Pioneering the Future of Sustainable Batteries: EURICE Successfully Concludes MeBattery Project
As the global transition toward decarbonised energy systems accelerates, the demand for sustainable and efficient energy storage continues to grow. To address this need, the MeBattery project was launched in 2022 with funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder programme to rethink battery design and advance more sustainable and durable storage technologies.
Over three and a half years, the consortium developed a novel redox-flow battery concept that applies thermodynamic principles to overcome key limitations of current lithium-ion and vanadium-based technologies in terms of sustainability, recyclability, and long-term performance. The project united six partners from across Europe, combining expertise in materials science, electrochemistry, computational modelling, and innovation management.
Shaping the Next Generation of Energy Storage
At the core of the project lies a redox-mediated biphasic flow battery, an innovative concept that applies thermodynamic principles to achieve stable, membrane-free operation. Unlike conventional systems that rely on costly membranes to separate active species, MeBattery uses immiscible liquid phases to maintain separation naturally while maintaining efficiency and durability. Among its main results, MeBattery achieved:
- Developing a redox-mediated biphasic flow battery concept, opening new opportunities for flexible, scalable, and sustainable energy storage
- Designing new viologen derivatives, creating novel redox-active molecule families that enhance stability and extend the lifetime of aqueous redox flow batteries
- Optimising the cell reactor design for mediated redox flow batteries, enabling a scalable, membrane-free system that operates under optimal conditions
- Developing Prussian blue analogues, allowing energy storage production without reliance on critical raw materials
- Establishing a booster–mediator evaluation platform, introducing new methods to measure and analyse redox mediators and reactions with greater precision
- Implementing a solid capacity booster confinement strategy, integrating the booster material as a single monolithic structure within the external reservoir to improve stability and performance
From Research to Innovation and Real-World Impact
As one of six consortium partners, EURICE played a central role in communication and exploitation, ensuring that MeBattery’s scientific outcomes were communicated effectively and positioned for future application. “MeBattery shows how structured innovation support can help translate excellent research into real-world impact,” said Janine Jost, Senior Research and Impact Manager at EURICE. “By connecting scientific results with practical applications, the project contributes to Europe’s transition toward more sustainable and resilient energy systems.”
If scaled for industrial use, the MeBattery concept could contribute to reducing Europe’s reliance on imported lithium-ion batteries, and strengthen its technological autonomy. Using abundant, recyclable materials such as iron and manganese, it supports circular-economy principles while lowering CO₂ emissions and dependence on critical raw materials. In the long term, safe, durable, and cost-efficient batteries like those developed in MeBattery could accelerate renewable energy integration and contribute to a more stable and sustainable energy system.
Find out more: “Project Results at a Glance” infographic.