This document describes a device capable to determine geographical position thanks to its GNSS module and measure the change of movement with the help of an accelerometer and gyroscope. Outputs of these integrated circuits are combined, data are processed and fused thanks to a numerical integration and mathematical filters. Results are stored on a memory card. The whole development is described from a concept, through the making of the device and software algorithms to the testing of its functions.

Binder free vertical aligned (VA) CNT/sulfur composite electrodes with high sulfur loadings up to 70 wt% were synthesized delivering discharge capacities higher than 800 mAh g−1 of the total composite electrode mass. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

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Résumé : Depuis la fin du XXème siècle, l’augmentation du prix du pétrole brut et les problématiques environnementales poussent l’industrie automobile à développer des technologies plus économes en carburant et générant moins d’émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Parmi ces technologies, les véhicules électriques hybrides constituent une solution viable et performante. En alliant un moteur électrique et un moteur à combustion, ces véhicules possèdent un fort potentiel de réduction de la consommation de carburant sans sacrifier son autonomie. La présence de deux moteurs et de deux sources d’énergie requiert un contrôleur, appelé système de gestion d’énergie, responsable de la commande simultanée des deux moteurs. Les performances du véhicule en matière de consommation dépendent en partie de la conception de ce contrôleur. Les véhicules électriques hybrides rechargeables, plus récents que leur équivalent non rechargeable, se distinguent par l’ajout d’un chargeur interne permettant la recharge de la batterie pendant l’arrêt du véhicule et par conséquent la décharge de celle-ci au cours d’un trajet. Cette particularité ajoute un degré de complexité pour ce qui est de la conception du système de gestion d’énergie. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons un modèle complet du véhicule dédié à la conception du contrôleur. Nous étudions ensuite la dépendance de la commande optimale des deux moteurs par rapport au profil de vitesse suivi au cours d’un trajet ainsi qu’à la quantité d’énergie électrique disponible au début d’un trajet. Cela nous amène à proposer une technique d’auto-apprentissage visant l’amélioration de la stratégie de gestion d’énergie en exploitant un certain nombre de données enregistrées sur les trajets antérieurs. La technique proposée permet l’adaptation de la stratégie de contrôle vis-à-vis du trajet en cours en se basant sur une pseudo-prédiction de la totalité du profil de vitesse. Nous évaluerons les performances de la technique proposée en matière de consommation de carburant en la comparant avec une stratégie optimale bénéficiant de la connaissance exacte du profil de vitesse ainsi qu’avec une stratégie de base utilisée couramment dans l’industrie. // Abstract : Since the end of the XXth century, the increase in crude oil price and the environmental concerns lead the automotive industry to develop technologies that can improve fuel savings and decrease greenhouse gases emissions. Among these technologies, the hybrid electric vehicles stand as a reliable and efficient solution. By combining an electrical motor and an internal combustion engine, these vehicles can bring a noticeable improvement in terms of fuel consumption without sacrificing the vehicle autonomy. The two motors and the two energy storage systems require a control unit, called energy management system, which is responsible for the command decision of both motors. The vehicle performances in terms of fuel consumption greatly depend on this control unit. The plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are a more recent technology compared to their non plug-in counterparts. They have an extra internal battery charger that allows the battery to be charged during OFF state, implying a possible discharge during a trip. This particularity adds complexity when it comes to the design of the energy management system. In this thesis, a complete vehicle model is proposed and used for the design of the controller. A study is then carried out to show the dependence between the optimal control of the motors and the speed profile followed during a trip as well as the available electrical energy at the beginning of a trip. According to this study, a self-learning optimization technique that aims at improving the energy management strategy by exploiting some driving data recorded on previous trips is proposed. The technique allows the adaptation of the control strategy to the current trip based on a pseudo-prediction of the total speed profile. Fuel consumption performances for the proposed technique will be evaluated by comparing it with an optimal control strategy that benefits from the exact a priori knowledge of the speed profile as well as a basic strategy commonly used in industry.

Le challenge de ces prochaines années est de réduire le plus possible les émissions de CO2 qui la première cause du réchauffement climatique. L’émission de CO2 est principalement due à l’utilisation du moteur thermique dans le milieu du transport. Pour diminuer cette émission, la solution réside à utiliser des véhicules électriques qui sont non polluants et rechargés par des sources émettant le moins possible de CO2. Mais cela impliquerait une production supplémentaire d’énergie. Aujourd’hui l’énergie électrique est produite principalement par des centrales thermiques au niveau mondial, des centrales nucléaires enFrance et des centrales hydrauliques au Québec. Les pics d’utilisations et de productions restant une problématique posant encore beaucoup de problèmes.Une utilisation croissante de véhicules électriques ou hybrides rechargeables permettrait de pouvoir disposer de systèmes de stockage d’énergie, permettant à la fois d’alimenter le moteur électrique du véhicule ou d’aider le réseau électriques. Ce flux est appelé Vehicle-to-Grid ou plus précisément dans le travail présenté ici, ce flux s’appelle Vehicle-to-Home. Alimenter la maison via la batterie du véhicule, permet de diminuer le pic de consommation du foyer. De plus, la batterie du véhicule peut être chargée durant la nuit lorsque la production d’énergie est au plus bas et la moins chère.Ce document présente une optimisation offline du système qui inclut les différents flux d’énergie. Cette optimisation a été réalisée à l’aide de la programmation dynamique. L’objectif de cette optimisation est de minimiser le coût de l’énergie que ce soit le coût de l’essence ou de l’électricité ou encore des énergies renouvelables installées localement.Ensuite deux contrôleurs flous localisés dans le véhicule et dans la maison ont été dimensionnés, testés par simulation (simulation online) et validés expérimentalement.Finalement cette recherche a mis en avant deux cas d’études: un en hivers et l’autre en été. Le cas d’hiver présente une réduction budgétaire de 40% dans la simulation offline, 27% dans la simulation online et 29% en expérimentation. D’autre part, le cas d’été montre une réduction budgétaire de 62% dans la simulation offline, 60% dans la simulation online et 64% en expérimentation. / The challenge for the next few years is to reduce CO2 emissions, which are the cause of global climate warming. CO2 emissions are mainly due to thermal engines used in transportation. To decrease this emission, a viable solution lies in using non-polluting electric vehicles recharged by low CO2 emission energy sources. New transportation penetration has effected on energy production. Energy production has already reached peaks. At the same time, load demand has drastically increased. Hence, it has become imperative to increase daily energy production. It is well-known that world energy production is mainly produced thermal pollutant power plants, except in Québec, where energy is produced by hydro power plants.The more recent electricity utility trend is that electric, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (EV, PHEV) could allow storage and/or production of energy. EV/PHEV batteries can supply the electric motor of the vehicle, and act as an energy storage that assists the grid to supply household loads. This power flow is called vehicle-to-grid, V2G. In this dissertation, the V2G power flow is specifically called vehicle-to-home, V2H. That is battery is used during peak. Moreover, the EV battery is charged during the night, when energy production is low and cheap. This important aspect of V2H is that the vehicle battery is not connected to the grid, but is a part of a house micro-grid.This dissertation presents an offline optimization technique, which includes different energy flows, between the home, EV/PHEV, and a renewable energy source (such as photovoltaic - PV and/or wind) which forms the micro-grid. This optimization has been realized through the dynamic programming algorithm. The optimization objective is to minimize energy cost, including fuel cost, electricity cost, and renewable energy cost.Two fuzzy logic controllers, one located in the vehicle and the second one in the house, have been designed, tested by simulation (online simulation) and validated by experiments.The research analyses two seasonal case studies: one in winter and the other one in summer. In the winter case, a cost reduction of 40% for the offline simulation, 27% for the online simulation and 29% for the experiment is realized whereas in the summer case a cost reduction of 62% for the offline simulation, 60% for the online simulation and 64% for the experiment is presented.

In the early 1970s, research carried out on rechargeable lithium batteries at the Exxon Laboratories in the US established that lithium ions can be intercalated electrochemically into certain layered transition-metal sulphides, the most promising being titanium disulphide. Stemming from this discovery for titanium disulphide, there has been increased interest on lithium-ion intercalation compounds for application in rechargeable batteries. The first rechargeable lithium cell was commercialized in late 1980s by Moli Energy Corporation in Canada. The cell comprised a spirally wound lithium foil as the anode, a separator and MoS2 as the cathode. The cell had a nominal voltage of 1.8 V and an attractive value of specific energy, which was 2 to 3 times greater than either lead-acid or nickel-cadmium cells. However, the battery was withdrawn from the market after safety problems were experienced. This paved way for the discovery of lithium-ion battery. The origin of lithium-ion battery lies in the discovery that Li+-ions can be reversibly intercalated within or deintercalated from the van der Walls gap between graphene sheets of carbon materials at a potential close to the Li/Li+ electrode. Thus, lithium metal is replaced by carbon as the anode material for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and the problems associated with metallic lithium mitigated. Complimentary investigations on intercalation compounds based on transition metals resulted in establishing LiCoO2 and LiNiO2 as promising cathode materials. By employing aforesaid intercalation materials, namely carbon and LiCoO2 respectively, as negative and positive electrodes in a non-aqueous lithium-salt electrolyte, a Li-ion cell with a voltage value of about 3.5 V resulted. These findings led to a novel rechargeable battery technology. Lithium-ion batteries were first introduced commercially in 1991 by the Sony Corporation in Japan. Other Japanese manufacturers soon entered the market, followed closely by American and European companies. The subsequent growth in sales of the batteries was truly phenomenal. Beginning from 1991, the lithium-ion battery market has grown from an R&D interest to sales of over 400 million units in 1999. The global market value for lithium-ion batteries at original equipment manufacturer level was estimated to be $1.86 billion in 2000. By 2006, the market is expected to grow to over 1.2 billion units with value of over $4 billion, while the average unit price is expected to fall. Initially, realizable specific energy of commercial Li-ion battery was only about 120 Wh kg-1. However, with continuing improvements in various cell components, present day Li-ion batteries can provide a specific energy density of about 200 Wh kg-1. With the ‘holy grail’ far to be realized, the current R&D efforts are focussed on furthering the specific energy of lithium-ion batteries in conjunction with safety, environmental compatibility, and cost effectiveness. In the Li-ion cell, all of its electrochemical constituents, namely anode, cathode and electrolyte are central to its performance. This thesis describes some novel studies on cathode and anode materials for lithium-ion Batteries.

I det här examensarbetet dimensioneras en solcellsanläggning med batteribank till fyra kolonistugor som kommer att vara bebodda under sommarhalvåret på Wij Trädgårdar i Ockelbo. Den förväntade elanvändningen beräknas för två olika brukarbeteenden. Ett brukarbeteende där hushållsapparater med höga effekter (exempelvis mikrovågsugn) förväntas ha kortare drifttider vilket resulterar i lägre krav på installerad solcellseffekt samt en mindre batteribank.För den kemiska energilagringen i en batteribank undersöks flera olika typer av uppladdningsbara batterier. AGM blyackumulatorn är det batteri som anses vara lämpligt för kemisk energilagring i solcellssystemet och som har använts vid dimensioneringen av batteribanken. Vidare undersöks möjligheterna att lagra elektricitet småskaligt genom pumpat vatten till ett vattenmagasin, som ett komplement till energilagringen i batteribanken. Genom ett vattenlagringssystem kan överskottselen från solcellerna användas för att pumpa upp vatten till ett vattenmagasin på en högre höjd och därmed lagras genom lägesenergi. När det finns ett behov av elektricitet och den lagrade energin i batteribanken inte är tillräcklig kan vattnet flöda genom en vattenturbin som genererar el till batteribanken och lasterna. Ett vattenlagringssystem kan skydda batteribanken från djupare urladdningar, vilket kan öka batteriernas livslängd i form av antalet laddningscykler, samt ta tillvara överskottselen från solcellerna i större utsträckning. Batteribanken står för en stor del av inköpskostnaden och det finns både miljömässiga och ekonomiskt starka incitament att hitta sätt att förlänga batteribankens livslängd. / In this bachelor thesis is the size of a battery bank and the demand of photovoltaic power to supply electricity to four off-grid cottages calculated, which are occupied during the summer months at Wij Trädgårdar in Ockelbo. The expected electricity demand of the households is calculated for two different user patterns. In one of the user patterns the household appliances with a high power demand (for example microwave) are expected to have a shorter daily usage time, which results in a considerable lower purchase cost as a result from lower power demand of installed photovoltaic and a smaller battery bank. For the battery bank have different rechargeable batteries been investigated. The AGM Lead-Acid battery is found to be the most suitable rechargeable battery for chemical energy storage in this photovoltaic system. Furthermore the possibilities of pumping water to a water reservoir and store as potential energy as a complement to the energy storage in the battery bank have been investigated and discussed. Through a small-scale pumped hydro storage the surplus electricity from the photovoltaic can be used to pump up water to a reservoir at a higher altitude and be stored as potential energy. When there is a demand of electricity and the energy stored in the battery bank is not enough the water can be used in a small-scale water turbine, which generates electricity t the battery bank and the loads. A pumped hydro storage can protect the battery bank from deeper discharge, which otherwise can reduce the lifetime of the batteries, and extend the number of charge and discharge cycles the batteries can manage. The battery bank represents a large part of the purchase costs and there are strong environmental and economical incentives to prolong the lifetime of the battery bank.

Les accumulateurs métal-air possèdent des densités d'énergie théoriques très élevées, et sont considérés comme de candidats idéaux en vue d'une rupture technologique dans les domaines des véhicules électriques et du stockage stationnaire à grande échelle. Un accumulateur métal-air opérant dans un électrolyte aqueux est peu coûteux, plus sûr, recyclable et a une faible empreinte environnementale. Ainsi, l'aboutissement de cette technologie naissante serait une alternative crédible aux accumulateurs Li-ion qui ont atteint un niveau de maturité technologique. Toutefois, le principal verrou scientifique à lever pour amener ces systèmes dans une réalité commerciale, concerne le développement d'électrodes à air bifonctionnelles. Cela nécessite la conception de catalyseurs peu coûteux et performants vis-à-vis des réactions de réduction (décharge) et de dégagement du dioxygène (charge). Les études ont porté sur la préparation de dérivés du graphène, de cobaltites et de matériaux composites carbone/oxyde. Des caractérisations physicochimiqes ont permis d'accéder à une meilleure compréhension des effets induits par leur composition, leurs propriétés électroniques et morphostructurales. Des expériences ont été conduites pour séparer les effets induits par la nature chimique du support carboné de ceux résultant de l'incorporation d'hétéroatomes ou des propriétés de surface des cobaltites. En outre, une partie de ce travail a été consacrée à l'étude de l'effet de la nature chimique de l'électrolyte (LiOH et K2ZnOH4) sur l'activité et la stabilité des nanoparticules de Co3O4 supportées sur oxyde de graphène réduit et bi-dopé à l'azote et au soufre lors l'électrocatalyse du dioxygène. / Rechargeable metal-air batteries exhibit high theoretical energy densities, and could be an ideal candidate for a technological breakthrough in the field of electric vehicles and large-scale stationary energy storage. Aqueous metal-air batteries are low-cost, safe, recyclable, and have environmental footprint. Thus, the outcome of this emerging technology could offer a credible alternative to Li-ion batteries, which are reaching a technology readiness level. However, the main scientific challenge to bring these systems into a commercial reality concerns the development of bifunctional air electrodes. This requires the design of low-cost, stable and efficient catalysts for both oxygen reduction (discharge) and oxygen evolution reactions (charge). The present work focuses on various investigations of electrocatalysts derived from graphene, cobaltites and carbon/oxide composites. The main objective was the better understanding of the effects induced by their composition, their electronic and morphostructural properties on the catalytic activity and stability of materials towards oxygen electrocatalysis. Experiments were thereby conducted in order to be able to separate effects induced by chemical nature of the carbon substrate from those resulted in the incorporation of heteroatoms or from the spinel cobaltites surface properties. In addition, a part of this study dealt with the impact of the chemical nature of the electrolyte (LiOH and K2ZnOH4) encountered in real aqueous alkali Li-air and Zn-air batteries on the activity and stability of Co3O4/N;S-RGO nanocomposites towards oxygen electrocatalysis.

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Caetano Rodrigues Miranda / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Nanociências e Materiais Avançados, 2015. / In this thesis, we explore computational materials science for energy technologies. More specifically, a multiscale computational methodology ranging from atomistic to mesoscopic methods was used to investigate the potential use of nanostructured materials for applications in: (i) hydrogen and fuel cells, (ii) rechargeable batteries, and (iii) oil recovery techniques. First principles simulations based on the Density Functional Theory were successfully employed to characterize and propose nanomaterials for hydrogen production and storage, fuel cells, and battery technologies. It was possible to understand fundamental properties that are essential to further development in these technologies, e. g. structural, electronic, catalytic and kinetic properties. The structural, energetic and electronic properties of layered metallic nanofilms of Pd, Pt and Au as catalysts for hydrogen and fuel cell applications were investigated. We have shown that Pd and Pt nanofilms are interesting systems, with improved catalytic activity for hydrogen, oxygen and ethanol. The evaluation of the electronic structure of such nanofilms shows the existence of a linear correlation between the d-band center and adsorption energies. The determination of such trends represents a significative contribution to the design of new and improved catalysts, since it is a valuable tool to predict the catalytic activity of nanofilms. Significant breakthroughs were also obtained when applying first principles calculations to battery technologies. The adsorption and di.usion properties of Li and Mg were investigated in transition metal dichalcogenide inorganic nanotubes. A high ion mobility is observed at the surface of MoS2 and WS2 nanotubes, which support the potential application of the use of such systems as additive electrode materials for high-rate battery applications. By using classical molecular dynamics calculations, the structural and di.usion properties of organic electrolytes could be determined and may help in the development of rechargeable batteries. Our simulations have demonstrated that mixture of ethylene carbonate and ethylmethyl carbonate present better di.usion properties as electrolyte in lithium ion batteries, since it is possible to obtain a good degree of dissociation associated to a good ionic conductivity. xvi Abstract In order to extent the nanoscale e.ects to the microscale, we also successfully propose a hierarchical computational protocol that combines molecular dynamics and mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann calculations. The e.ects of dispersed functionalized SiO2 nanoparticles in brine to the oil recovery process in a covered clay pore structure is explored. Molecular dynamics simulations have shown that the addition of functionalized nanoparticles to the brine solution reduces the interfacial tension between oil and brine. Followed by an increase of the contact angle. By mapping these results into lattice Boltzmann parameters, the oil displacement process in hydrophilic pore models was investigated. Our simulations indicate that the observed changes in the interfacial tension and wettability by the inclusion of SiO2 nanoparticles indeed improve the oil recovery process in a microscale, and seems to be a good alternative as injection fluids for enhanced oil recovery techniques. Thus, our proposed hierarchical computational protocol that combines molecular dynamics and lattice Boltzmann method simulations can be a versatile tool to investigate the e.ects of the interfacial tension and wetting properties on fluid behavior at both nano and micro scales. Although it is clear that the search and development of new advanced materials continues to be a key factor in energy technologies, the present thesis represent a significant contribution to understand the fundamental phenomena underlying hydrogen production and storage, fuel cells, batteries, and fossil fuel applications.

Mit der Entwicklung der Weltwirtschaft steigt der Energieverbrauch weiterhin stark an. Darüber hinaus reduzieren sich die nicht erneuerbaren Energiequellen, wie Öl, Erdgas und Kohle und die Umweltverschmutzung wird größer. Daher soll die Energienutzung in eine neue, erneuerbare und umweltfreundliche Richtung gehen. Die Arbeit hat zum Ziel innovative, wässrige Akkumulatoren zu entwickeln. Im Allgemeinen können wässrige Akkumulatoren gemäß der Elektrolyte in drei verschiedenen Kategorien eingeteilt werden. Es gibt feste, organische und wässrige Elektrolyte einschließlich saurer, alkalischer und neutraler. In Bezug auf metallbasierte negative Elektroden können sie auch als Lithiumbatterie, Natriumbatterie sowie Magnesiumbatterie etc. bezeichnet werden. Daher werden im ersten Kapitel einige typische Akkumulatoren, wie die Lithiumionenbatterien, Daniell-Element, Weston-Zelle, Nickel-Cadmium-Batterie und Bleibatterie vorgestellt. Im Vergleich zu organischen Elektrolyten wurden wässrige Akkumulatoren aufgrund ihrer billigen, leichten und sicheren Bauweise in den letzten Jahren umfassend untersucht. Zusätzlich dazu ist die ionische Leitfähigkeit von wässrigen Elektrolyten um zwei Größenordnungen höher als die von organischen Elektrolyten. Dies garantiert eine hohe Entladungsrate für wässrige wiederaufladbare Batterien. Somit bieten wiederaufladbare Batterien potentielle Anwendungen in der Energiespeicherung und -umwandlung. Allerdings verursachen starke Säuren oder Basen, die als Elektrolyte für sekundäre Batterien eingesetzt werden, eine starke Korrosion. Somit wären neutrale wässrige Elektrolyten (oder Elektrolytlösungen) mit einem pH-Wert in der Nähe von sieben, wie zum Beispiel schwach basisch oder sauer, die beste Wahl für wässrige Akkumulatoren. Aktive Elektrodenmaterialien der Batterien, die hochgiftige Schwermetalle wie Blei, Quecksilber und Cadmium enthalten, belasten die Umwelt. Um die Menge an Schwermetallen und Säure (oder Basen) zu verringern, sowie die spezifische Kapazität von Batterien zu erhöhen, untersucht diese Dissertation vor allem die elektrochemische Leistung der PbSO4/0,5M Li2SO4/LiMn2O4-Zelle, der Cd/0,5M Li2SO4+10mM Cd(Ac)2/LiCoO2-Zelle und von C/Cu/CNT-Gemischen als negative Materialien in 0,5 M K2CO3–Elektrolyt-Halbzellen. Die zugehörigen experimentellen Ergebnisse werden wie folgt zusammengefaßt: Im Kapitel 3 wurde eine säurefreie Bleibatterie auf Basis des LiMn2O4-Spinells als positive Elektrode, PbSO4 als negativer Elektrode und der wässrigen Lösung von 0,5 M Li2SO4 als Elektrolyt zusammengesetzt. Die spezifische Kapazität auf Basis von LiMn2O4 beträgt 128 mA•h•g-1 und die durchschnittliche Entladungsspannung beträgt 1,3 V. Die berechnete Energiedichte ist 68 W•h•kg-1, bezogen auf die praktischen Kapazitäten der beiden Elektroden. Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die positive Elektrode der Bleibatterie (PbO2) vollständig durch umweltfreundliches und billiges LiMn2O4 ersetzt werden kann, wodurch 50 % des Bleis eingespart werden können. Außerdem wird Schwefelsäure nicht benötigt. Kapitel 4 zeigt eine wässrige wiederaufladbare Lithiumionenbatterie, die metallisches Cadmium als negative Elektrode, LiCoO2-Nanopartikel als positive Elektrode und eine wässrige, neutrale Lösung von 0,5 M Li2SO4 und 10 mM Cd(Ac)2 als Elektrolyt enthält. Die durchschnittliche Entladungsspannung beträgt 1,2 V und die spezifische Entladungskapazität beträgt 107 mA•h•g-1 auf Basis von LiCoO2. Die berechnete Energiedichte beträgt 72 W•h•kg-1, bezogen auf die praktischen Kapazitäten der beiden Elektroden. Wie bereits oben beschrieben demonstrieren die Ergebnisse, dass 100 % von Quecksilber und der alkalischen Elektrolyt im Vergleich zur Weston-Zelle bzw. der Ni-Cd-Batterie, eingespart werden können. Kapitel 5 zeigt einen Verbundwerkstoff von Kupfer, das auf der Oberfläche von CNTs durch eine Redoxreaktion zwischen Kupferacetat und Ethylenglykol, zur Verwendung als negative Elektrode bei hohen Strömen in der Energiespeicherung, hergestellt wurde. Der so hergestellte C/Cu/CNT-Verbundwerkstoff zeigt ein besseres Geschwindigkeitsverhalten und eine höhere Kapazität ebenso wie eine exzellente Zyklusstabilität in wässrigen 0,5 M K2CO3-Lösungen im Vergleich zu einfachem Kupfer. Die Kohlenstoffbeschichtung kann die Auflösung von Kupfercarbonatkomplexen verhindern, die Elektrodenleitfähigkeit erhöhen und die Oberflächenchemie des aktiven Materials verbessern. / With the economic development of the world, energy consumption continues to rise sharply. Moreover, non-renewable energy sources including fossil oil, natural gas and coal are declining gradually and environmental pollution is becoming more severe. Hence, energy usage should go into a new direction of development that is renewable and environmental-friendly. This thesis aims to explore innovative aqueous rechargeable batteries. Generally, rechargeable batteries could be classified into three categories according to the different electrolytes. There are solid electrolytes, organic electrolytes and aqueous electrolytes including acidic, alkaline and neutral. In terms of metal-based negative electrodes, they also could be named lithium battery, sodium battery as well as magnesium battery etc. Therefore, some typical rechargeable batteries are introduced in Chapter 1, such as lithium ion batteries, Daniell-type cell, Weston cell, Ni-Cd battery and lead-acid battery. Compared to organic electrolytes, aqueous rechargeable batteries have been investigated broadly in recent years because they are inexpensive, easy to construct and safe. Additionally, the ionic conductivity of aqueous electrolytes is higher than that of organic electrolytes by about two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, it ensures high rate capability for aqueous rechargeable battery. Consequently, aqueous rechargeable batteries present potential applications in energy storage and conversion. However, strong acid or alkaline, which is used as the electrolyte for secondary batteries, will cause serious corrosion. Thus, neutral aqueous electrolyte (or pH value of electrolyte solution close to 7 such as weak alkaline and acid) would be the best choice for aqueous rechargeable battery. In addition, the electrode active materials of batteries containing highly toxic heavy metals such as Pb, Hg and Cd, pollute the environment. As a result, in order to reduce the amount of heavy metals and acid (or alkaline) as well as increase the specific capacity of batteries, this dissertation mainly studies the electrochemical performance of PbSO4/0.5M Li2SO4/LiMn2O4 full battery, Cd/0.5M Li2SO4+10 mM Cd(Ac)2/LiCoO2 full battery and C/Cu/CNT composites as negative material in 0.5 M K2CO3 electrolyte as half cell. The related experimental results are as follows: In Chapter 3, an acid-free lead battery was assembled based on spinel LiMn2O4 as the positive electrode, PbSO4 as the negative electrode, and 0.5 M Li2SO4 aqueous solution as the electrolyte. Its specific capacity based on the LiMn2O4 is 128 mA•h•g-1 and the average discharge voltage is 1.3 V. The calculated energy density is 68 W•h•kg-1 based on the practical capacities of the two electrodes. These results show that the positive electrode of the lead acid battery (PbO2) can be totally replaced by the environmentally friendly and cheap LiMn2O4, which implies that 50 % of Pb can be saved. In addition, H2SO4 is not needed. Chapter 4 shows an aqueous rechargeable lithium ion battery using metallic Cd as the negative electrode, LiCoO2 nanoparticles as the positive electrode, and an aqueous neutral solution of 0.5 M Li2SO4 and 10 mM Cd(Ac)2 as the electrolyte. Its average discharge voltage is 1.2 V and the specific discharge capacity is 107 mA•h•g-1 based on the LiCoO2 . In addition, the calculated energy density based on the capacities of the electrodes is 72 W•h•kg-1. As described above, the results demonstrate that 100 % of Hg and alkaline electrolyte can be saved compared with the Weston cell and the Ni-Cd battery, respectively. The work reported in Chapter 5 deals with a composite of copper grown on the surface of CNTs as prepared by a redox reaction between copper acetate and ethylene glycol for use as negative electrode at high currents in energy storage. The as-prepared C/Cu/CNTs composite exhibits better rate behavior and higher capacity as well as excellent cycling stability in aqueous 0.5 M K2CO3 solution compared to the unsupported copper. The carbon coating can effectively prevent the dissolution of copper carbonate complexes, increase the electrode conductivity, improve the surface chemistry of the active material and protect the electrode from direct contact with electrolyte solution.