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旨在开发与创新和负担得起的下一代EES设备相关的新知识，技术和商业上可开发的产品，通过使用丰富的可再生材料和低环境影响的生产工艺实现长期可持续性。一个严格的培训通过研究计划的11名博士候选人（DC）-八个由欧盟资助的DC和三个由英国国家资助机构（UKRI）资助的DC-已经通过跨学科和跨部门的方法设计，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件的研究。eNargiZinc的研究重点是开发可持续的电极材料（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全电池中。将为每个DC量身定制一个个性化的培训包，使他们能够在网络内就业的三年内获得所需的技能。为此，将向其他合作伙伴借调人员（特别是在非学术部门），进行补充技能培训，并开展全网络的培训活动。该财团由六个受益人和十二个相关合作伙伴组成，旨在实现eNargiZinc的目标，并以卓越，协同作用和互补性为基础。工业伙伴将在该网络中发挥关键作用，向发展中国家提供接触私营部门和利用工业相关设施的机会，这对验证实验室规模的研究结果至关重要。

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.