Dr Alexandre Ponrouch's research project "Calcium and magnesium metal anode based batteries (CAMBAT)" has been granted under the ERC Starting Grant, panel PE8. CAMBAT addresses important challenges in the quest for a sustainable future, since batteries are essential components in a wide range of “everyday” technologies. It aims at developing new sustainable battery chemistries based Ca or Mg metal anodes which would bring a breakthrough in terms of energy density, while relying on much more abundant elements as compared to today’s state of the art Li-ion technology. A milestone of this project is the formulation of new non-corrosive electrolytes with enhanced ionic transport that would promote the formation of a stable electrolyte/electrode interface.  This should enable building laboratory prototype cells with enhanced energy density and lower cost than commercially available Li-ion batteries.

The European Research Council (ERC) has a number of funding schemes amongst which the Starting Grant is a very prestigious one that aims at encouraging young talented research leaders to gain independence in Europe and to build their own careers.