Multifunctional Composite Materials

Our goal is to produce high performance materials which have the capacity to carry mechanical loads and store electrical energy; the key here is not simply to bind two disparate components together, but to produce a single coherent material that inherently performes both roles. Structural power composites are expected to impact everyday life as we seek to generate, store and consume energy differently. By reducing the weight of energy-intensive vehicles, we can improve fuel efficiency, accelerate electrification, and reduce global emissions. This ground-breaking technology requires a wide range of expertise from materials design to systems integration. We have built an internationally-leading collaborative team, combining polymer/nanomaterial chemists, electrochemical systems scientists, and aeronautical composite engineers.

The Structural pOweR CompositEs foR futurE civil aiRcraft (SORCERER) Project is a close collaboration between four European Universities; Chalmers (Sweden), IMDEA (Spain), Imperial College London (UK), and KTH (Sweden). We aim to enhance the electrical and mechanical performance of our, already develop state of the art, multifunctional materials towards practical implementation. In addition to improving absolute multifunctional performance, we are resolving issues related to systems integration and scale-up. The culmination of the SORCERER project will be the implementation of our structural power composites in an industrially focused demonstrator in association with Airbus, Chomarat and TeXtreme, with additional support from BAE Systems, Hexcel, and QinetiQ.

The project is developing two complementary approaches. Structural supercapacitors offer high power densities and maximum stability, whilst structural batteries offer maximum energy density. In principle, the two electrochemical systems can be combined to respond to a range of electrical load demands.

SORCERER is grateful for the funding provided by EU Horizon 2020 Programme (H2020-EU.3.4.5.1. #738085) which is part of the Clean Sky2 Funding Scheme (CS2-RIA - Research and Innovation action).