1.Sodium-based Batteries Hold Promise for Cheap Energy Storage:
Now researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found new evidence suggesting that batteries based on sodium and potassium hold promise as a potential alternative to lithium-based batteries.
2.Nanolithia Cathode Battery:
In this Battery the electrochemical reactions take place between lithium and oxygen during charging and discharging, but they take place without ever letting the oxygen revert to a gaseous form. Instead, the oxygen stays inside the solid and transforms directly between its three redox states, while bound in the form of three different solid chemical compounds, Li2O, Li2O2, and LiO2, which are mixed together in the form of a glass.
This reduces the voltage loss by a factor of five, from 1.2 volts to 0.24 volts, so only 8 percent of the electrical energy is turned to heat. This means faster charging for cars, as heat removal from the battery pack is less of a safety concern, as well as energy efficiency benefits.
3.Integrated Solar Flow Battery acts as both Solar Cell and Battery:
Scientists in the United States and Saudi Arabia have harnessed the abilities of both a solar cell and a battery in one device–a “solar flow battery” that soaks up sunlight and efficiently stores it as chemical energy for later on-demand use.
4.New solar flow battery achieves 20% energy savings over traditional batteries:
Researchers at The Ohio State University have invented the prototype of a new patent-pending device, “aqueous solar flow” battery—which combines a solar cell and a battery into a single device—now achieves a 20 percent energy savings over traditional lithium-iodine batteries.
5.An inexpensive 5 cents origami battery:
Binghamton University engineer developed an inexpensive, bacteria-powered battery made from paper. The battery generates power from microbial respiration, delivering enough energy to run a paper-based biosensor with nothing more than a drop of bacteria-containing liquid. This newly developed paper-based battery would create enough energy in microwatts to run the biosensor.
This paper battery folds into a square the size of a matchbook. It uses an inexpensive air-breathing cathode created with nickel sprayed onto one side of ordinary office paper. The anode is screen printed with carbon paints, creating a hydrophilic zone with wax boundaries. Total cost of this potentially game-changing device is Five cents only.
6.Aluminium Battery charges Smartphone in 60 seconds, and it is bendable:
Scientists at Stanford University have invented the first high-performance aluminum battery that’s fast-charging, long-lasting and inexpensive. Researchers say the new technology may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames. The new battery won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it.
7.Bio-inspired Lithium-Sulphur Battery for Smartphones:
Researchers have developed a prototype of a next-generation lithium-sulphur battery which takes its inspiration in part from the cells lining the human intestine. In the new lithium-sulphur battery, a layer of material with a villi-like structure, made from tiny zinc oxide wires, is placed on the surface of one of the battery’s electrodes. This can trap fragments of the active material when they break off, keeping them electrochemically accessible and allowing the material to be reused.
8.New high-capacity sodium-ion could replace lithium in rechargeable batteries:
University of Birmingham scientists are paving the way to swap the lithium in lithium-ion batteries with sodium. Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are rechargeable and are widely used in laptops, mobile phones and in hybrid and fully electric vehicles. However lithium is expensive and resources are unevenly distributed across the planet.
Large amounts of drinking water are used in lithium extraction and extraction techniques are becoming more energy intensive as lithium demand rises – an ‘own goal’ in terms of sustainability. But Sodium is inexpensive and can be found in seawater so is virtually limitless. However, sodium is a larger ion than lithium, so it is not possible to simply “swap” it for lithium in current technologies.
9.GIFcell: A low-dissipation, pumpless, gravity-induced flow battery:
A new approach to the design of a liquid battery, using a passive, gravity-fed arrangement similar to an old-fashioned hourglass, could offer great advantages due to the system’s low cost and the simplicity of its design and operation.
The new version replaces all that plumbing with a simple, gravity-fed system. In principle, it functions like an old hourglass or egg timer, with particles flowing through a narrow opening from one tank to another. The flow can then be reversed by turning the device over.
The new design should make possible simpler and more compact battery systems, which could be inexpensive and modular, allowing for gradual expansion of grid-connected storage systems to meet growing demand.
10.MIT’s “Air-breathing” Battery can store Electricity for months inexpensively:
MIT researchers have developed an “air-breathing” battery that could store electricity for very long durations for about one-fifth the cost of current technologies, with minimal location restraints and zero emissions. The battery could be used to make sporadic renewable power a more reliable source of electricity for the grid.
11.Kirigami-based stretchable lithium-ion batteries for Wearables:
Now an Arizona State University research team has overcome the limitation by using a variation of origami, called kirigami, as a design template for batteries that can be stretched to more than 150 percent of their original size and still maintain full functionality. They developed kirigami-based lithium-ion batteries using a combination of folds and cuts to create patterns that enable a significant increase in stretchability.
12.A new way to store Thermal Energy:
Now, a new chemical composite developed by researchers at MIT could provide an alternative. It could be used to store heat from the sun or any other source during the day in a kind of thermal battery, and it could release the heat when needed, for example for cooking or heating after dark.
Instead, the new system uses molecular switches that change shape in response to light; when integrated into the PCM, the phase-change temperature of the hybrid material can be adjusted with light, allowing the thermal energy of the phase change to be maintained even well below the melting point of the original material.
13.New battery gobbles up carbon dioxide:
A new type of battery developed by researchers at MIT could be made partly from carbon dioxide captured from power plants. Rather than attempting to convert carbon dioxide to specialized chemicals using metal catalysts, which is currently highly challenging, this battery could continuously convert carbon dioxide into a solid mineral carbonate as it discharges.
14.Asphalt-lithium metal batteries fully charge in five minutes:
According to Rice University scientists, a touch of asphalt may be the secret to high-capacity lithium metal batteries that charge 10 to 20 times faster than commercial lithium-ion batteries. The Scientists developed anodes comprising porous carbon made from asphalt that showed exceptional stability after more than 500 charge-discharge cycles.
A high-current density of 20 milliamps per square centimeter demonstrated the material’s promise for use in rapid charge and discharge devices that require high-power density
15.Pure lithium battery -It will double or triple Battery life of Smartphones:
Scientists at Standford University have created pure lithium batteries. According to the leader of the research team,lithium has the greatest potential, comparing to all other materials that one might use in an anode. It is very lightweight and it has the highest energy density. You get more power per volume and weight, leading to lighter, smaller batteries with more power.The Stanford researchers built a protective layer of interconnected carbon domes on top of their lithium anode.
16.Inexpensive Catalysts for Zinc-air batteries:
University of Sydney researchers have found a solution for one of the biggest stumbling blocks preventing zinc-air batteries from overtaking conventional lithium-ion batteries as the power source of choice in electronic devices.
Zinc-air batteries are batteries powered by zinc metal and oxygen from the air. Due to the global abundance of zinc metal, these batteries are much cheaper to produce than lithium-ion batteries, and they can also store more energy (theoretically five times more than that of lithium-ion batteries). They are much safer, and are more environmentally friendly.
17.Cambridge Scientists bring Lithium-Air Batteries closer to Reality:
Now, researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a lab-based demonstrator of a lithium-oxygen battery which has higher capacity, increased energy efficiency and improved stability. Lithium-oxygen, or lithium-air, batteries have been touted as the ‘ultimate’ battery due to their theoretical energy density, which is ten times that of a lithium-ion battery.
18.“Virtual batteries” could lead to cheaper, cleaner power:
In theory, the grid could employ a battery to keep supply and demand in balance, but existing battery technologies offer no cost savings over power production. In a new paper, however, MIT researchers argue that “smart appliances” in homes and offices, such as thermostats that can be adjusted remotely and electric cars that plug into the grid, could, collectively, act as a massive battery, offering a lower-cost, lower-emission alternative to backup power generation in the grid.
19.Bio-inspired energy storage – a new light for solar power:
Inspired by an American fern, researchers have developed a groundbreaking prototype that could be the answer to the storage challenge still holding solar back as a total energy solution. The new type of electrode created by researchers from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, could boost the capacity of existing integrable storage technologies by 3000 per cent.
The new electrode is designed to work with supercapacitors, which can charge and discharge power much faster than conventional batteries. Supercapacitors have been combined with solar, but their wider use as a storage solution is restricted because of their limited capacity.
20.Doubling Battery Power of Consumer Electronics using SolidEnergy System’s Lithium Metal Batteries:
An MIT spinout is preparing to commercialize a novel rechargeable lithium metal battery that offers double the energy capacity of the lithium ion batteries that power many of today’s consumer electronics.
The battery essentially swaps out a common battery anode material, graphite, for very thin, high-energy lithium-metal foil, which can hold more ions — and, therefore, provide more energy capacity. Chemical modifications to the electrolyte also make the typically short-lived and volatile lithium metal batteries rechargeable and safer to use.
Moreover, the batteries are made using existing lithium ion manufacturing equipment, which makes them scalable. The breakthrough electrode prototype can be combined with a solar cell for on-chip energy harvesting and storage.
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