Towards innovative and affordable sodium- and zinc-based energy storage systems based on more sustainable and locally-sourced materials

电化学储能（EES）在碳中和的未来至关重要。然而，目前的电池价值链存在重大风险，特别是在关键原材料的供应方面。eNargiZinc的目标是开发与创新和经济实惠的下一代EES设备相关的新知识、技术和商业可开发产品，目标是通过使用丰富的可再生材料和低环境影响的生产过程实现长期可持续发展。通过跨学科和跨部门的方法，为11名博士候选人（8名博士候选人由欧盟资助，3名博士候选人由英国国家资助机构（UKRI）资助）设计了一个严格的通过研究培训的计划，涉及开发钠离子电池、锌空气电池和锌离子电池/超级电容器所需的所有基本部分的研究。eNargiZinc的研究将专注于开发可持续电极材料（生物质衍生碳及其复合材料、氧化还原活性聚合物、混合过渡金属氧化物和无阳极概念的界面）、电解质（固态和凝胶聚合物类型），特别是将所有开发的组件集成到工业相关规模的完整电池中。我们会为每位董事量身定制一套培训课程，让他们在三年的网络工作中掌握所需的技能。为此目的，将执行向其他伙伴借调（特别是在非学术部门）、辅助技能培训和全网络培训活动。该联盟由6个受益人和12个相关合作伙伴组成，旨在实现eNargiZinc的目标，并以卓越、协同和互补为基础。工业伙伴将在网络中发挥关键作用，为发展中国家提供接触私营部门和使用工业相关设施的机会，这些设施对于验证在实验室规模上获得的发现至关重要。

Electrochemical energy storage (EES) is crucial in the carbon-neutral future. Nevertheless, the current battery value chain has significant risks, especially concerning the supply of critical raw materials. eNargiZinc aims at developing new knowledge, technology and commercially exploitable products related to innovative and affordable next-generation EES devices, targeting long-term sustainability through the use of abundant and renewable materials and low environmental impact production processes. A rigorous training-through-research programme for eleven Doctoral Candidates (DCs) -eight DCs funded by the EU and three DCs funded by the UK national funding agency (UKRI)-has been designed through an interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach, involving studies on all the essential parts needed to develop sodium-ion batteries, zinc-air batteries, and zinc-ion batteries/supercapacitors. The research within eNargiZinc will focus on developing sustainable electrode materials (biomass-derived carbons and their composites, redox-active polymers, hybrid transition metal oxides, and interphases for anode-less concepts), electrolytes (solid-state and gel-polymer types), and, especially, on integrating all the developed components into full cells at an industrially-relevant scale. A Personalised Training Package for each DC will be tailored to allow them to acquire the required skills over the three years of employment within the network. To this aim, secondments to other partners (especially in the non-academic sector), training in complementary skills, and network-wide training events will be implemented. The consortium, which is composed of six beneficiaries and twelve associated partners, is addressed to achieve the objectives of eNargiZinc and is based on excellence, synergy and complementarity. Industrial partners will play a key role in the network, by providing the DCs with exposure to the private sector and access to industrially-relevant facilities, which are essential to validate the findings obtained at lab-scale.