Batteries & Energy Storage
Bubbles help break energy storage record for lithium-air batteries
November 29, 2011 4:00 am | News | CommentsResembling broken eggshells, graphene structures built around bubbles produced a lithium-air battery with the highest energy capacity to date, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Princeton University.
Nanoparticle electrodes for large-scale power storage
November 28, 2011 3:06 am | by Louis Bergeron, Stanford University | News | CommentsStanford University researchers have used nanoparticles of a copper compound to develop a high-power battery electrode that is inexpensive to make, efficient, and durable. It could be used to build batteries big enough for economical large-scale energy storage on the electrical grid.
Chemists develop liquid-based hydrogen storage material
November 22, 2011 9:11 am | News | CommentsUniversity of Oregon chemists have developed a boron-nitrogen-based liquid-phase storage material for hydrogen that works safely at room temperature and is both air- and moisture-stable—an accomplishment that offers a possible route through current storage and transportation obstacles.
Three PNNL-developed technologies licensed via Startup America
November 22, 2011 6:20 am | News | CommentsPacific Northwest National Laboratory has signed option agreements with three companies that will lead to products designed to increase the storage capacity of batteries used to power portable devices and electric vehicles, reduce the cost of fuel cells used to generate electricity from hydrogen, and detect pests hidden behind walls in buildings.
Reliable nuclear device to heat, power Mars Science Laboratory
November 22, 2011 2:42 am | News | CommentsNASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission has the potential to be the most productive Mars surface mission in history. That's due in part to its nuclear heat and power source. When the rover Curiosity heads to space, it will carry the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, the latest "space battery" that can reliably power a deep space mission for many years.
Carbon foam: The key ingredient of a better battery?
November 18, 2011 6:34 am | News | CommentsA lighter, greener, cheaper, longer-lasting battery. Who wouldn't want that? Researchers at Michigan Technological University are working on it. Their design is a twist on an asymmetric capacitor, a new type of electrical storage device that's half capacitor, half battery.
Midwest has potential to store hundreds of years of carbon dioxide emissions
November 17, 2011 8:54 am | News | CommentsGeologic capacity exists to permanently store hundreds of years of regional carbon dioxide emissions in nine states stretching from Indiana to New Jersey, according to injection field tests conducted by the Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP).
New lithium electrode a better performer by 10-fold
November 14, 2011 1:08 pm | by Megan Fellman and Sarah Ostman | News | CommentsA team of engineers at Northwestern University has created an electrode for conventional lithium-ion batteries that allows them to both hold a charge up to 10 times greater than current technology and charge up to 10 times faster than current batteries.
Faster testing method for porous crystals to help gas storage tech
November 9, 2011 10:28 am | News | CommentsMetal-organic crystal frameworks feature nanoscale pores and high surface areas—ideal characteristics for absorbing and storing natural gas. But millions of different structure variations have slowed R&D work, prompting a Northwestern University research team to build an algorithm that can sift through possibilities and find the best options, fast.
Porous crystals for natural gas storage
November 7, 2011 3:33 am | News | CommentsPorous crystals called metal-organic frameworks, with their nanoscopic pores and incredibly high surface areas, are excellent materials for natural gas storage. But with millions of different structures possible, where does one focus?
Batteries get a quick charge with new anode technology
November 3, 2011 4:55 am | News | CommentsA breakthrough in components for next-generation batteries could come from special materials that transform their structure to perform better over time. A team of researchers at Argonne National Laboratory discovered that nanotubes composed of titanium dioxide can switch their phase as a battery is cycled, gradually boosting their operational capacity.
New catalyst highly effective at splitting oxygen from water
October 28, 2011 7:37 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsAccording to the team who made the discovery, a new compound made from cobalt, iron and oxygen with other metals can split oxygen atoms from water at a rate at least an order of magnitude higher than the compound currently considered the gold standard.
Sodium-ion batteries that are worth their salt
October 25, 2011 5:04 am | News | CommentsAlthough lithium-ion technology dominates headlines in battery research and development, a new element is making its presence known as a potentially powerful alternative: sodium. Sodium-ion technology possesses a number of benefits that lithium-based energy storage cannot capture, and Argonne National Laboratory is looking to improve the performance of ambient-temperature sodium-based batteries.
Fluoride-ion battery stores ten times the energy of lithium-ion
October 21, 2011 11:02 am | News | CommentsA new concept for a rechargeable battery has been developed by researchers in Germany. Based on a fluoride shuttle, which involves the transfer of fluoride anions between electrodes, the mechanism replaces lithium during charge transfer and allows the flow of many more electrons per metal atom.
New electrochemical cell has a plasma electrode
October 20, 2011 10:56 am | News | CommentsTypical fuel cells and batteries rely on solid metal electrodes, and under normal, ambient conditions a plasma electrode is not practical. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University, however, recently demonstrated one that does function at atmospheric temperature and pressure.
Inspired by trees, researchers build faster charging batteries
October 17, 2011 1:16 pm | News | CommentsPrevious work has shown that the greater surface area of porous electrodes boosts the charge capacity of batteries, but this same characteristic can limit charging time. Scientists in Germany have modified the electrodes further, allowing them to literally suck the electrolyte into the battery.
Plankton's shifting role in deep sea carbon storage
October 14, 2011 5:33 am | News | CommentsThe tiny phytoplankton Emiliania huxleyi , invisible to the naked eye, plays an outsized role in drawing carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it deep in the seas. But this role may change as ocean water becomes warmer and more acidic, according to a San Francisco State University research team.
America’s defending champion solar car ready to race the world
October 11, 2011 2:16 pm | News | CommentsWith a cutting-edge solar car, an advanced strategy and an intrepid 16-student race crew, the University of Michigan's national champion solar car team readies for the 1,800-mile World Solar Challenge in Australia on Oct. 16.
Dow, Argonne National Laboratory collaborate on new battery materials
October 5, 2011 6:36 am | News | CommentsThe Dow Chemical Company and Argonne National Laboratory announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for a multi-year research collaboration to jointly develop the next generation of materials for advanced battery technologies.
Sulfur in hollow nanofibers overcomes challenges of lithium-ion battery design
October 5, 2011 5:38 am | News | CommentsStanford researchers have used nanotechnology to invent a better lithium ion battery cathode. The researchers have used sulfur-coated hollow carbon nanofibers and an electrolyte additive to fabricate a superior rechargeable lithium battery cathode. Putting silicon nanowire anodes and sulfur-coated carbon cathodes into one battery could be the next generation in battery design.
Researchers devise world’s first energy-storage membrane
September 29, 2011 11:03 am | News | CommentsA team in Singapore has developed the world's first energy-storage membrane. Based on deposited polystyrene-based polymer technology, the soft, foldable can, when charged by two metal plates, store charge at 0.2 farads per square centimeter.
Researchers debut glass reactor to study battery materials synthesis
September 29, 2011 4:55 am | News | CommentsA team of Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers has fabricated a transparent chemical reactor vessel that may give scientists in many fields a window into real-time chemistry. Scientists in the Lab's Energy Storage Group recently used the transparent reactor to study the synthesis of lithium iron phosphate for rechargeable batteries.
Better lithium-ion batteries are on the way from Berkeley Lab
September 23, 2011 7:52 am | News | CommentsLithium-ion batteries power everything from smart phones to electric cars, but especially when it comes to lowering the cost and extending the range of all-electric vehicles, they need to store a lot more energy. The critical component for energy storage is the anode, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists have developed a new anode material that can absorb eight times the lithium and has far greater energy capacity than today's designs.
New method could lead to better hydrogen storage
September 19, 2011 9:03 am | by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsHydrogen has long been considered a promising alternative to fossil fuels for powering cars, trucks, and even homes. But one major obstacle has been finding lightweight, robust, and inexpensive ways of storing the gas. New research by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and several other institutions analyzes the performance of a class of materials considered a promising candidate for such storage.
Argonne patents technology that increases safety of Li-ion batteries
September 16, 2011 4:25 am | News | CommentsScientists at Argonne National Laboratory have patented a new, extremely stable, 4-V redox shuttle molecule that provides overcharge protection for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries containing lithium-iron-phosphate-based cathodes across hundreds of charging cycles.
