Research Projects

The main objective of the MOTHERESE project is the development of a new concept of thermochemical energy storage based on the "Calcium-Looping" process. The novelty of the concept lies in scaling down the storage component and making it modular, easily integrated in power generation plants of different nature, storable and mobile. Subproject 2 focuses on aspects related to the development of materials suitable for these new operating conditions, as well as their optimization at this new scale.
The aim is to address the development of these materials with emphasis on preparation techniques that favor morphologies and microstructures that optimize (i) the kinetics of solid-gas reactions, in order to reduce residence times, (ii) multicyclic stability, minimizing deactivation by sintering and pore blocking, and (iii) active surface area, maximizing the amount of reagent available for conversion in each cycle. This will be achieved by using freeze casting and freeze granulation techniques, particularly suitable for the fabrication of ceramic structures with open porosity and directed morphology. The use of additives to improve the performance of the material is also considered. Finally, the integration of the active material and additives of high thermal conductivity in stable three-dimensional structures is contemplated, which not only improve the cyclability and efficiency of the active material but also ensure fast and efficient heat transfer, necessary for the modular system. Finally, new operating conditions compatible with the new scale will be explored, from low pressures to high pressures of up to 5 bar, always maintaining a closed cycle that avoids the need for gas separation.
MOTHERESE is committed to the circular economy, and therefore aims to use by-products and waste from other industries as a source of additives and even of the active material itself, CaO, favoring the use of waste. These include steel mill slag, biogenic carbonates (mollusks), cellulosic materials and rice husks (source of SiO₂).
To address these objectives, the subproject has a multidisciplinary team of chemists, engineers, physicists and materials specialists with experience in the management and participation in national and international research projects, including relevant projects focused on thermochemical energy storage. In addition, the team has an international network of academic and industrial collaborators that would allow in the exploitation of the results obtained and the proposal of new international projects in this same line.

DropEner aims to develop rain panels, that is, energy collectors from drops that, based on the principle of the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), work in outdoor conditions and can be manufactured through scalable and high-performance technologies. The project will demonstrate the application of an innovative concept recently patented by the group Nanotechnology on Surfaces and Plasma (CSIC-US), "Tixel", on the collection of kinetic energy from drops in instant contact with a triboelectric surface integrated into a condenser-like architecture. Therefore, the main objective is to develop a drop energy harvesting panel based on the first TENG of nano and microstructured architectures capable of generating high power density by implementing triboelectric nanogenerator arrays at the microscale, where each nanogenerator produces hundreds of microwatts of power when a high-velocity, high-energy raindrop strikes its surface. The total power output would be equivalent to the sum of the power produced by the individual systems and could potentially reach hundreds of watts per square meter when a well-designed high density array is manufactured. In addition, in a step further in the state of the art for the exploitation of solid-liquid drop energy harvesters, DropEner pursues the development of durable and transparent Tixels fully compatible with solar cells, including Silicon and Third Generation technologies. (such as dye solar cells and perovskite solar cells). The expected advances cover aspects such as the development of surfaces with super-wettability, the exploitation of scalable production routes and processing of materials, the manufacture of transparent drop energy harvesters, the proof of concept of novel designs of triboelectric nanogenerators and the management of energy in multi-source intermittent energy collection systems.