Green Energy could benefit from a New Battery

A chemist imagines a world in which every home is powered by renewable energy stored in batteries. He invented a new battery, which could have far-reaching implications for large-scale energy storage required by wind and solar farms.

Jimmy Jiang envisions a future in which renewable energy stored in batteries powers every home. Jiang and his students at the University of Cincinnati created a new battery in their chemistry lab that could have far-reaching implications for the large-scale energy storage required by wind and solar farms.

Innovations such as UC’s will have profound effects on green energy, Jiang said. Batteries store renewable energy for when it’s needed, not just when it’s produced. This is crucial for getting the most out of wind and solar power, he said.

“Energy generation and energy consumption is always mismatched,” he said. “That’s why it’s important to have a device that can store that energy temporarily and release it when it’s needed.”

They described their novel design in the journal Nature Communications.

Energy generation and energy consumption is always mismatched. That’s why it’s important to have a device that can store that energy temporarily and release it when it’s needed.

Jimmy Jiang

Traditional car batteries are made up of a combination of sulfuric acid and water. And, despite their low cost and use of readily available materials, they have significant drawbacks for industrial or large-scale use. They have a very low energy density, making them unsuitable for storing the megawatts of power required to power a city. They also have a low electrochemical stability threshold. That, according to Jiang, means they can blow up.

“There is a voltage limit in water.” When the voltage of an aqueous battery exceeds the 1.5-volt stability window, the water can decompose or split into hydrogen and oxygen, which is explosive,” he explained.

But Jiang and his students have developed a battery without water that can generate nearly 4 volts of power. Jiang’s novel design does so without a membrane separator, which is among the priciest parts of these kinds of batteries, he said.

“Membranes are super expensive,” Jiang said. “We developed a new type of energy storage material that improves performance at a lower cost.” Likewise, membranes are inefficient, he said.

“They can’t separate the positive and negative sides completely, so there is always crossover,” he said.

The group has submitted provisional patent applications, he said.

“There is still a long way to go,” Jiang said.

But he said we are hurtling toward a battery revolution in the next 20 years.

“I am confident about that. There is a lot of intense research going into pushing the boundaries of battery performance,” he said.

His students are equally enthusiastic. Doctoral student and study co-author Rabin Siwakoti said the battery offers higher energy density.

“So even a small battery can give you more energy,” he said.

“We’ve managed to eliminate the membrane in a battery, which is a huge component of upfront costs. It’s as much as 30% of the cost of the battery,” co-author and doctoral student Jack McGrath said.

Co-author Soumalya Sinha, a visiting professor at UC, said countries are racing to develop cheaper, more efficient batteries.

“This design significantly decreases material costs,” he said. “We’re trying to achieve the same performance at a cheaper cost.”