ARMS Consortium Meeting in Spain brings partners together to advance sustainable supercapacitor technologies
On 4-5 November 2026, partners of the ARMS project gathered at AIMEN Technology Centre in O Porriño, near Vigo, Spain, for the latest consortium meeting. The two-day event offered an important opportunity to review technical progress, strengthen collaboration across work packages, and discuss next steps toward the project's final demonstrations.
The meeting opened with a welcome from the host, AIMEN Technology Centre, followed by extensive technical discussions covering the first seven work packages. Throughout the day, partners presented achievements from the third project year, highlighting significant progress in developing advanced graphene-enhanced materials, electrodes, electrolytes, and supercapacitor devices. The discussions reflected ARMS's highly collaborative nature, with progress in one work package directly supporting developments in others, from bio-based carbon material synthesis and electrode fabrication to sustainability assessment and device integration.
ARMS project members at the 7th consortium meeting in Spain. Photo: AIMEN Technology Centre.
The meeting highlighted several milestones. These included the successful scale-up of bio-based carbon materials for supercapacitor electrodes, advances in graphene-enhanced electrode fabrication, continued development of atomic layer deposition (ALD) coatings to enhance performance, and progress toward both flexible and structural supercapacitor prototypes. Partners also reviewed sustainability and circularity assessments, exploitation opportunities, and communication activities that continue to increase the visibility and impact of ARMS results.
Beyond the technical sessions, participants had the opportunity to visit the facilities of AIMEN Technology Centre. The guided tour provided valuable insight into AIMEN's advanced research infrastructure and the ongoing work supporting the development of structural supercapacitors within the ARMS project. The visit also fostered informal discussions and knowledge exchange among consortium members.
Guided tour at the facilities of AIMEN. Photo: AIMEN Technology Centre.
The second day focused on the broader sustainability dimension of advanced materials through the joint ARMS-SAFARI workshop, "SSbD Futures for Advanced Materials: Safety, Sustainability and Impact Assessment." Organised in a hybrid format, the workshop brought together researchers from two Graphene Flagship sister projects to explore how advanced materials can be developed according to the principles of Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD). The event provided a valuable platform to exchange knowledge on the environmental, economic, and societal aspects of next-generation materials and devices.
The workshop programme opened with presentations on collaboration within the Graphene Flagship ecosystem and overviews of both projects. ARMS Coordinator Matti Mäntysalo and Hamed Pourkheirollah from Tampere University presented the ARMS project, while Diana Marcano from Łukasiewicz–PIT introduced the SAFARI project and its focus on safe and sustainable graphene/MXene hybrids.
ARMS project coordinator, Matti Mäntysalo at the joint ARMS - SAFARI workshop. Photo: Inese Jansone
A central part of the workshop focused on practical applications of the SSbD framework. Ciprian Cimpan from the University of Southern Denmark presented the ARMS approach to assessing the safety and sustainability of electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) supercapacitors, highlighting how sustainability considerations can be integrated throughout the technology development process. Complementing this perspective, Valeria Acevedo from AIMEN Technology Centre discussed the environmental and economic impacts of MXene production through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methodologies within the SAFARI project.
Ciprian Cipman (University of Southern Denmark) at the joint ARMS - SAFARI workshop. Photo: Inese Jansone
The workshop concluded with an interactive roundtable discussion, where participants reflected on future challenges and opportunities for ensuring that advanced materials are not only high-performing, but also safe, sustainable and economically viable. The discussions highlighted the growing importance of incorporating environmental and societal considerations from the earliest stages of research and innovation.
Workshop at AIMEN Technology Centre, November 5, 2026. Photo: AIMEN Technology Centre.
After the workshop, the consortium returned to project business with presentations on project management activities within Work Package 8 and discussions on the project's final phase. The meeting concluded with feedback and recommendations from a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Board, offering an external perspective on project achievements and future priorities.
As ARMS enters its final project phase, the consortium remains focused on delivering its ambitious objectives: developing sustainable, graphene-enhanced supercapacitor technologies with improved performance, scalability and environmental sustainability. The meeting in Spain demonstrated both the substantial progress achieved so far and the strong commitment of partners to bringing ARMS innovations closer to real-world applications.