The shift to a low-carbon energy system is accelerating. As wind and solar power dominate, the need for cost-effective, large-scale energy storage is greater than ever. But expansion must be sustainable, minimising environmental and societal impact.
Grand Challenge 2 (GC2): Circularity of Energy Storage Materials asks: how can we embed circularity to ensure sustainable materials for large-scale energy storage?
We are looking for adventurous, high-impact research that can deliver transformative change, spanning multiple projects and disciplines.
Why This Challenge Matters
The scale of the problem is enormous:
- By 2030, 140 million EVs are expected on roads worldwide.
- By 2040, annual returns of EV lithium-ion batteries could exceed 340,000 metric tons.
- The UK alone will need 25+ TWh of long-duration energy storage (LDES) by 2050 to balance renewable supply and demand.
Meeting this challenge requires research that is bold, practical, and cross-disciplinary. GC2 is seeking projects that integrate technical innovation, circular economy thinking, and societal insights.
What is Circularity?
Circularity optimises resource use and minimizes waste throughout production and consumption. The circular economy promotes reuse, repair, refurbishment, and recycling, reducing dependence on raw materials and minimising environmental impact.
Embedding circularity in energy storage requires addressing challenges such as:
- Material flows: Minimise resource demands and reduce processing costs.
- Design for reuse: Develop systems tolerant to impurities or easy to recycle.
- Governance and incentives: Ensure policies and local practices support circularity.
- Social impacts: Avoid unintended consequences for communities or income streams.
- Hazard management: Mitigate and fairly distribute risks.
GC2 seeks practical, scalable solutions that deliver environmental, economic, and societal benefits.
Energy Storage Challenges
Energy storage needs differ by application:
Short-duration storage (e.g., EV batteries):
- High energy and power density.
- Fast charging and high utilisation.
- Cost-effective materials and low life-cycle impact.
Long-duration energy storage (LDES):
- Balances renewable supply over hours, days, weeks, or months.
- Supports inter-seasonal energy storage, addressing multi-month imbalances.
- Ensures system stability at large scale, up to tens of TWh in the UK by 2050.
All projects should consider efficiency, deployment feasibility, safety, environmental impact and system value.
Circularity in Energy Storage
Most circularity efforts focus on lithium-ion battery recycling, converting spent batteries to “black mass” and recovering metals via pyrometallurgy or hydrometallurgy.
GC2 seeks research that goes beyond batteries, addressing all energy storage technologies. Projects should:
- Consider real-world industry constraints.
- Scale beyond laboratory experiments.
- Deliver economic, environmental, and social impact.
- Explore novel business models, regulations or collaborative systems.
Cross-disciplinary collaboration is key to achieving step-change impact.
Key Research Questions
GC2 is looking for research that tackles critical questions such as:
- How can material and energy intensity per MWh of storage be reduced?
- What opportunities exist for materials substitution, upcycling, or new materials?
- How can circularity be integrated into design, production, and business models?
- What societal, regulatory, or organisational changes are needed to enable circularity?
Proposals can focus on any form of energy storage, including batteries, thermal storage, hydrogen, or mechanical systems. Energy production is out of scope.
Who Should Apply
We invite researchers and teams from our five partner universities to submit proposals that:
- Advance new or improved energy storage technologies at any TRL (Technology Readiness Level).
- Explore circular business models and systems approaches.
- Address environmental, social, and regulatory considerations.
- Combine multiple areas for cross-cutting impact.
Cross-institutional collaboration is encouraged but not mandatory- if you choose not to collaborate, explain why. We want teams that can deliver more than the sum of their parts.
How the Call Works
GC2 follows a two-stage process:
- Expression of Interest (EoI):
- Short submissions capturing the vision, novelty, and potential impact.
- Focus on the team, anticipated outcomes, and alignment with GC2 scope.
- Reviewed by experts from all six partner institutions and external reviewers.
- Full Proposal:
- Shortlisted EoIs submit detailed proposals with timeline, milestones, risks, and budget.
- Shared across research groups to encourage integration.
- Q&A sessions available for PIs before final decisions.
Only the best, most ambitious research will be funded. Proposals must be clearly differentiated from prior work and demonstrate a fully developed research program.
Access Resources and Launch Materials
To support your proposal, all launch materials and briefing documents are available:
- Watch the recording: [video link] Password- RioTinto25
Access the call documents including slides: [ SharePoint /Google Drive]
Please note:
- Access requires an institutional email from a partner university- Imperial College London, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, The University of California, Berkeley, The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and The Australian National University, Canberra.
- Requests from Gmail, Hotmail, or other personal emails cannot be approved.
- If you cannot access the folder, contact Jonny Prest at jprest@ic.ac.uk to receive files directly.
The folder includes a READ ME document summarising all key resources: briefing documents, background papers and examples of prior research.
