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

电化学储能(EES)在碳中和未来是至关重要的。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、技术和可商业开发的产品，通过使用丰富的可再生材料和低环境影响的生产工艺来实现长期可持续发展。通过跨学科和跨部门的方法，为十名博士生(DC)设计了一项严格的研究培训计划，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必要部件的研究。ENargiZinc的研究将集中于开发可持续的电极材料(生物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用于无阳极概念的中间相)、电解液(固态和凝胶聚合物类型)，特别是将所有开发的组件整合到与工业相关的完整电池中。将为每个区议会量身定做一套个性化的培训方案，使他们能够在网络中工作的三年内获得所需的技能。为此，将向其他合作伙伴(特别是非学术部门)借调人员，开展技能互补培训和全网培训活动。该财团由9名受益者和9名关联合作伙伴组成，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，为区议会提供接触私营部门和使用与工业有关的设施的机会，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 ten Doctoral Candidates (DCs) 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 (biomassderived 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 nonacademic sector), training in complementary skills, and network-wide training events will be implemented. The consortium, which is composed of nine beneficiaries and nine 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.