Energy

Empa and Kyburz Switzerland AG are looking for ways to recycle end-of-life lithium-ion batteries in an efficient and resource-saving way. A specially developed experimental facility breaks down the old batteries into their components so that materials can be recovered as clean as possible.

Turning unused waste from food production into clean energy: Researchers at ETH Zurich and Nanyang Technological University Singapore are using chicken feathers to make fuel cells more cost-effective and sustainable.

Although strict limits exist, old types of batteries can still contain too many hazardous ingredients such as mercury, cadmium and lead. The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has therefore launched a control campaign. Empa has laid the foundations for this with a novel tailor-made method for analyzing heavy metals.

Empa researchers want to accelerate the development of urgently needed new energy storage systems with the help of the Aurora battery robot. The Aurora project is part of the European research initiative Battery2030+, which was recently awarded over 150 million euros in funding by the EU. In addition, the project is part of the ETH Board's "Open Research Data" initiative, which promotes digitization and free access to research data.

The electrification of transport is increasing. This means, more batteries are needed. However, some of these batteries contain an extremely problematic raw material: cobalt. PSI is researching alternatives.