A proposal led by HIU has been granted in the highly competitive round of the recent European Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Open Call on “Novel ideas for radically new technologies”. Out of 822 proposals submitted the third and final cut-off of the H2020-FETOPEN-2014/2015 call 13 have been retained to prepare for grant agreements. The available budget of € 40 million set the stakes for excellent projects very high which is demonstrated by the fact that only 1.4% of Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) proposals can be funded. True to the non-prescriptive, cross-cutting nature of the call, the retained proposals are expected to foster international collaboration in a multitude of disciplines such as robotics, nanotechnology, neuroscience, information science, biology, artificial intelligence or chemistry.
The submitted HIU proposal outlines research on a new cathode material based on a new storage principle, as a result of which energy storage densities can be increased beyond those of systems known so far. The materials used so far are based on intercalation storage of lithium in small cavities (so-called interstitials), in a host structure that usually consists of metal oxides. This method works well, but the storage densities reached are limited, as lithium cannot be packed very densely in the structure. In addition, intercalation storage of more than one lithium ion per formula unit is generally not possible, as the structure then is no longer stable and collapses. It would therefore be desirable to increase the packing density of lithium in the stable structure and to exceed the upper limits reached so far. A team around Professor Maximilian Fichtner presented in this proposal a new storage principle and a material on this basis, which allows for the reversible storage of 1.8 Li per formula unit. With a material of the composition Li2VO2F, storage capacities of up to 420 mAh/g were measured at a mean voltage of 2.5 V. As a result of the comparably high density of the material, a storage capacity of up to 4600 Wh/L relative to the active material is obtained. Contrary to the materials used so far, the new system no longer stores lithium at the interstitials, but directly at the lattice sites of a cubic close packed structure. As a result, packing densities are increased significantly.
FET Open, a European Commission programme set up within the framework of Horizon 2020, funds projects on new ideas for radically new future technologies, at an early stage when there are few researchers working on a project topic. This can involve a wide range of new technological possibilities, inspired by cutting-edge science, unconventional collaborations or new research and innovation practices.
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition to the private investment that this money will attract. It promises more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market.
