The UK-based Faraday Institution has opened a £1.4 million ($1.9 million) call for research proposals aimed at developing iron-air batteries capable of discharging for more than 100 hours.
Up to five 18-month Research Sprints will receive funding of as much as £280,000 each. The projects are expected to run from 1 January 2027 until 30 June 2028.
The research will form the second chemistry programme within the institution’s UltraStore Transformational Challenge, following the launch of Research Sprints investigating aqueous aluminium batteries earlier this year.
The iron-air programme is intended to produce a single-cell electrochemical energy storage prototype in which power and energy are decoupled. Under this approach, storage duration could be increased by adding relatively inexpensive iron-based material, such as pellets, powder, plates or slurries, rather than installing additional electrochemical stacks.
The wider UltraStore programme is targeting rechargeable batteries suitable for connection to the UK grid by 2035. Its objectives include an installed system cost below $15/kWh, discharge durations exceeding 100 hours and minimal degradation while held at full charge for at least six months.
The proposed systems would be expected to complete the equivalent of at least 150 full cycles during a calendar life of at least 30 years.
Faraday has set longer-term performance targets for the iron-air programme
For the iron-air programme, Faraday has set longer-term performance targets including round-trip efficiency above 50%, operational discharge power exceeding 0.1W/cm² and an energy density of more than 500Wh/litre for the iron-based electroactive material.
Applicants are not expected to reach all these targets during an individual Research Sprint. However, each proposal must demonstrate credible progress towards at least one of them and explain how the work could contribute to the programme’s planned prototype.
Areas of interest include metal-air batteries, redox-flow stacks, alkaline fuel cells, aqueous electrolytes, iron-metal anodes, multiphase fluid dynamics and oxygen-electrode and catalyst development. Applicants may submit individual or linked projects, although each application will be assessed separately.
Additional funding could be made available from June 2028 if the initial projects make satisfactory progress.
UltraStore is funded through the UK government’s Battery Innovation Programme and delivered by Innovate UK. Applications close at 5pm on 5 October, with successful applicants expected to be notified in November.
