EMPHASIS – Efficient materials and processes for high-energy supercapacitors for smart textiles and electromobility applications

EMPHASIS is a European project funded under the HORIZON-CL4-2022-RESILIENCE-01-24 (Novel materials for supercapacitor energy storage) call in the HORIZON-RIA action. The EMPHASIS project focuses on developing next-generation supercapacitors (SCs) optimised for consumer use. Researchers pursue sustainable energy storage solutions in two areas that are paramount to cover the needs demanded by our modern lifestyle: electromobility and the emerging field of smart clothing. EMPHASIS’ innovative approach will focus on developing novel materials derived from natural resources, improving design processes and advancing design architectures for energy storage solutions beyond the technical status quo.

Successful fabrication of SC cells demands knowledge and know-how from a wide range of science and technology areas. The EMPHASIS research strategy has been designed to enable close collaboration between partners from diverse fields. While electrodes can now be prepared with very high energy density, the procedures to make them are either not scalable or extremely costly and time demanding, and thus, commercially unviable. To cope with this challenge, EMPHASIS proposes the development of a rational design approach that encompasses simultaneous optimisation of the most important key components of a SC cell, i.e., electrode materials, electrolytes and current collectors. The approach entails not simply a separate optimisation of these single components but also their best matching procedure, exploiting the synergy of the best performance of each component. In addition, the innovative design of SC cell architecture and control of power management are vital pillars of EMPHASIS to achieve breakthrough solutions to key applications in two areas with broad markets, i.e. smart clothing and electromobility. The project aspires to provide solutions to current problems faced by end-users by developing demand-driven technologies for the use of specific SCs that outclass the performance of current battery-based solutions.

Funding Programme:

HORIZON-CL4-2022-RESILIENCE-01-24 (Novel materials for supercapacitor energy storage)

Project-ID:

Grant No 101091997

Duration:

January 2023 – December 2025

Project Coordinator:

Pleione Energy S.A. 

Project Partners:

• Pleione Energy S.A.
• Forth - Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas - Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences
• Canoe - The New-Aquitaine Composites & Advanced Materials Technology Center
• Wood K plus - Kompetenzzentrum Holz GmbH
• Keysight Technologies GmbH
• University of Würzburg
• CRF - Centro Richerche Fiat S.C.p.A.
• BORN GmbH
• University of Torino
• SOLVIONIC
• EURICE - European Research and Project Office GmbH
• INRiM - Italian National Institute of Metrological Research
• Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology 

Project Management (Wood K plus):

Christoph Unterweger, PhD

Source: EMPHASIS project (https://www.emphasis-supercaps.eu/)