Nanocarbon materials for sustainable battery technology

Lithium is a scarce resource on the Earth's crust and very difficult to recycle, which limits the future scalability of standard battery technologies. The NACAB project seeks to advance the science and technology of carbon-based anode and cathode materials for battery applications beyond Li-ion designs. We will study the intercalation/deintercalation mechanisms for both cations and anions in nanoporous carbon-based materials synthesized from sustainable organic precursors, as well as integrated hybrid nanocarbon materials, using a tight combination of experiment and simulation: synthesis, electrochemical characterization and machine-learning-driven molecular dynamics. NACAB aims to pave the way for next-generation sustainable and scalable energy-storage solutions beyond current Li-ion technology. This will enable cheap and efficient electrical energy storage and lower our reliance on fossil fuels, bringing us one step closer to the objective of carbon neutrality.