| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/N509863/1 |
| Title: |
Low cost storage of renewable energy |
| Principal Investigator: |
Bhagat, Dr R |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
WMG |
| Organisation: |
University of Warwick |
| Scheme: |
Technology Programme |
| Starts: |
16 December 2015 |
Ends: |
15 December 2018 |
Value (£): |
131,048
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
Faraion, Moixa Technology and the University of Warwick propose to collaborate to jointly develop a sodium-ion battery, as
a lower cost alternative to lithium-ion. This as an innovative energy storage solution in tandem with solar energy.
Storing electrical energy in battery banks for release at peak times has the befit of reducing emissions, as does coupling
this with solar energy. Security of supply is improved as switching to solar PV and battery back-up provides support to the
grid when other forms of power generation go offline for any reason. Sodium is a lower cost, more abundant hence
sustainable material than lithium as it is more abundant in the earth's crust. Sodium carbonate is on tenth of the cost of
lithium carbonate.
In this project The University of Warwick will utilise facilities and technologists within its partly government funded Energy
Innovation Centre (EIC) which has been established to provide industry with a capability to take arising battery chemistries
from small scale through to representative prototype sizes. The EIC features electrode mixing and coating equipment which
incorporates the latest technology for producing high quality, accurate electrodes. Although principally designed with
lithium-ion technology in mind, sodium-ion represents a "drop-in" technology that can use all of the same fabrication
processes to produce electrodes and cells, this makes sodium-ion an attractive proposition for existing lithium-ion cell
manufacturers and this aids the exploitation route and dissemination of output from the project. This will enable efficient
adoption of next generation energy storage. Faradion has demonstrated cell performance of their materials as being
compatible to commercial lithium-ion cells in terms of cycle life, energy density and rate capability. This project will take the
technology from its current position at TRL3 to TRL5 and validate prototype batteries.
The Energy Innovation Centre is part of WMG. WMG is a department of the University of Warwick that was established by
Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya in 1980 in order to reinvigorate UK manufacturing and improve competitiveness
through the application of value-adding innovation and cutting-edge research. Professor Lord Bhattacharyya has published
extensively in the field of manufacturing and is a highly influential advisor to many organisations around the world. WMG is
now a world-renowned centre of excellence operating an international programme of research, education and knowledge
transfer amounting to £100m a year. WMG works closely with UK regional development agencies to support the delivery of
their economic strategies and also with global corporations to train executives and to develop technologies for markets
worldwide.
The University of Warwick will work directly with Faradion to optimise the sodium-ion electrodes for cycle life for this
application. Electrodes will be produced which can be converted into battery cells for life-cycle testing at an early stage of
the project to provide feedback for process optimisation. Accelerated aging concepts based on predictive modelling and
EIS (electrochemical impedance Spectroscopy) on cell testing at the coin cell level will be introduced by experts in this field
at UoW to shorten the feedback time of life cycle evaluation so improvements in electrode production can be introduced at
accelerated rates.
The aim of the research is to provide the highest quality sodium-ion cell electrodes optimised for this standby storage
application. The benefit to the academic community is the dissemination of practical research which accelerates the
adoption of sodium-ion battery technology into a high value manufacturing environment. The commercialisation strategy is
to license the sodium-ion technology IP to battery manufacturers but also to supply low cost energy storage systems
through Moixa Technology to end users.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.warwick.ac.uk |