Projects

Funded by the Free State of Thuringia and the European Social Fund Plus

Polymer membranes play an important role in many energy storage and conversion systems.

However, widely used fluorinated polymers (e. g., Nafion) pose serious sustainability problems.

We are therefore investigating fluorine-free polymer membranes for aqueous organic redox flow batteries (RFBs) and photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) for hydrogen production and glycerol oxidation. The research groups of Prof. U. S. Schubert, Prof. Yan Lu, Prof. Felix Schacher and Dr. Marco Favaro joined forces and combined their expertise in polymer synthesis, membrane characterization, batteries and PECs to enable these new developments.

Project duration: January 1, 2025 – December 31, 2027

HIPOLE Jena project team: Prof. Ulrich S. Schubert, Prof. Yan Lu, Prof. Felix H. Schacher, Dr. Marco Favaro, Dr. Martin Hager, Dr. Mosayeb Gharakhloo, Mohammed Jamshied, Moritz Kunze, Kai Hetze, Thomas Halmanseder, Dzenna Zukova, and Vikram Raghuraman.

Funded by the Free State of Thuringia and the European Social Fund Plus

For reaching climate goals and limiting global warming, a reduction of the carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere is urgently required.

To acheive this, various technological approaches have been developed. The research group PolyCapture focuses on the direct capture of carbon dioxide from air using electrochemically switchable materials. The central objective is the development of new nanostructured hybrid materials composed of redox-active polymers and carbon, which can be switched between adsorption and desorption states through the application of an electric current. This combination of switchable polymers with conductive carbon nanofibers can enable high currents, thereby improving the carbon dioxide capture rate and enhancing electrochemical stability – both of which are crucial for a future technical implementation.

The required expertise in materials synthesis, process engineering, modeling, and testing of carbon dioxide utilization scenarios based on renewable energies is brought together by the participating research groups of Prof. Oschatz, Prof. Mollenhauer, Jun.-Prof. Pannwitz, Prof. Schacher, and Prof. Schubert.

Project duration: January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2028

HIPOLE Jena project team: Prof. Martin Oschatz, Prof. Doreen Mollenhauer, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Andrea Pannwitz, Prof. Dr. Felix H. Schacher, Prof. Ulrich S. Schubert, Dr. Samaneh Khodami, Sofiia Prykhodska, Diego Bitzenhofer Betolaza, and Fabian Knötzsch.

Funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) within M-ERA.NET III

Advanced and sustainable energy technologies are a key pillar of European as well as global sustainability goals.

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are thereby considered one of the most promising next-generation electrochemical energy storage systems. They offer high theoretical capacity and energy density, along with the abundance and environmental friendliness of sulfur. However, industrial implementation is still hindered by challenges such as the low electrical conductivity of the materials, polysulfide-related side reactions, and cycle-dependent stability issues.

The CoLi-SCo project addresses these challenges. Its goal is to link materials development with practical cell engineering, while placing a strong emphasis on sustainability and scalability. Using a multiscale approach – from structuring nanoporous carbon materials to electrode design and the fabrication of Li–S pouch cells – the project aims to comprehensively understand and optimize the interplay between material properties, electrode architecture and overall battery performance. The consortium also pursues sustainable strategies in material selection, electrode manufacturing, and end-of-life recycling. In this way, the project seeks to raise the Technology Readiness Level of Li–S batteries and accelerate their integration into the European energy landscape.

In addition to HIPOLE Jena, the following institutions are involved in the project:

• Friedrich Schiller University Jena
• Orion Engineered Carbons GmbH
• Poznan University of Technology (Poland)
• Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain)
• Lukasiewicz Research Network (Poland)
• INNOVATOR Sp. z o.o. (Poland)

Project duration: October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2027

HIPOLE Jena project team: Prof. Martin Oschatz, Dr. Eneli Härk, and Dr. Felix Nagler.