Advanced sensing, monitoring and self-HEALING mechanisms to self-repair BATteries (HEALING BAT)

Europe must re-emerge as a global leader in battery technology by accelerating the development of underlying essential technologies and allowing a European battery cell manufacturing industry. As required in the EU Green Deal, rechargeable batteries with high round trip efficiency are a vital technology that permits energy storage for numerous applications. The lithium-ion chemistries now dominate the market for rechargeable batteries. However, these are near the end of their improvement limits. In this direction, the advantage of the high energy density of Li-S batteries is especially significant for novel applications, e.g., where weight is a crucial parameter. The project aims to develop and implement self-healing concepts and materials in the critical battery components used in conventional Li-S batteries and extrapolate the ideas to develop a new class of self-healing structural batteries based on Li-S by investigating at the cell & component level. It will be built a toolbox of self-healing materials, sensors, and a customized Battery Management System to maximize the performance of the produced Li-S battery in terms of Quality, Reliability, and lifetime and to avoid or repair occurring damages; The BMS's goal is to govern the flow of energy to and from the battery system, monitoring sensor data with computational methods to identify events indicating degradation, as well as initiate self-healing actions. The resulting solution will revamp the European sector of rechargeable batteries with high round-trip efficiency energy storage for numerous applications, as specified in the EU Green Deal, consequently promoting innovative ideas needed to develop future sustainable batteries which demand fewer resources and create the groundwork for EU competitiveness. The project will be aligned with the Battery2030+ large-scale initiative within their "Integration of smart functionalities" theme, which supports sensing and self-healing.