Projects

The aim of the HydroLIBRec research project is to create the technological prerequisites for a new sustainable and function-preserving battery recycling system: - more effective - economically more sensible - more environmentally friendly. The complete and optimized process chain should ensure the availability of lithium battery materials in Germany and Europe. The function-preserving recovery of active battery materials through chemical processing and the production of "recycled battery cells" is a cornerstone for the sustainable and necessary closure of material cycles.

The main goal of Switch2Save H2020 project is to improve the availability and affordability of electrochromic and thermochromic smart glass solutions.

The EU funded project ECO COM'BAT opens up a new approach to enhance sustainability of high-voltage batteries. Electromobility sets challenging technical requirements for new high-performance batteries – cruising range, life span, safety, or charging times. But an intrinsic challenge is the resource need for a growing number of big car batteries, so new, more sustainable material concepts have to be developed.

A world moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy will rely more and more on energy storage and in particular on batteries. Better batteries can reduce the carbon footprint of the transport sector, stabilise the power grid, and much more. The “Battery 2030+” large-scale research initiative will gather leading scientists in Europe, as well as the industry, to achieve a leap forward in battery science and technology. The first “Battery 2030+” project kicks off in March 2019 and will lay the basis for this large-scale research initiative on future battery technologies.

As part of a strategic international cooperation program of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Empa in Dübendorf (CH) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Würzburg (D) launched a three-year joint research project at the beginning of January to create the basis for a produc-tion-ready next generation of traction batteries for electric cars. In contrast to lithium-ion cells currently in use, these will consist only of solids and will no longer contain flammable liquid electrolytes. The Fraunhofer ISC contributes its know-how in process development and battery cell production and produces the first prototypes.

Today‘s electromobility consumes large amounts of traction batteries, preferably high-performance lithium-ion batteries. These batteries contain valuable raw materials and should not be discarded as waste at the end of their life. Efficient recycling requires closed materials loops and a logistic solution capable of growing along with the increasing number of waste batteries from more and more electric vehicles. The research project »Automotive Battery Recycling 2020« which was launched earlier this year with EU-funding from EIT RawMaterials sets out to identify efficient recycling routines that are ecologically sound, economically viable and readily transferable to industrial scale. The overall aim is to improve the EU-wide recycling chain and add to a secure supply of raw materials through the recovery of valuable materials from waste streams.

Whether in use as starter battery in vehicles, as power back-up or for the storage of energy from renewable sources: Lead-acid batteries are among the oldest and most common battery systems in Germany. About 200 000 tons of them come to market each year. And their disposal is excellently organized: in Germany, waste batteries undergo a well-established recycling by manufacturers and processors. But the turnaround in German energy policy is posing new demands on electrochemical energy storage systems. Electric vehicles and stationary storage units for photovoltaic systems, for instance, look for long service lives and high power densities. The battery experts of the Fraunhofer R&D Center Electromobility Bavaria located at the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC now joined forces with a consortium of partners from industry and research to shape up this old system and make it fit for the future.

High-performance batteries are the key to electromobility. Europe expects to see a lot more of electric vehicles by 2030. The EU commission is promoting the development of high-performance batteries accordingly. Among the researchers working to make the vision come true are those of the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Würzburg, Germany. They take part in the collaborative project SOLID that was recently launched to develop a simple low-cost method for battery mass production via the sol-gel route.

Battery aging – the gradual decrease in charging capacity over time – is a key factor when it comes to battery range and life span. Relatively little is known about the influence of mechanical stress imposed on batteries during production and operation. In late 2017, the project “ReViSEDBatt“ was launched to investigate the short and long term effects of mechanical stresses on the cycle life and safety of lithium-ion batteries. As it takes time before the effects of mechanical stresses become apparent in a cell, the task of identifying their root cause is a very challenging one, even more so, since the registration of such effects during actual service is hardly possible at all.

In the SoCUS project, the Fraunhofer R&D Center for Electromobility Bavaria is developing cost-effective sensor systems that can be integrated directly into the battery and can measure the state of charge more accurately than commercially available systems. The systems use ultrasound pulses to measure and evaluate the density of the negative anode which changes with the state of charge of the cell.