After the clusters BLOC (Health) and ADN (digital anf high tech), the city of Amiens has lunched a new competence pole dedicated to energy autonomy : Energeia. Those three clusters will work in complementarity to boost innovatives projects and collaborative research in Hauts-de-France.
Jean-Marie Tarascon, director of RS2E and Mathieu Morcrette, have initiated this project of €22 millions, in the center of Amiens. It aims at being a hub in the electrochemical storage energy field: a place where 150 researchers will be able to work. Among them the 80 LRCS' (Laboratoire réactivité et chimie des solides) scientists.
"We're assisting to an impressive battery research dynamic. The Li-ion world is boiling!" These are the words Jean-Marie Tarascon, RS2E's director and professor at Collège de France, used to describe this type of batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are indeed the most popular, still far ahead from its competitors.
Sodium-ion batteries to store renewable energy: coming soon!
After manufacturing the first sodium-ion battery prototype, it's now time for RS2E and its researchers to transfer it to the industry. Lithium is a limited resource while sodium is more abundant. Na-ion seems to be able to challenge the dominating position of Li-ion on certain markets. Jean-Marie Tarascon, RS2E's director and professor at Collège de France, is explaining the project advancement and its future opportunities. The interview is available here.
As part of his work on supercapacitators, Christophe Lethien (from the IEMN lab, a member of RS2E) was interviewed by the RTBF (Belgian TV). The interview follows a publication in Science, with Patrice Simon's group (from the CIRIMAT lab). The video is available bellow.
The sodium-ion battery is powering up!
After two years of research, French are the world-first to deliver a sodium-ion battery in the 18650 format. It's developed by RS2E's scientists (among them are scientists from the LRCS lab in Amiens) and manufactured by CEA in Grenoble.
"Sodium carbonate is 50 times cheaper than lithium carbonate" explains Prof. Christian Masquelier, a LRCS' researcher. This prototype is a breakthrough in renewable energy storage. However it will still take a few years to reach the market.
A team of RS2E researchers (CNRS/CEA, France) has announced the first prototype of an industrial-level (18650 format) sodium-ion battery. Sodium being more accessible than lithium, it will be a cheaper alternative to lithium-ion rechargeable cells, and it will be on the market within 5 to 10 years. A serious competitor to lithium-ion?
Within the RS2E research network, specialists from Collège de France (CNRS, Paris, France) and scientists from LASIR (CNRS, Lille, France) adapted electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to battery research. Redox mecanisms inside rechargeable cells are now observable thanks to this technology. This will led to many new opportunities.
To have an overview of the whole RS2E project (research and technology transfer on batteries and supercapacitors): research areas, key players and goals,you can download our presentation brochure below !
Students from the Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion degree (MESC) just graduated in Amiens (UPJV). This international curriculum tackling tomorrow's materials is strongly linked to the LRCS lab (CNRS/UPJV), a renowned battery research center, where many of those graduates will begin a PhD.
«After their degree, more than 70 % begins a PhD. Sometimes Asian students even get a job right aftergraduation», explains Prof. Christian Masquelier, MESC coordinator. This master's degree is in part funded by industrials in the hope of recruiting the new graduates.