Sodium-ion batteries hold great promise for a sustainable and resource-saving future of energy storage. Not only is sodium inexpensive and abundant, but it is also safe and easy to recycle. The challenge is to transfer this technology into industrially usable and scalable cells. This is where the ENTISE project (German: Entwicklung der Natrium-Ionen-Technologie für industriell skalierbare Energiespeicher – EN: Development of the Sodium-Ion-Technology for Industrially Scalable Energy Storage) comes in. ENTISE is being moved ahead by a consortium of 15 working groups from the 13 companies and universities with the German battery manufacturer VARTA AG acting as initiator and coordinator.
ENTISE is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with about 7.5 million euros. The project was approved in May with the handing over of the funding notice by Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger. The consortium has now officially started its work with a kick-off event at the VARTA AG to mark the start of the project.
Improvement of storage capacity and cycle stability
The focus of ENTISE is to advance the development of existing material concepts and processes. Technologically, the storage capacity of the cathode and anode in particular shall be improved. To achieve this, the materials used, including the electrolytes, need to be optimized. In addition, the cycling stability, i.e., the ability of the cells to ensure stable performance even after repeated charging and discharging, shall be improved through the development and use of new and optimized electrode materials and coatings.
A central element of the project will be the production of sufficient quantities of the required materials in order to build the first resilient laboratory samples and ultimately prototypes in round cell format.
From prototypes to market-ready cells for electric vehicles or home storage systems
In collaboration between the industrial and research partners, the individual components are scaled up and transferred from the laboratory to the pre-industrial area (piloting) in the final project phase. The end product of this upscaling will be a small series of round cells that enable the reliable assessment of their properties in practical application scenarios such as electric vehicles and stationary storage systems. An accompanying technical-economic and ecological assessment completes the project.
Project funded as part of the BMBF’s “Battery 2020 Transfer” program
Funding reference: 03XP0579A-L
Duration: June 1st, 2024 – May 30th, 2027
Project partner: VARTA Microbattery GmbH; VARTA Storage GmbH; Karlsruher Institut für Technologie / Helmholtz Institut Ulm; Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Universität Freiburg / Freiburger Materialforschungszentrum; Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg; Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen; Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (Institut für Nanotechnologie, Battery and Electrochemistry Laboratory); Forschungszentrum Jülich; EurA AG; E-Lyte Innovations GmbH; IBU-tec advanced materials AG; Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (Institute for Applied Materials - Energy Storage Systems); Undisclosed additional cell producer with relations to the automotive industry
Press contact
Interim press spokesman
VARTA AG
Dirk Schmitt
+49 170 302 8833
d.schmitt@rosenbergsc.com
Presentation of project partners
Battery and Electrochemistry Laboratory
BELLA (Battery and Electrochemistry Laboratory), which is funded equally by KIT and BASF SE and belongs to the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT), combines basic research with application-driven projects on materials and cell components for next-generation batteries. The equipment of the laboratory allows for a variety of synthetic work, electrochemical characterization of electrode and electrolyte materials, and the investigation of cell properties.
E-Lyte Innovations GmbH
E-Lyte Innovations GmbH was founded in May 2019 and has since developed into an internationally operating company. E-Lyte is a full-service partner for the development and production of tailor-made high-performance electrolytes for energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and supercapacitors, enabling optimal performance for a wide variety of applications. The “E-Lyte” brand has become synonymous with the most innovative and highest quality electrolytes “made in Germany” for the energy storage market.
EurA AG
EurA AG is an international consulting company for innovation and technology with extensive know-how in the field of subsidies. The consultants support companies of all sizes, research institutions and local authorities in enabling technical innovations. EurA supports the market leaders of tomorrow in generating ideas for innovations, developing new products and services and marketing them internationally. In research and development projects in numerous technology fields, the experts assess the ecological, economic, and social sustainability of the approaches, among other things. EurA AG's head office has been in Ellwangen since the company was founded in 1999 and ensures customer proximity with offices throughout Germany as well as in Portugal, Belgium, and Bulgaria.
Freiburg Materials Research Center
The Freiburg Materials Research Centre (FMF) is a central scientific institution of the University of Freiburg. As a centre for resources and ideas, the FMF has been successfully conducting interdisciplinary applied materials research since 1989, ranging from applied basic research to cooperative and contract research in close collaboration with industry. The FMF members are active in various areas of materials research, including the field of electrochemical energy storage.
Prof. Anna Fischer's research group has been working on nanostructured materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage for over 15 years. One focus is on developing tailored carbon materials for lithium and sodium-ion batteries. Expertise in multiscale material and electrode characterisation is used to elucidate structure-function correlations.
Prof. Ingo Krossing's research group has 20 years of expertise in the synthesis and development of electrolyte salts and additives as well as ionic liquids (ILs), including PFGSE-NMR, electrochemical characterisation and testing in symmetrical, half and full cells. The working group investigates battery electrolytes and the modification of interfaces on active battery materials, e.g. using additives. Both working groups combine their expertise in the FMF battery materials laboratory.
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Prof. Adelhelm works at the Humboldt University of Berlin in the field of physical chemistry and leads the research group "Operando Battery Analysis" at the Helmholtz Centre Berlin. For over 12 years, he has been conducting intensive research on sodium-ion batteries, with a focus on the synthesis and characterization of electrode materials, particularly layered oxides. In addition, his group also investigates lithium-ion batteries and alternative cell concepts such as metal, sulfur, and solid-state batteries.
IBU-tec advanced materials AG
IBU-tec Group combines know-how and production capacities in two very demanding chemical industry fields: thermal processes and organometallic chemistry.
Our decades of expertise in service allow us to develop customized process solutions for you – from laboratory scale to contract manufacturing and engineering services for your own production. IBU-tec has gained an international reputation for processes in rotary kilns in particular.
Specialized in-house products form the other aspect of the group: high-quality performance materials with decades of process engineering experience: battery materials, UV protection, pigments, organometallic catalysts, and glass coatings.
Institute for Applied Materials - Energy Storage Systems / Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
The Institute for Applied Materials – Energy Storage Systems at the KIT, with a staff of around 90, is dedicated to the production of new materials for energy storage, such as for Li-ion batteries and post-lithium systems, as well as to the elucidation of the processes involved in energy storage, the production and testing of electrodes and complete cells. A strong research focus of the IAM-ESS is battery recycling. The research group of Dr. Michael Knapp is dedicated to the investigation and optimization of a mechanochemically induced recycling process. Prof. Helmut Ehrenberg is the Director of the IAM-ESS and Professor of Materials Research for Novel Energy Storage Systems at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). He is also spokesman for the Cluster of Excellence Energy Storage Beyond Lithium (POLiS) and for the topic of electrochemical energy storage in the Helmholtz program Materials Technologies for the Energy Transition.
Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
At the Center for Materials Research and the Institute of Physical Chemistry (AG Janek), there is a long-standing focus on materials research for electrochemical storage. In addition to the investigation of materials for lithium-ion batteries and lithium solid-state batteries, the investigation of sodium-ion batteries and other new cell concepts forms an important part of the research. One of the special areas of expertise of the working groups based here is interfacial chemistry and electrode kinetics. With the help of in-depth electrochemical methods, often in combination with spectroscopic, spectrometric, and microscopic methods, the role of interfaces in batteries is investigated and optimized. In the field of sodium batteries, the Janek group carried out initial work already at an early stage (together with the Adelhelm group, among others).
VARTA AG
VARTA AG manufactures and markets a comprehensive battery portfolio ranging from microbatteries, household batteries and energy storage systems to customised battery solutions for a wide range of applications. Through intensive research and development, VARTA AG sets global standards in many areas of lithium-ion technology and microbatteries and is the recognised innovation leader in the important growth markets for lithium-ion technology and primary hearing aid batteries. The VARTA AG Group currently employs around 4,000 people. With five production and manufacturing sites in Europe and Asia as well as distribution centers in Asia, Europe, and the USA, VARTA AG's operating subsidiaries are currently active in over 100 countries worldwide. The subsidiaries VARTA Microbattery GmbH (initiator and project coordinator) and VARTA Storage GmbH are working on this project to evaluate materials available on the market and for the production of reference and prototype cells, and to conduct cell benchmarking and use case testing for stationary storage applications.
ZSW Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg
The ZSW Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg, ZSW) is one of the leading institutes for applied research in the major topics of the energy transition: Photovoltaics, wind energy, batteries, fuel cells, electrolysis, eFuels, circular economy, policy advice and the use of AI for process and system optimisation. Together with industry, we pave the way for new technologies to enter the market. Approximately 340 experts and 100 scientists work at our Stuttgart and Ulm sites. Since 2014, we operate a research production line for the production of large lithium-ion cells with up to 100 Ah at our Ulm site to accelerate innovative production processes and prototype development. With the new ‘Powder-Up!’ pilot plant, which will be operational at the end of 2024, ZSW is setting standards in the development and upscaling of cathode materials by enabling industrial production and testing in quantities of up to 100 kilograms. The ZSW is also a member of the Baden-Württemberg Innovation Alliance (innBW), an alliance of ten business-related research institutions.