including the Corrosion and Applied Electrochemistry laboratory, headed by Prof. Yair Ein-Eli. The Electrochemistry Centre deals with advanced power sources research as well as corrosion and electro-deposition science. The Centre is engaged in basic research associated with new materials for electrochemical power sources (batteries and fuel cells), as well as applied electrochemistry to advance technology in industry. The Israeli Metals Institute (IMI) has extensive capabilities, infrastructure and experience in advanced magnesium production technologies.
The Israel Institute of Metals (IIM) is an R&D department operating under the Technion's umbrella. IIM serves as engineering, scientific and technological innovation platform for supporting wide range of industrial applications. IIM has extensive capabilities, infrastructure and experience in advanced magnesium production techniques.
Main role in the project:
The Technion team is focusing in two areas of the research. First research area is related to the development, production and supply magnesium foil and also foils of various magnesium alloys; this work is associated with the development of the anodes and electrolytes for the rechargeable magnesium battery.
Second research area is related to the development of Mg2+ conducting solid ceramic electrolytes; this work pave the way for the development of fully solid cells with ceramic electrolytes and also cells with combined solid/liquid electrolytes, in which the liquid component controls the chemistry at the (anode)/(electrolyte) interface and the solid electrolyte component controls the chemistry at the (cathode)/(electrolyte) interface. The design with combined liquid-solid electrolyte is expected to be particularly advantageous in the case of Mg/sulfur cell precluding polysulfide shuttling, and also moderating liquid electrolyte decomposition.
The Technion team will also contribute on in-situ and ex-situ analysis of the (electrode)/(electrolyte) and (solid electrolyte)/(liquid electrolyte) interfaces, and also electrochemical analysis of the Mg-S and Mg-ion cells with solid electrolytes and combined liquid/solid electrolytes.
Website:
Main Contacts:
Yair Ein-Eli: eineli@technion.ac.il
Alexander Fleisher: fleisher@trdf.technion.ac.il
Bar-Ilan University (BIU) is the second largest research university in Israel, with a student population of approximately 22,500 at the main campus in Ramat Gan (in the middle of the country, near Tel Aviv), and at the four regional colleges. This figure includes 6,000 young researchers of which 1,800 are PhD students. The university offers high-level academic studies and the development of advanced research within the framework of faculties, departments, multi-disciplinary centers and research centers.
The chemistry department is part of the Faculty of Exact Sciences. It includes 25 faculty members and more than 250 researchers (senior scientists, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students).
Prof. Aurbach's group works in the fields of electrochemistry, analytical chemistry, materials and surface science, and energy. It is the biggest research group in Israel (> 40 people). This group has a long term experience in working on novel power sources and related basic and practical science. This group was the first to demonstrate rechargeable magnesium battery prototypes 16 years ago, and since then it works intensively on a variety of topics related to non-aqueous magnesium electrochemistry and rechargeable Mg batteries. The group has all kinds of equipment and know-how for the development, production, handling, and investigation of functional materials for batteries.
Additionally, the group of Dr. Noked will also be involved. This group focuses on the studies of electrochemical systems on the nano/microscale. The group specialized in measuring the electrochemical performances of active material, monitor their degradation processes and mitigate them by nano/surface deposition techniques. In recent years, Noked’s group demonstrated a record of success in developing protection layers on reactive electrochemical interfaces (e.g. Li anodes, HV cathodes for lithium ion and conversion electrodes).
Main role in the project:
BIU will lead WP2 which is in charge of developing new anodes where surface treatments might be implemented. BIU will also explore and develop electrolyte solutions for rechargeable Mg batteries. Additionally, a relevant participation will be done in WP3, where BIU will develop thin films of Mg solid electrolytes, using atomic layer deposition, and deposit these films (conformal coating) on insertion cathode for Mg-ion. On the other hand, in WP4 (conversion system), BIU will conduct intensive basic research that will lead to development of optimize anode/electrolyte solutions systems. It will be also involved in cathode research. The electrodes, solutions and interfaces will be investigated by electrochemical, structural, morphological and spectroscopic analyses.
Website:
https://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=7920&pt=30&cPath=7702
Main Contacts:
Doron Aurbach: Doron.Aurbach@biu.ac.il
Malachi Noked: Malachi.Noked@biu.ac.il
The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is a leading Scandinavian technical university and part of the Euro Tech University Alliance and Nordic Five Tech. Among other things, the University has extensive expertise within the areas of battery materials and mechanisms, heterogeneous and electro-catalysis as well as computational materials design.
The DTU activities are led by the Department for Energy Conversion and Storage (DTU Energy ) focusing on the development of new technologies and materials for energy conversion and storage
The Section for Atomic Scale Modelling and Materials (ASM) is the laboratory of DTU to be involved in E-magic. ASM relies on a combination of in-house developed electronic structure theory codes, e.g. GPAW, as well as commercial codes like VASP, ADF and ATK, among others, combined with in-house developed codes for DFT-based genetic algorithms, machine learning and other post-processing tools which are implemented in the open-source Atomic Simulation Environment (ASE).
Main role in the project:
All competences and skills at ASM will be used mainly in WP2, WP3 and WP4 of the project, devoted to computational modelling. This includes computational screening of materials and investigation of reaction mechanisms related to the different components of the battery (anode, cathode and electrolyte). DTU will lead WP3.
Website:
http://www.asc.energy.dtu.dk/people
Main Contacts:
Tejs Vegge: teve@dtu.dk
Juan Maria García Lastra: jmgla@dtu.dk
University of Cambridge (UCAM) has a student population of ~18,000 and nearly 9,000 staff. It hosts over 7,000 graduate students and 12,000 undergraduates. UCAM research activity is based within departments, interdisciplinary centres and strategic research initiatives. Recent infra-structure to encourage state of the art research includes the newly opened Maxwell Centre, and investment in facilities for materials synthesis, and characterisation.
The UCAM laboratories involved in E-MAGIC are the Department of Chemistry (Prof. Grey group) and the Department of Physics (Prof. Dutton group).
Main role in the project:
UCAM will explore Mg-ion transport in candidate inorganic oxides and poly-anionic candidate electrode materials using bulk and local methods. Materials with 1D, 2D and 3D networks for Mg-ion diffusion will be compared. The role of the geometry of the Mg-ion sites and interstitial positions on Mg-ion diffusion will also be explored.
Website:
Main Contacts:
Clare Grey: cpg27@cam.ac.uk
Siân Dutton: Sed33@cam.ac.uk
The Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB) belongs to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest research organization in Spain. Its mission is to generate new knowledge in Materials Science through excellent scientific research useful for society and industry. The team involved in E-magic is expert in rechargeable battery materials focusing on both new compounds and already known phases, with specific emphasis in structure-property correlations and tailoring structure and microstructure to maximize electrochemical performance.
Main role in the project:
The contribution to the project will be fundamental research targeting synthesis of electrode materials with suitable crystal structures, operation potentials and migration barriers, in close collaboration with teams performing DFT calculations. Characterization of the prepared materials will be carried out paying special attention to the elucidation of the redox mechanism of the electrode material at the atomic level through both diffraction and microscopy techniques, to assess the changes induced in the crystal lattice related to reactivity with magnesium and their reversibility.
Website:
Main Contacts:
Rosa Palacin: rosa.palacin@icmab.es
Deyana Tchichekova: dtchitchekova@icmab.es
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is the national aeronautics and space research centre of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its extensive research and development work in aeronautics, space, energy, transport, security and digitalization is integrated into national and international cooperative ventures.
The DLR-Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics will take part of E-magic project. This DLR-Institute is active in the fields of renewable energy research and technology development for efficient and low emission energy conversion and utilization. Two departments of the institute are involved in the electrochemical energy conversion and storage activities: department of ElectroChemical Energy technology (ECE) and department of Computational Electrochemistry (CEC).
ECE activities are mainly focused on production and characterization of fuel cells, electrolyzers, batteries and cell components.
CEC (HIU) has strong expertise in modelling and simulation of fuel cells and batteries, modeling physico-chemical processes inside batteries from the nanoscale to the macroscale making use of rigorous methods from non-equilibrium thermodynamics, electrochemistry, statistical mechanics and numerical mathematics.
Main role in the project:
DLR-ECE will be in charge with production, characterization, and experimental validation of different electrodes, with focus on the electrolyte/electrode interface, cathode system and complex bottom-up construction will be the main tasks in the project. DLR-CEC will use its expertise in simulation techniques on the continuum scale to develop theoretical understanding and numerical models to describe the electrochemistry and transport in novel Mg battery concepts
Website:
http://www.dlr.de/tt/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-7197
https://www.dlr.de/tt/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-8172/
Main Contacts:
Norbert Wagner: Norbert.wagner@dlr.de
Timo Danner: Timo.danner@dlr.de
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, Germany) works on research and development problems of public interest in the fields of technology and environment. With a staff of 8500, KIT is one of the largest non-commercial science and engineering research and teaching institutions in Germany. KIT laboratory involved in E-MAGIC is the Helmholtz-Institute Ulm for Electrochemical Energy Storage (HIU). About 120 researchers are working at the HIU.
The Materials Group at HIU has developed novel synthesis methods for energy storage materials based on conversion materials and intercalation materials. Storage materials dispersed on the nanoscale have been produced as functional nano-composites with dedicated coatings, and functional additives.
At the Prof. Fichtner’s group, a non-corrosive practical Mg electrolyte was developed, which is based on a Mg-ion conductive salt and compatible with sulfur electrodes. The non-nucleophilic electrolyte, which can easily be synthesized from standard chemicals in a variety of solvents, shows a high stripping/plating efficiency and has a wide electrochemical stability window of 4.3 V. Thus, the electrolyte not only enables rechargeable Mg-sulfur batteries, but also opens the door to the development and application of new high voltage cathodes for Mg batteries.
Main role in the project:
KIT has a cross-sectional function as materials developer, supplier, and tester in the project. The aim is to provide materials for the academic groups and industry partners, which will be used for building test cells, analytical studies, and upscale work. The synthesis work at KIT will focus on the development of improved electrolyte and novel sulfur composites. Moreover, high voltage cathode materials will be synthesized based on the outcome of the modeling work. The materials will be investigated by structural and morphological analysis. KIT will lead WP4.
Website:
http://www.int.kit.edu/1286.php
Main Contacts:
Zhirong Zhao-Karger: Zhirong.Zhao-Karger@kit.edu
Prof. Dr. Maximilian Fichtner: m.fichtner@kit.edu
CEA is a French government-funded technological research organization with more than 15,000 employees. Its activities cover four main areas: (i) energy, (ii) defense & security, (iii) health & information technologies, and (iv) fundamental research.
The CEA center involved in this project is the CEA-LITEN located in Grenoble. The CEA-LITEN (Laboratory for Innovation in New Energy Technologies and nanomaterials) employs around 1,000 people working on energy R&D (fuel cell, batteries, biomass, and solar application). It has more than 10 years of experience in new materials for batteries. Today, this entity is equipped with different platforms. The materials platform include a great variety of dryers and ovens (spray-dryer, static batch furnaces, turning reactor furnace, and a new conveyer furnace), solvo-thermal reactors, and ball-millers with increasing capacities, from a few grams to several kg allowing facilitating technological transfer of new compounds.
Main role in the project:
CEA will take part in WP2 of electrolyte development, in particular, post-mortem characterization (GC-MS) of electrolytes will be performed in order to thoroughly understand degradation mechanisms and propose strategies for electrolyte compositions. In WP3, CEA will synthesize news intercalation materials for Mg batteries. In addition, CEA will participate in WP5 for scale-up of material synthesis and electrodes fabrication & assembly processes, as well as environmental and regulatory analysis in WP6.
CEA will lead WP5 dealing with the validation and testing of the different materials developed within the project. More specifically on post-mortem characterization of internal components after cycling in Mg cells.
Website:
Main Contacts:
MARTIN Jean-Frédéric: jean-frederic.martin@cea.fr
BLOCH Didier: didier.bloch@cea.fr
Abengoa Innovación, S.A. (ABG), an Abengoa company, currently focuses on searching for new applications for energy storage, communications and intelligent networks using different technologies as well as the integration of renewable energy sources in which it carries out an integration of energy storage from solar, wind, etc.
Technological development continues to be the main competitive advantage of Abengoa to carry out projects with high added value. The company develops R&D and innovation projects that improve the performance of current products and services and the acquisition of new technologies knowledge. Abengoa has 395 granted patents accumulated since 2008.
Electric Power Systems is the division of Abengoa Innovation focused on innovative energy storage and control technologies to improve the safety, quality and flexibility of the electrical system, favouring a greater integration and manageability of renewable energies.
Main role in the project:
The role of Abengoa in the project is to advise on matters related to the energy storage market. Abengoa will study the different storage applications and clarify how this development can be useful in this respect. On the environmental issues, Abengoa will lead WP6, being in charge of the environmental and life cycle analysis (LCA) relating to E-MAGIC technology in order to quantify the environmental performance of products considering the complete cycle (from raw materials to final products and recycling if needed). Additionally, Abengoa will study the scale-up of E-MAGIC technology to a real renewable plant integration case. An energy system simulation under a realistic environment will be performed while different sizes and modular designs of the basic module will be considered. Different alternatives will be considered for making these simulations as the hybridization of E-MAGIC technology with other energy storage technologies on the market to cover the application demands. An economic analysis of these different configurations on real applications will be done.
Website:
Main Contacts:
Rocio Palomino Marin: rociopalomino.marin@abengoa.com
María del Carmen Falante Fernandez: maria.falante@abengoa.com
Sergio Saenz Robles: Sergio.saenz@abengoa.com