Calcium Organic BatteRy Alliance
COBRA
Project details:
National Budget: 200.000 Euro
Implementation period: 2024 – 2027
Consortium:
Coordinator (P1) – Université catholique de Louvain – UCL, Belgium
Partner 2: National Institute of Chemistry – NIC, Slovenia
Partner 3: Agencia estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas – ICMAB, Spain
Partner 4: National Research & Development Institute for Cryogenic and Isotopic Technologies – ICSI, Romania
Partner 5: CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLA AB – CHALMERS, Sweden
Partner 6: AB Libergreen – LBG, Sweden
Overview of the COBRA Project
Low-cost, abundant raw materials and high energy are the key requirements for future battery technology supporting the realization of the European Green Deal. The current lithium-ion battery technology remains the solution in short and medium term, but raises long-term concerns due to dependence on scarce metals and materials. There are many alternatives envisioned, often with their challenges proportional to their promises. Calcium-metal battery is an alternative with extremely promising energy, power, and in particular environmental and sustainability metrics. Yet, this Holy Grail remains hard to attain given the complex nature of Ca behavior in a battery. COBRA’s overarching objective is to make this a reality by being the first fundamental towards practical research initiative to develop CRM-free, high-energy density, rechargeable calcium metal-organic batteries reaching 350 Wh/kg at cell level. The application intended is residential mid- to large-scale energy storage, needed to ensure flexibility and security of the electrical grid, but also potentially appealing to electric transportation in the long term.
Key Objectives of the COBRA Project
The COBRA project represents a groundbreaking initiative aimed at advancing calcium metal-organic and calcium anode-free batteries to Technology Readiness Level 4 (TRL4) while focusing on the development of novel high-energy, long-cycle-life organic calcium batteries. Leveraging the diverse expertise of its six consortium partners, COBRA seeks to address critical issues in sustainability, particularly environmental impact and material toxicity, by eliminating hazardous materials and reducing energy consumption in both materials and cell production. The project integrates advanced experimental and computational methodologies with cutting-edge battery cell engineering to propel multivalent battery science forward. Key contributions will be made by partners specializing in high-performance organic cathodes, novel calcium salt synthesis, and multivalent metal anode efficiency, advanced electrolyte design, and cell prototyping and manufacturing, with an SME facilitating technology transfer and cost analysis.
COBRA’s work philosophy centers on developing materials and processes free of toxic reagents and solvents, significantly lowering the carbon footprint of battery production through soft and green chemistry approaches. This innovative effort not only simplifies recycling processes but also minimizes negative impacts at the end of a battery’s life cycle. By targeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 of “Affordable and Clean Energy,” COBRA is committed to delivering low-cost, high-energy battery technologies. The project aims to create sustainable, high-energy-density calcium organic batteries that represent a significant advancement beyond the current state of calcium batteries and compete with or surpass the performance of state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Through the synergistic collaboration of its partners, COBRA strives to achieve breakthroughs in energy storage, and enhance sustainability, material sourcing, cost-efficiency, and circularity within battery technologies, positioning Europe as a leader in this promising and green energy storage sector.
Implementation strategy: Work Plan overview
COBRA’s work is structured in six work packages: WP2-WP4 are scientific & technical and focus on synthesis and analysis of organic cathodes, formulation of electrolytes, and study of metal anodes and surfaces, complemented by mechanistic studies, from both experimental and computational perspectives. WP5 moves the S&T from WPs2-4 closer to real application by engineering prototype full cells and assess their performance under application relevant conditions. WP6 focuses on dissemination, benchmarking, business cases and documentation, and technology transfer.
- WP1 Management and coordination
Ensure effective consortium management for the seamless implementation, execution, and completion of all work packages and tasks, providing robust support to consortium partners and conducting regular monitoring of research activities.
- WP2 Calcium containing organic cathodes
Advance the development and enhancement of high-performance calcium organic cathodes, targeting voltages greater than 3.5 V vs. Ca2+/Ca and capacities exceeding 150 mAh/g, while conducting structural and electrochemical studies to establish a comprehensive mechanistic understanding.
- WP3 Calcium conducting electrolytes
Develop formulations for calcium-conducting electrolytes that incorporate additives to achieve high ionic conductivity (10 mS/cm), a cation transference number exceeding 0.3, enhanced anodic stability (greater than 4V vs. Ca2+/Ca), and improved stability at the calcium metal/electrolyte interface.
- WP4 Calcium-metal interphases & interfaces
Enhance the interfaces to optimize calcium metal plating and stripping processes on the surface of calcium metal and non-reactive substrates, achieving efficiency levels exceeding 99%.
- WP5 Cell prototyping
Integrate key findings from WPs 2-4 to develop prototype devices that facilitate the performance mapping of Generation 5 Calcium Organic cells, enabling comprehensive evaluation and optimization of their capabilities.
- WP6 Dissemination, communication benchmarking and technology transfer
Consolidate communication efforts to effectively share project results with the public and future stakeholders, while creating pathways for advancing technology to higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs).
Our committed Team leading the COBRA project forward!
The ambitious goal of the COBRA will be realized through synergies between partners. Taken individually, project partners do not have the technical capability and scientific expertise to attain the excellence as targeted in this proposal. Thus, the project success depends and will critically benefit from specific added value of each individual COBRA partner.
Additional added value is the complementary of techniques available, which allows to study materials and devices from a multitude of aspects. ICMAB specializes on advanced electrochemical techniques (GITT, PITT, EIS, EQCM). CHALMERSspecializes on Raman spectroscopy and physico-chemical characterization (DSC, TGA).UCL offers a broad spectrum of chemical analysis (NMR, ICP-OES, XPS, TOF-SIMS, CHNSO). NIC specializes on IR spectroscopy and microscopy (SEM-EDS, atomic resolution TEM). ICSI has state of art infrastructure for large scale battery cell prototyping. All the equipment in the consortia will be made available for research work in COBRA.
The exchange of researchers to use equipment in the partner laboratories will be strongly encouraged. The project partners will seek to apply the 10% rule, meaning that each involved researcher will be encouraged to spend at least 10% of their working time at the laboratories of other partners. This is intended to expand the researcher’s expertise, but also promote collaboration between the partners and add additional dimension to the career development of the researchers involved.
The results of COBRA project are intended to benefit everybody and the results will not discriminate between men and women. The Consortium fully supports the ambitions and policy of the European Union on the issue of gender equality stated in the European Commission papers “Women and Science, Mobilising women to enrich European Research” and “Women and Science: the gender dimension as leverage for reforming science”. As does the European Commission, the COBRA consortium adheres to the EC’s Gender Equality Strategy for 2020-2025.44 Each partner engages to promote gender awareness and equality within the project at the organisational level. The consortium commits to the promotion of gender equality throughout its implementation cycle and the participation of women in managerial and technical coordination responsibilities in the project is encouraged. Gender dimension will be studied, monitored and managed in WP1 (project management) while already considering that two partners and WP leaders are female (ICSI & LBG). We will also study the importance of sex/gender dimension aligned to the different needs, requirements and expectations females, males or binary persons could have towards COBRA innovative products and processes.
