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New Type of 'Flow Battery' Can Store 10 Times the Energy of the Next Best Device (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: Industrial-scale batteries, known as flow batteries, could one day usher in widespread use of renewable energy—but only if the devices can store large amounts of energy cheaply and feed it to the grid when the sun isn't shining and the winds are calm. That's something conventional flow batteries can't do. Now, researchers report that they've created a novel type of flow battery that uses lithium ion technology—the sort used to power laptops—to store about 10 times as much energy as the most common flow batteries on the market. With a few improvements, the new batteries could make a major impact on the way we store and deliver energy. The research, from the National University of Singapore, has one big flaw in particular: speed. It's 'very innovative' work, says Michael Aziz, a flow battery expert at Harvard University. But he adds that even though the novel battery has a high energy density, the rate at which it delivers that power is 10,000 times slower than conventional flow batteries, far too slow for most applications. Wang and his colleagues acknowledge the limitation, but they say they should be able to improve the delivery rate with further improvements to the membrane and the charge-ferrying redox mediators.
When does the battery become capacitor?
What's the difference here?
A typical li-ion battery produces ~10Wh. 10000 times less, means 1 mWh. This is roughly what a lemon can produce.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Enough already!
Interesting that the summary explains what a lithium-ion battery is but assumes I know what a charge ferrying redox mediator is. I'm obviously a bit out of touch.
That's something conventional flow batteries can't do.hat's something conventional flow batteries can't do.
The hell they can't. Industrial-scale Vanadium Redox flow batteries are doing that right now, in utility companies, and have been for a couple years. (In New Zeeland, if I recall correctly.)
I think the reason they're not more widely used already is that they're under patent protection, the company is small, and its owners don't want to license the technology or dilute their equity, so the supply is limited to their ramp-up and funding sources.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Michael Aziz.... developing batteries?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw1vScK-o7U
I'm not even going to correct that trainwreck of a comment. There isn't a stretch of 5 consecutive words in it that is not wrong in some way. And it gets modded up.
All they have to do is use the optical plasma inductor to take advantage of the phased interface phenomenon.
My guess this is simply a typical university press release issued to drum up further financial support and demonstrate that the professors and grad students are not completely wasting their time. Not that I object, I just wouldn't take it too seriously. Remember most reseach leads nowhere.
They chose one of the more expensive commercially available battery technologies for their flow battery? Next I expect them to try to integrate 2 carat diamonds into Lowes brand light fixtures to try to improve their light distribution. The point of an industrial flow battery is storing energy as cheaply as possible, energy density is one of the last considerations. There are of course limitations, but given the choice between something the size of a cargo container with rare earth materials running through it that costs $1 Million dollars or something the size of a grain silo full of cheap and non-toxic compounds for $100,000 the latter is preferable for most applications.
You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting three stories about battery breakthroughs.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
The advantages AND disadvantages of something in the same summary! The submitter must be hailed with all due honors of a true Slashdot hero!!!!
Nothing will come out of this. In a few months time nobody will remember it. It will have no impact whatsoever on the big picture. Come on, prove me wrong. Who wants to bet against me?
Lemon hater!
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Color me skeptical. I'll believe it when I see it in commercial production for an affordable price.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
The biggest problem with these higher storage attempts is they all fall on their face because they self discharge at a rate that makes them not very useful.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Vaporware concept applies to battery tech now as well i guess? :P
Speculative headlines should be red.
What happens if they cross the streams accidentally?
About 15 years ago, laptops were powered by Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. The patent holders allowed the technology for small batteries, but rights on large format batteries were shelved. These batteries were fast, light weight, and high energy. The patent would have to be close to expiring at this point.
At least he didn't post as AC...
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
If I don't plan on transporting the battery it really doesn't matter. What I care about is cost, capacity and how many charges it will hold. Where I am in Ontario the "generation cost" or the cost my supplier pays for electricity typically varies between -2 cents and 70 cents (there are extremes where it will go much higher though). Even at these differences there is no current battery that makes sense for the utilities to deploy. Even pumping water back up a reservoir doesn't make sense because of the wear on the system*. Until we have better storage we really have 2 options if we want to use more wind or solar - bigger grid interconnects or convince people to change there consumption behaviour based on electricity generation.
*yes there are a few places water is pumped back up hill but these aren't used for generation as much as for selling insurance - I'll give you 100 kw of power for 10 minutes while you scramble to get some other form of generation online or get some steel mill to cut consumption.
Remember that Elon is personality capitalising this project.
At what stage will the cult of Elon end?
When he fails to deliver the almost ready but just 3 more years away model?
When Telsa collapses underneath the volume of the wrongful death lawsuits?
When SpaceX does, wel, anything, since the only thing it is capable of doing is wrong.
Don't judge Elon by his words, but how he shorts his stocks.
Obviously, the charge-ferrying redox mediators.
Cows emit lots of methane, which is a greenhouse gas. If they could be convinced to store that methane, it actually would make a good carbon-neutral fuel source, since all the carbon in that methane started off as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Sadly however, nobody has been able to come up with a practical means of stopping cows from farting, so "storing cows" is not accurate.
But we never seem to find any of these new technologies finding their way to actual batteries the general public can access.
they're too flow. you need fast batteries
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
"stick your battery where the sun don't shine"
"Yes, that's what we're planning for it, I sense you're upset but do not understand how that relates to your comment"
Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.