Promising Cell Concepts
“fit4transfer”:
Concept Definition
One new and transversal concept in POLiS II is the “fit4transfer” motto: materialized as one of the six main objectives, it aims to develop fully functional cells with improved performances for each shuttle ion (Na, K, Mg, Ca, Al and Cl). The success of this strategy would be the reliable and reproducible creation of full cells and their detailed understanding and full theoretical description. The information gained in POLiS I about individual cell components and the derived fundamental understanding of mechanisms and processes provide an excellent basis for further research and the development of full-cell concepts. The exploration of the complex interactions between all cell components highlights the need for and unique opportunities of a large research consortium such as POLiS II. Aiming at full cells leads to particular challenges for each full-cell type depending on the specific maturity level and ranging from obvious limitations in the reversibility of the main cell-reaction to subtle and hidden side reactions.
Transition Into Real Applications
A Smooth Transition to Industrial Scale
Keeping the focus on fundamental research, we have defined a clear interface between our research program and other projects: POLiS work concentrates on fundamental research, which makes materials and cells “Fit for Transfer”. This includes “proofs-of-principle”, understanding of correlations between cell performance and underlying working and degradation mechanisms, predictive sustainability assessment from early “design phases” and confirmation of scale-up potentials. The POLiS II research program aims for the development and comprehensive evaluation of demonstrator cells, which proof the functionality of a concept, and benchmark cells, which are appropriate for a comparison with other battery cell concepts and the progress outside of POLiS. Results and information from POLiS are directly fed into our well-established transfer pipelines to enable a seamless transition into real application. This includes exchange platforms with all stakeholders already in early development stages, as described in Research Area C (Sustainability). The EES Academy will support the knowledge transfer by addressing transfer awareness and skills as one of its main objectives for researchers at all career levels.
Ready to Industrialize
A Concrete Application in POLIS II
Based on systematic developments of reference cells, their manufacturing at industry quality pilot lines and their benchmarking, we will evaluate and enhance the most promising cell concepts in large-format devices for Na and K and in demonstrator cells for multivalent and chloride shuttle ions (≈ TRL* 5 – Technology Readyness Level). This will pave the way for the concrete transfer in future projects and in good relationship with the industry through the technology transfer platforms at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).