Summary of the ERC PoC CAPION
CAPION will develop a novel ion-gradient-based bioelectrochemical energy storage system, leveraging biologically inspired components to overcome the limitations of conventional batteries and supercapacitors. As society moves toward increased electrification, miniaturisation and sustainability, the demand for low-voltage, compact, and environmentally neutral energy solutions is growing rapidly, particularly in healthcare, embedded electronics and autonomous sensing applications. Existing energy storage technologies, however, rely on redox chemistry or physical adsorption, which limits their stability, scalability and integration in sensitive or confined environments. CAPION addresses this bottleneck by developing a biologically based energy system that stores and supplies energy using stable ion gradients. The project builds on the PI’s ERC Advanced Grant Energion, which demonstrated the feasibility of vesicle-based energy generation using membrane proteins and bioinspired architectures. CAPION will validate the integration of this system into a self-contained energy module that can power a representative electronic device continuously for at least one month, without external recharging nor self-discharging. With its unique mechanism and sustainable design, CAPION holds strong potential to unlock new use cases where conventional energy storage is unsuitable