PROJECT

The interdisciplinary nature of VIDICAT arises from the gathering of various fields i.e. Chemistry [organic, inorganic, physical chemistry, electrochemistry], Engineering [upscaling (chemicals, film processing) prototyping], Economy [resources & reserves, supply chain management] and Law [regulations, standards (ISO, REACH, good laboratory compliance)].

Economic contribution regarding resources & reserves of Ca ores in Europe, supply chain from mining to final product, environmental concerns in relation to EU regulations are indispensable. An efficient partnership must achieve added value, boosted by the Project Committee, PC, and facilitated by the long-term acquaintance of the partners. Some non-exhaustive examples: modelling (ICGM) will be one of the decision-making tools for UC3M and ERAS and will allow correlating physicochemical data e.g. Raman, other vibrational spectroscopies, WAXD (Wide Angle X-Ray Diffraction) and thermal analysis (LEPMI, UNIPD).

BES and impedance on VIDICAT electrolytes will provide complementary data on the conduction mechanisms: effects of electrolytes solvating ability and polarity, ε, on Ca²⁺ diffusion/migration and on ion-pair dissociation providing useful feedback to syntheses. Rheometry (CDT) will allow UC3M selecting the most suitable materials, tailoring thus their viscosity in view of their use as electrodes’ binder. VIDICAT will put the focus on (i) correlations of structure and dynamic properties and electrical response of components and interfaces and (ii) how they are influenced by charge-discharge. The mobility for 1-3 months periods of PhD students between e.g. UC3M-LEPMI-ERAS, ICGM-KIT, FZJ-CDT and UNIPD will strengthen the project. VIDICAT is organized to merge the abilities of each group on each functional component (i.e., anode, cathode and electrolyte) and foster these homogenized interactions between the corresponding workpackages to achieve VIDICAT final goal. ERAS, UC3M and CDT will closely collaborate for the economic and regulation aspects.

VIDICAT ensues from a hypothesis-driven science approach. From physical / electrochemical / geographical data, we inferred that CaB is the best sustainable battery technology to be developed in Europe and for Europe. Having analysed the current bottlenecks that are preventing progress we have concluded that the only chance for CaB to meet the previous criteria lies in the conception-creation of a groundbreaking electrolyte.

Title: VERSATILE IONOMERS FOR DIVALENT CALCIUM BATTERIES.
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Acronym: VIDICAT.
Project Reference: H2020 FET Open with number 828902 H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2019-2020-01 Proposal Number: 829145Goal: VIDICAT targets to develop a Calcium Battery, CaB, that is safe, performing, cheap and, at the same time, a sustainable technology.
Duration: 48 months (1/3/2019 – 28/2/2023).
Total Budget: 2.997M€ (Funded by the European Commission).
Partners: UC3M, KIT, CIDETEC, ERAS LABO, FZ-JÜELICH, UNIPD, UMONTPELLIER, CNRS.
Potential impact: electrochemical energy storage, sustainable Calcium batteries.