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Embroider Power

Embroidered electrodes for high-performance redox flow batteries

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Key facts

Sectors covered: Technological innovation in textiles and clothing

Innovation priority: Advanced digitised manufacturing, value chains and business models

Start: 2020

ELIIT funding: €70 000

The EU’s energy transition to full decarbonisation by 2050 requires increased renewable energy use. Due to the need for storage systems to ensure an adequate supply of renewable energy, the market for battery energy storage systems is expected to grow.

Among commercially available technologies, redox flow batteries (RFBs) are gaining popularity because they pose no risk of explosion or thermal runaway. They also have an expected lifetime of around 20 years, comparable to solar panels. However, enhancing their performance in areas such as power generation would make them more cost-effective.

The Embroider Power project is a partnership between Texible and the Research Institute of Textile Chemistry and Physics at the University of Innsbruck. They identified an opportunity to develop textile products to improve RFB performance.

General publications7 August 2023
Embroider Power factsheet
English
(513.98 KB - PDF)
Download

 

What's the goal?

The partners aim to create an RFB stack prototype with embroidered electrodes larger than conventional systems. This is to demonstrate the capacity of embroidery to create high-performance electrodes for RFBs.

Embroidery allows continuous filaments to be arranged in precise, customised patterns (Fig. 3 in the fact sheet that can be downloaded). The partners used it to produce electrodes geared to achieve higher mass transfer rates, more uniform current distribution, and therefore improved battery performance compared with conventional systems.

Cooperation between Texible, which has expertise in embroidery technology for technical textiles, and the University of Innsbruck, with its expertise in textile electrochemical processes and embroidered electrodes in batteries, was necessary to ensure success.

The goal was to achieve a 50% improvement in performance. However, the prototype allowed for flow rates 4 times higher than those of commercial battery systems at similar pressure drops (Fig. 4). In addition, embroidered electrodes exhibited mass transport resistance 80% lower than that of commercial felt electrodes.

Key challenges

The challenges come from applying the same thermal activation method tat is used for conventional electrodes. With embroidered electrodes, it may be necessary to follow and optimise a multi-step process. For instance, using metal wires to support the carbon filaments and then replacing them with chemically stable yarns such as Teflon or polypropylene.

How has ELIIT helped?

The ELIIT project has helped to create a large flow battery stack prototype with 3D embroidered electrodes 150 mm in length, 200 mm in width and 5 mm in thickness for market validation.

This prototype boosted collaboration with potential customers to interact with the battery stack and provide insights for further development. ELIIT’s support enabled the partners to enlarge their product portfolio as part of a long-term vision.

Meet the partners

Texible was founded in 2016 by textile researchers and entrepreneurs as a spin-off from the University of Innsbruck. It has expertise in technical textile technology transfer from research to production and marketing.

The Research Institute of Textile Chemistry and Textile Physics is a key enabling technologies centre at the University of Innsbruck. Its activities are characterised by intensive interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral research. The institute has extensive experience in researching embroidered electrodes and electrochemical energy storage systems.

SME: Texible GmbH

Country: Austria
Founded: 2016

Tech provider: Research Institute of Textile Chemistry and Textile Physics, University of Innsbruck

Country: Austria
Year of creation: 1982