New battery design could solve solar and wind energy storage problem

Science : The need to store the energy generated by intermittent sources, such as solar and wind, is growing thanks to the increasing number of solar panels and wind turbines being developed. However, much of the energy generated goes to waste because there’s no good way to store it. A team of researchers led by Michael Aziz of Harvard University has been working to develop an alternative to conventional batteries; it’s called a flow battery, in which the power and energy components are separated. The flexible layout makes it easier to increase the battery’s energy storage capacity. Last year, the researchers came up with an acid flow battery based on two electrolytes, one of which, bromine, is highly toxic and corrodes the steel required to contain it. For a less toxic alternative, they switched to an alkaline flow battery by altering the chemical structure of the second electrolyte—quinone—and replacing the bromine with ferrocyanide. Although the new battery can store just two-thirds as much energy per volume as the earlier acid-based one, it is much cheaper to produce and less toxic to use.