Sponsor: BMBF
Contact : Dr. rer. nat. Jeroen Volbeda
Overall project description:
Zinc-Air-Accumulators are poised to be a cheap, environmentally friendly and safe energy storage solution for a broad range of Industrial applications. The well established global infrastructure for the production of primary Zinc-Air batteries, coupled with the readily available active material and the intrinsic environmental safety benefits of these systems is a prime motivator for their commercialization. The project partners represent all required steps for the production of Secondary Zinc-Air batteries, while the research partners are able to build on their well documented experience in this field. The aim of this project is the development of highly capable components for the construction of a test setup with a power of 100 W. This power was chosen as it allows for the transfer of the test results to industrial scale. The envisioned commercial use of this technology will primarily be in low emission industrial applications, such as decentralized energy storage, as well as the basic energy supply in construction vehicles, ships and industrial transport systems. In addition, the intrinsic safety characteristics of Zinc-Air batteries make them ideally suited for use in explosion prove industrial areas.
Subproject description:
The role of the institute of particle technology at the TU Braunschweig (iPAT) in this project is the development of highly structured, porous Zinc Anodes, which can be applied in different energy storage systems. Particular attention will be payed to the aging mechanisms of the anode structure under different operational parameters, as well as process optimization for the anode production. Additionally, the aging of the electrolyte will be investigated with varying analytical methods. These results in combination with other cell parameters will enable the timely identification and avoidance of critical operational parameters. The results of these investigations will be combined in the aforementioned test setup in accordance with the requirements of various industrial applications.
Project partners (Alphabetical):
Alantum Europe GmbH, Covestro Deutschland AG, Eisenhuth GmbH & Co. KG, Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institut, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Technische Universität Clausthal, VARTA Microbattery GmbH