flux battery
Harvard University Researchers, In the USA, identified a new class of high-performance organic molecules, inspired by vitamin B2, that can store electricity from intermittent power sources, like solar and wind energy, in a big flux batteries.
Flow batteries store energy in chemical solutions that can be stored in external tanks – the bigger the tank, more energy they store.
The development is an improvement on the organic flow battery technology developed by the team in 2014.
Eliminating the need for metals, energy is stored in organic molecules called quinones and in a substance used as a food additive., called ferrocyanet.
That breakthrough was a watershed in renewable energy storage, producing the first high-performance chemical, non flammable, non toxic, non-corrosive and low-cost to store electricity on a large scale.
Even so, the team was not satisfied, and continued to explore other organic molecules in search of even better performance.
Vitamin B2 inspiration
“Now, after analyzing about a million different quinones, we've developed a new class of battery electrolytes that expands the possibilities of what we can do,” said researcher Kaixiang Lin.
“Their simple synthesis means they can be manufactured on a large scale at a very low cost., which is an important objective of this project”, highlighted the researcher.
To create the new class of organic molecules, the team was inspired by vitamin B2, that helps store energy from food in our body.
The main difference between vitamin B2 and quinones is that, instead of oxygen atoms, are nitrogen atoms that are in charge of capturing and emitting electrons.
“We design these molecules to meet our battery's needs., but in fact it was nature that suggested this way of storing energy. Nature has created similar molecules that are very important in storing energy in our bodies.,” said Professor Roy Gordon, work coordinator.
(via tecnologic innovation)
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