Imperial College London on Thursday announced that one of its scientists has won a 1.5 million euro (or 1.64 million U.S. dollars) grant from the European Research Council (ERC).
The grant was to enable him further his research into cost-effective redox flow batteries, which are large energy storage devices that could power cities.
A typical flow battery consists of two tanks of electrolytes, which are pumped past a membrane held between two electrodes.
The membrane separator allows the diffusion of ions across the membrane between the tanks while preventing the cross-mixing of the electrolyte solutions.
Dr Qilei Song, from Imperial College’s Department of Chemical Engineering won the ERC Starting Grant.
According to the Imperial College The project would involve collaboration with researchers at Imperial, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Cambridge, and institutions in the EU and China.
He said the cost of the membrane used in making flow batteries was still high, so his team’s aim was to design/manufacture next-generation low-cost ion-selective membranes based on nanoporous polymers with well-defined porosity and ion-conductive functionality.
This kind of battery is relatively safer in large scale use compared to other forms of battery, and is suitable for large-scale energy storage.
According to Song, the research could help accelerate developments in renewable energy, mitigate climate change and solve the mismatch between the intermittent supply of renewable energy and the variable power grid.
ERC Starting Grants recognised talented early-career scientists who show potential to be research leaders and have a scientific track record showing great promise.
