Texas A&M University researchers have been testing water-based, metal-free battery electrodes, and they have found that the quantity of energy that can be stored can vary by a factor of 1,000%.
How water-based batteries function
The water-based, or hydrophilic, batteries described in the authors’ work and released in Nature Materials in the week include an electrolyte, cathode (the negatively charged electrode), and anode (the positively charged electrode), just like conventional batteries. Yet, the cathodes and anodes of this water-based batteries are energy-storing polymers, and the electrolyte is water combined with organic salts.
The electrolyte is essential for energy storage because it interacts with the electrode to transmit ions, or charge-carrying particles, back and forth between the cathode and the anode.
Dr. Jodie Lutkenhaus, a professor of chemical engineering and a co-author, claims:
An electrode loses all of its performance if it swells excessively when cycling because it is unable to conduct electrons very well.
Due to swelling effects, I think there is a 1,000% variance in energy storage capacity depending on the electrolyte choice.
The “redox-active non-conjugated radical polymers,” which serve as the electrodes in their research, have fast redox kinetics and a high discharge voltage, making them intriguing candidates for use in water-based batteries.
Nonetheless, the researchers point out in the abstract of their paper:
Nothing is known about how these polymers store energy in an aquatic environment. Because electrons, ions, and molecules of water are all transferred at the same time during the reaction, it is complicated and challenging to understand.
Aqueous batteries’ potential future
According to the researchers, water-based batteries may be able to reduce the risk of battery fires as well as future shortages of metals like cobalt and lithium.
Because it is water-based, Lutkenhaus explained, battery fires would no longer occur. The cost of lithium ion batteries will significantly increase in the future if shortages of certain elements are anticipated. If we are equipped with this alternate battery, we can employ this chemistry because we can produce them right here in the U. S. and the components to do so are available, which makes the supply much more stable.
To further grasp the idea, the researchers also carried out computer simulations and assessment, and they will carry out more simulations.
Dr. Daniel Tabor, co-author and assistant professor of chemistry, said:
This novel method of energy storage represents a step closer to lithium-free batteries. We now have a clearer understanding at the molecular level of what causes some battery electrodes perform much better than the others, and this provides us with compelling data for future material design.
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