Edwin Otten receives a NWO XS grant

Edwin Otten (Stratingh Institute for Chemistry) has been awarded a NWO XS grant worth EUR 50,000. He receives the grant for the project ‘In-situ spectroscopic characterization of organic flow batteries’.

The drive to reduce the fossil component in our energy mix implies an increase in the share of solar/wind, but these are only intermittently available. Thus, a stable future energy supply depends on large-scale storage solutions. While batteries can be used for this purpose, the active materials often consist of scarce metal elements. In this project, the researchers will develop new methods to study organic redox flow batteries (RFB) based on cheap and earth-abundant elements. This will lead to new insight in how molecular properties influence battery performance, and provide design criteria for improved RFBs.

The Open Competition Domain Science – XS grants of a maximum of € 50,000 are intended to support promising ideas and to facilitate innovative and more speculative initiatives within the seven Domain Science disciplines. The proposed research is ground-breaking and high-risk. What counts is that all results, be they positive or negative, must contribute to the advancement of science.