Onur ERGEN and his team, within the scope of the QUEEN Project, aim to completely transform the traditional functioning of battery technology by increasing battery energy density 20 times, compared to the expected twofold increase by 2035, and introducing the concept of instant charging.
In 2021, ERGEN was awarded the TÜBA GEBİP Award, and his project proposal was supported under TÜBİTAK's ERC Principal Investigator Development Program (EBAG).
Call: ERC-2021-CoG
Project Duration: 5 years
Project Acronym: QUEEN
Project Title: Quantum Super-Exchange Energy Storage Platform
Project ID: 101043219
Host Institution: Istanbul Technical University, Türkiye
Panel: PE8 - Products and Processes Engineering
Related ERC Proof of Concept Project: -
Breakthrough battery architecture enables programming charge carrier dynamics
Batteries are a major driving force behind the EU’s goal to be climate neutral by 2050. In practice, batteries suffer from real-performance issues like fire, explosion, and the number of times they can be charged and discharged without being degraded. These issues are mainly associated with the complex and uncontrollable microscopic electron and ion interactions at dynamic interfaces, and chaotic charge carrier migration. The EU-funded QUEEN project aims to tackle these problems and transform battery technology by introducing control to charge carrier dynamics. Researchers will develop a quantum super-exchange energy storage platform with atomically precise fabrication of 2D-hybrid nanomaterials to transform them into programmable matter. The project also promises to unlock the full potential of 2D materials in biology, flexible electronics and spintronics.
Objective
Batteries are a major driving force behind EU’s goal to be climate neutral by 2050–with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. However, all batteries suffer from severe performance and safety challenges (fire and explosion) and fast-charging limitations due to two fundamental challenges:1) The complex and uncontrollable microscopic electron and ion interactions at dynamic interfaces; 2) The highly in-homogeneous electric field inside the battery cell that leads to chaotic carrier migration. In this project, I tackle these problems by developing a quantum super-exchange energy storage platform (QUEEN), which enables atomically precise fabrication of 2D hybrid nanomaterials effectively transforming them into programable matter. In QUEEN, my aim is 1) Developing a quantum arc pen electro pulse lithography (Q-ARC) technique including a nanoscale “pen” (ARC-PEN) with uniquely modified tips (special gas inlets/outlets) to remove/replace targeted atoms with great precision. 2) Using Q-ARC techniques, investigating novel patterns to fabricate an in-plane hybrid 2D material system with band gap engineering, Coulomb blockage and ballistic transport. 3) Leveraging QUEEN’s near atom-by-atom fabrication, to create an in-situ testing platform to investigate quantum phenomena at complex interfaces. QUEEN will enable the development of superior battery architectures with i) precise and programmable control carrier transport, ii) groundbreakingly thin battery operation distances (2nm-5nm between anode and cathode), iii) very high mobility/instantaneous ion transport, iv) blueprint for extra charge storage mechanism. My multidisciplinary background in advanced device engineering and physics will enable me to accomplish the ambitious goals of this project, which will transform battery technology going well beyond the state of art by introducing control to carrier dynamics. Furthermore, QUEEN unlocks the potential for 2D materials in areas like biology, flexible electronics and spintronic.
(Resource: CORDIS)
