Production of bio-based electrode materials for electro mobility

The increasing demand for electric vehicles is leading to a shortage of the resources needed to manufacture energy storage systems. This is giving rise to interest in replacing individual components with materials made from renewable raw materials. Supercapacitors are seen as a useful complement to lithium-ion batteries in e-mobility. The active material on the electrodes of supercapacitors is produced from fossil coal. The objective in this project was to produce a bio-based alternative for fossil coal. Two biogenic residues were used as starting materials, and further functionalized with metal oxides or nitrogen. Reference material based on sucrose, as a model substance was prepared for comparison purposes. Another research work based on potato residues was added to the scope of investigation at the beginning of the project. Discussions with user groups from German industry led to investigations of the carbon materials with regard to their use in lithium-ion batteries and sodium-ion batteries.