Another step forward for a promising new battery to store clean energy
https://news.osu.edu/another-step-forward-for-a-promising-new-battery-to-store-clean-energy
May 13, 2019
Another step forward for a promising new battery to store clean energy
Researchers find way to build potassium-oxygen batteries that last longer
Laura Arenschield
Ohio State News
Researchers have built a more efficient, more reliable potassium-oxygen battery, a step toward a potential solution for energy storage on the nations power grid and longer-lasting batteries in cell phones and laptops.
In a study published this month in the journal Batteries and Supercaps, researchers from The Ohio State University detailed their findings centering around the construction of the batterys cathode, which stores the energy produced by a chemical reaction in a metal-oxygen or metal-air battery. The finding, the researchers say, could make renewable energy sources like solar and wind more viable options for the power grid through cheaper, more efficient energy storage.
This design works a bit like human lungs: Air comes in to the battery through a fibrous carbon layer, then meets a second layer that is slightly less porous and finally ends at a third layer, which is barely porous at all. That third layer, made of the conducting polymer, allows potassium ions to travel throughout the cathode, but restricts molecular oxygen from getting to the anode. The design means that the battery can be charged at least 125 timesgiving potassium-oxygen batteries more than 12 times the longevity they previously had with low-cost electrolytes.
When it comes to batteries, one size does not fit all, Sundaresan said. For potassium-oxygen and lithium-oxygen batteries, the cost has been prohibitive to use them as grid power backup. But now that weve shown that we can make a battery this cheap and this stable, then it makes it compete with other technologies for grid power backup.
https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/batt.201900025