The AfreeSSB project has come to an end. It aimed to build solid-state batteries (SSBs) with power densities >1000 W/L and energy densities >800 Wh/L, with fast charging and discharging, deep discharge cycles, long cycle life, and safe operation in a wide temperature range. Potential applications for these batteries include high-end and mobile applications such as drones, robots, aerospace, and urban mobility.
The final project meeting took place in Barcelona on Thursday, September 12th, bringing together members of the consortium. The project successfully advanced several areas of the technology, achieving most of its milestones. A fruitful exchange between all the partners enabled the development of new technologies, materials and operando characterization techniques towards the ultimate goal of achieving an anode-free SSB.
More specifically, IREC has contributed to the development of thick Co-free thin film cathodes with high areal capacities close to 50 µAh·cm-2, thin-film NASICON solid electrolytes with high ionic conductivity (10-6 – 10-4 S·cm-1) produced by fast crystallization techniques and protective interlayers for the cathode/solid-electrolyte interface. On the characterization techniques side, IREC has contributed to developing operando methodologies and algorithms for Spectroscopy Ellipsometry and Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and pushed the limits of the spatial resolution of both techniques. These activities were led by Dr. Alex Morata and other researchers from the Nanoionics and Fuel Cells Department, including Dr. Juan Carlos González-Rosillo, Dr. Kevin Castelló, Fernanda Monteiro Freitas and Beatrice Laurenti.
AfreeSSB had a total budget of 1.7M€ and run for 2 years. The consortium was formed by 6 European partners including 3 research institutes (Empa, the coordinator of the project; IREC and Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH) and 3 companies (Fluxim AG, AEInnova SL and Aixtron SE).
Acknowledgements
This project (PCI2022-132960) has received funding from MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR”.
