The main objective of H2PlasmaRed is to develop hydrogen plasma smelting reduction (HPSR) technology for the reduction of iron ores and steelmaking sidestreams to meet the targets of the European Green Deal for reducing CO2 emissions and supporting the circular economy in the steel industry across Europe. Our ambition is to introduce a near CO2-free reduction process to support the goal of the Paris Agreement - a 90% reduction in the carbon intensity of steel production by 2050. To achieve this, H2PlasmaRed will develop HPSR from TRL5 to TRL7 by demonstrating the HPSR in a pilot-HPSR reactor (hundred-kilogram-scale) that is an integrated part of a steel plant, and in a pilot-scale DC electric arc furnace (5-ton scale) by retrofitting the existing furnace. The project's end goal is to establish a way to upscale the process from pilot-scale into industrial practice. To support this goal, the novel sensors and models developed and implemented in the project are used for HPSR process optimization from a reduction, resource, and energy efficiency standpoint.

High-Entropy Alloys (HEAs) are a new class of materials, with the potential to realize exceptional combinations of mechanical, electrical and thermal properties unachievable by conventional alloys. They contain about equal amounts of at least five elements, and can surprisingly crystallize as single fcc or bcc solid solutions. A better knowledge of the metallurgical and physical behavior of those materials is a prerequisite to understand their property combinations. Eventually it will foster the development of reliable HEA thin films for innovative technology drivers such as the microelectronic industry, and of bulk HEAs. Since HEA stability is suggested to depend strongly on material defects, a consortium of experts will address HEA thin film phase stability by systematically manipulating 1D and 2D defects. The defect density in the films will be controlled by (i) nano-/microscale deformation to introduce gradients in the dislocation density, (ii) altering the interface structure by employing amorphous and single crystalline substrates and (iii) varying film growth and processing conditions to manipulate the grain size. The joint French-German team merges the recognized expertise in different fields of materials science of four complementary partners (combinatorial thin film synthesis, microstructure physics, thermodynamics and mechanics of materials) to investigate the following fundamental issues on HEA films: (i) HEA phase stability, (ii) phase evolution and corresponding kinetics including influence of composition, defects (dislocations, interfaces, grain boundaries) and dimensional constraints (film thickness, patterning) on phase stability, (iii) grain growth and texture, (iv) dewetting kinetics and morphologies, (v) temperature and microstructure-stress evolution, (vi) plastic deformation, (vii) thermo-mechanical fatigue mechanisms and lifetimes. AHEAD will focus on thin films of bcc-AlCrFeCoNi and fcc-MnCrFeCoNi as generic examples for two different crystal structures. Film synthesis, a key issue, will be performed by combinatorial deposition by one partner. The three other partners will address the mechanisms controlling the phase, microstructure and morphological stability of the HEA films during isothermal and cyclic thermo-mechanical annealing as a function of their thickness, composition and defect structure. Advanced experimental tools - from combinatorial thin film deposition and high-throughput characterization to multiscale quantitative microstructure analysis and miniaturized mechanical techniques - will be used and combined with the complementary expertise of the four partners, to provide for the first time a large and consistent data set on the thermodynamic, mechanical, microstructural and morphological stabilities of two types of HEA films. Within the AHEAD project, 2 PhD students and 2 postdoctoral fellows will benefit from a multidisciplinary working conditions, and international exchanges.

A major barrier to a wider adoption of renewable energy technologies is developing more performing materials. Grain boundaries (GBs) emerge having a strong and multifaceted impact on thermal and electrical transport, critically controlling the materials performance in applications spanning from photovoltaics, solid oxide fuel-cells, thermal barriers, and thermoelectrics. Despite the considerable technological relevance, our understanding of how the structure and chemistry of GBs govern heat transport at the local scale, where GBs operate, remains limited. MetaSCT is a career development program designed for Dr. Eleonora Isotta, aimed at developing structure – chemistry - thermal property (SCT) relations to advance our understanding of GBs. To successfully deliver the project goals, Dr Isotta will receive advanced research training from an intercontinental collaboration of world-leading institutes and will benefit of their cutting-edge expertise and equipment. This opportunity will support Dr. Isotta’s growth as independent researcher and expert materials scientist, with lasting impact on her long-term career trajectory. If successful, the project will uncover new knowledge on heat transport at GBs, consolidate a promising material for thermoelectrics, establish novel techniques for SCT relations with 20x higher spatial resolution than current possibilities, and develop predictive models. High resolution techniques can have significant impact on broad areas of applied materials science and energy generation. New understanding on GBs will enable the design of metamaterials with engineered GBs for several applications, including thermoelectric energy harvesting and heat management.

Thermal batteries are devices that convert thermal energy without the need for a spatial temperature gradient, giving them an enormous potential advantage over competing methods. Despite its promise, thermal batteries are yet not suitable for practical application as they were demonstrated only with liquid electrolytes, which severely restricts the operation temperature range to ΔT<50 K and an electrochemical stability window to pair with thermodynamically efficient electrodes. The goal is to develop a completely new paradigm towards all-solid-state thermal battery (thermal cell), which is based on reversible changes of the materials’ electrochemical properties and on H+ transport operating on recovered waste heat over an unusual wide range of temperatures of ambient to 300°C. We envision the solid thermal battery to charge at a defined low and high constant temperature due to phase changes and H+ intercalation taking place at the electrodes. Fundamentally, we contribute to a new thermal battery concept, suggest materials to translate the proposed chemistry-at-work and give a proof-of-concept to gain first electrochemical performance insights defining thin film device architectures. Collectively, the here proposed solid thermal battery closes the ever-existing gap between thermoelectric and liquid based thermal batteries through widening of the thermal operation window to capture waste heat and defining a new set of H+ solid conductors and interfaces suited for energy storage. The fundamentals derived on electrochemical interfaces and H+ conductor films such as ceria-based, metal hydride, binary oxide and possibly high entropy alloys for electrolytes and electrodes contribute in their design and careful discussion of electro-thermo-chemistry, thermodynamics and kinetics to engineering design principles of the here proposed fully solid thermal batteries for energy harvesting putting waste heat to work with perspective for industry translation.