Item:OSWb8ed579891cf479f9507c57e62175190

HIPERZAB [OSWb8ed579891cf479f9507c57e62175190]
ID	OSWb8ed579891cf479f9507c57e62175190
UUID	b8ed5798-91cf-479f-9507-c57e62175190
Label	HIPERZAB
Machine compatible name	HIPERZAB
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Description

An EU Horizon Europe research project on zinc-air batteries

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Type(s)/Category(s)	Project

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Project
Type	Public
Grantor
Funding call
Grant ID
Start	2023-10-01
End	2027-09-30
Budget	0.0e+0
OU	Institut de Recerca de l'Energia de Catalunya, Polytechnic University of Turin, German Aerospace Center, SINTEF, CIC energiGUNE, Cegasa Energia
Project manager
Member

Abstract

Energy storage and battery solutions play a crucial role in developing and implementing innovative renewable energy solutions essential for achieving climate neutrality and reducing energy costs. However, the majority of current battery solutions employ toxic or flammable materials, have low storage times and often rely on large amounts of critical raw materials, resulting in high costs and inefficiency. The EU-funded HIPERZAB project seeks to address these challenges by developing a revolutionary electrically rechargeable Zing-Air battery with improved cyclability, lower costs and extended storage times. This battery is designed for use with renewables or even electrolysers. The project focuses on sustainability and circularity in its development of several novel components.

Background

The Green Deal sets ambitious goals for EU climate neutrality by 2050, enabled by a progressive increase of renewable energy share by 2030 to 40%, pursued by the ‘FIT for 55%’ package, and based on a more affordable, secure, and clean energy systems. The achievement of these targets requires the development of sustainable, interconnected, sector-coupled, and flexible Electrochemical Energy Storage (EES) systems, fundamental to guarantee the spatial and temporal matches between power generation and demand with high volumetric energy densities. However, current available storage options are limited by their costs, safety, storage time, size, and environmental concerns particularly when aiming for mid-long term storage requirements. As a solution to these EES drawbacks, metal-air batteries present several advantages like the use of aqueous electrolytes with inorganic salts, cheap and abundant active materials (e.g., zinc), and high gravimetric energy density together with long-term stability; but, even in a redox-flow configuration, they cannot guarantee storage times > 4-12 h, and the present mechanical recharging concepts (e.g., by replacing Zn anode or flushing a liquid anolyte or the electrolyte), require large peripheries and drastically increase operation and maintenance costs.

Project Overview

High Performing Electrically Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries for sustainable mid-term energy storage (HIPERZAB) responds to the need of the development of safe, sustainable, high-performing batteries (generation 5 batteries), based on 3D structured anode, critical raw material free bifunctional cathode, a bilayer-GPE based on naturally occurring biopolymer for application in days-to-weeks stationary storage.

HIPERZAB will support Europe, in this sense, on its transition towards a climate-neutral continent since stationary energy sector is key for the realisation of emission-free future.

Objectives

The overall concept of the project is to design and validate in lab the ERZAB as a mid-term EES technology with high gravimetric energy density and long-term stability by using non-toxic, low cost and bio-based breakthrough battery components aided by computational chemistry and operando characterization techniques. HIPERZAB will move from TRL 1-2 to TRL 4.

Objective´s description

1. Design and develop a porous 3D structured Zn/biopolymer composite electrode through electrochemical room temperature cold sintering process (RT-CSP).
2. Design and develop a beyond SoA air electrode based on identification of CRM-free bifunctional electrocatalyst, thin film copolymer gas diffusion layer (GDL) and optimized electrode architecture (gas diffusion electrode, GDE).
3. Design and develop a unique bilayer gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) combining the advantage of alkaline pH for Zn anode and slightly acid pH for air cathode by using naturally occurring biopolymers.
4. Quantify, compare, and rank final cell design against SoA on multiple environmental and cost criteria to demonstrate the feasibility of a radically economic battery technology.
5. Unravelling the correlations between materials, operating conditions, and electrochemical phenomena upon cycling through operando characterisations and multiscale modelling.
6. Design and validate a device with a gel electrode assembly (GEA) and a structured cathode current collector under relevant use-case operations
7. Establish the roadmap to impact the market.

Impact

HIPERZAB aims at delivering a novel ERZAB technology using a breakthrough battery concept not only because of the proposed materials and components’ design but as well the system engineering.

This technology is envisaged for stationary applications, with storage time and operations from days to weeks, featuring high RTE (>65-70%), high energy density (>150 Wh/kgcell), low cost (<80 €/kWh at TRL 6-7) and the use of non-harmful, sustainable, and recyclable materials (inorganic salt aqueous solutions, Zn, biopolymers, non-CRMs), compared to current available rechargeable batteries (mainly, LIBs).

Moreover, HIPERZAB will not only deliver a new product to the market but as well it will generate new markets for raw materials providers (e.g., metallurgic and biopolymer companies) in terms of business portfolio. Last, but not least, the development of HIPERZAB technology will provide a more sustainable battery technology, that enables the integration of renewables, based on Zn + air improving the societal acceptance of the energy transition, decarbonization though EES and renewables, and helping to achieve the European net-zero emissions objective by 2050.

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abstract	"Energy storage and battery solutions play a crucial role in developing and implementing innovative renewable energy solutions essential for achieving climate neutrality and reducing energy costs. However, the majority of current battery solutions employ toxic or flammable materials, have low storage times and often rely on large amounts of critical raw materials, resulting in high costs and inefficiency. The EU-funded HIPERZAB project seeks to address these challenges by developing a revolutionary electrically rechargeable Zing-Air battery with improved cyclability, lower costs and extended storage times. This battery is designed for use with renewables or even electrolysers. The project focuses on sustainability and circularity in its development of several novel components."
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description	text "An EU Horizon Europe research project on zinc-air batteries" lang "en"
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