Energy, and having a lack thereof, is an important problem which needs to obtain a solution before planet earth’s resource become completely depleted, which, unfortunately, may be far sooner than we counted on. Our resources (i.e. fossil fuels and their byproducts) will only last so long, and we need to figure out a way to create energy which can be reused and reproduced without harming the environment at all (or at least very little). Such an idea is, as of the present, not in existence, however, Harvard scientists have made an astonishing breakthrough. This remarkable idea is based off the principle of “the electrochemistry of naturally abundant, inexpensive, small organic (carbon-based) molecules called quinones, which are similar to molecules that store energy in plants and animals.”
What was designed in the lab of Michael J. Aziz, Gene Sykes, and Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) a type of battery which uses the quinones to produce a kind of battery, which is tenfold times more efficient for storing energy. To quote the Artificial Intelligence at “e! Science News,”: “Flow batteries store energy in chemical fluids contained in external tanks -- as with fuel cells -- instead of within the battery container itself. The two main components -- the electrochemical conversion hardware through which the fluids are flowed (which sets the peak power capacity), and the chemical storage tanks (which set the energy capacity) -- may be independently sized. Thus the amount of energy that can be stored is limited only by the size of the tanks.”
To translate the above quote, because the battery relies on chemical storage tanks, the amount of energy that can be stored is only kept restricted by the size of the tanks and the amount of fluid in them. This means that there is now a way to cost-effectively produce batteries which contain lots of electrochemicals, and, as a result, do not run out of power as quickly.
The most important breakthrough with this new renewable flow battery is the following contrast with regular batteries, and even some higher-storage batteries. While most electricity storage in batteries takes place in metals, especially vanadium, the new breakthrough battery utilizes organic molecules (the aforementioned quinones) to store the energy. These molecules resemble (and even can be the same as) the molecules which store energy in animals and even humans. This means that we will be producing a battery which consumes far less resources than your average battery.
If we can successfully harness energy that comes from places like the sun, geothermal heat, and wind turbines (which we already can do), we need a place to store the energy, a problem which is not often thought about, however important it may be. However, the new battery provides, if we look at the factors explained above, a solution which is considerably more A) cost-effective and B) environmentally-conscious than most, if not all of the alternatives provided in years past. This is truly an astounding breakthrough, and if production increases and begins to occur on a large scale, it could change the way we harness and store energy for many years to come.
A prototype flow battery in Aziz's lab
Travis- Another very intelligent blog post. Not only did you pick an interesting topic, you did a great job presenting and explaining it. We usually don't think of batteries as affecting the environment like natural gas, but they do. We also don't think about storing the energy harnessed through renewable sources. My only issue would be your use of "tenfold", but that, of course, can be forgiven. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great topic to discuss about Travis. I think that finding an alternative energy source is a very important topic that scientists need to find a solution too soon because we are running out of time. Fossil fuels will run out in a few years and like I said we need to find a new fuel source. You did a great job explaining this possible solution involving electrochemistry and I enjoyed reading it. I was very interested in the topic and I am going to look more into it! Great job and keep up the good work!
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