As solar panels and wind turbines around the world become more prevalent, they will need batteries that can store electricity when they are unable to generate electricity. Researchers at Harvard University have recently launched a promising battery prototype.

Researchers at Harvard University have developed a flow battery that stores electrical energy in a liquid container and uses non-toxic, non-corrosive and non-combustible materials.

If you want to have a solar-powered house, it's best to rely on a battery that doesn't catch fire to get through the sun without a sun. Researchers at Harvard University may have given the perfect solution.

In the race to develop future batteries, Harvard researchers pioneered a unique approach. They said that the newly developed flow battery is cheap, and the use of non-toxic, non-corrosive, non-combustible battery materials is their first.

Harvard University develops new flow batteries or alternative lithium batteries

"This is a huge advancement in the battery and it is possible for everyone to use it," said Michael Aziz, a professor of engineering at Harvard University and co-author of the study published in the journal Science. The battery is non-corrosive and very safe, so it is suitable for both commercial and residential applications. "I am happy to put this battery at home," he added.

As climate change intensifies, human demand for clean energy is increasing, and energy storage technology has become the holy grail of renewable energy. Research on this technology has also begun to progress in the past five years. The reason is simple: solar panels and wind turbines can only generate electricity intermittently. When there is no sunlight or wind, you need to use stored energy.

More than 20 years ago, Sony developed a lithium-ion battery for personal electronics, but this battery has certain drawbacks. Such batteries are expensive, especially for large models, and are flammable. Lithium-ion batteries have caused some electric vehicles to catch fire, and lithium-ion batteries that have been transported in batches have even ignited transport aircraft.

As a result, researchers are improving lithium batteries while seeking alternatives. Some researchers, such as Harvard University researchers funded by the US Department of Energy, are not only exploring new battery material combinations, but also trying nanomaterials.

Aziz's team has been working on flow batteries, unlike traditional solid batteries, which store electricity in an external liquid container. The larger the liquid container, the more electricity is stored. Most of these batteries use vanadium metal, which is expensive and not too corrosive.

Last year, Harvard scientists used a quinone organic molecule to create a prototype of a flow battery. Although the battery performs well and is licensed to a European company, the battery contains toxic volatiles such as bromine. Therefore, this year the team improved the battery and replaced bromine with non-toxic, non-corrosive ferrocyanide.

“Because of the word cyanide, it sounds like a bad feeling,” said Michael Marshak, a new formula at a university conference about the new discovery, when he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. "Cyanide can cause death because it is tightly integrated with iron in the human body. Ferricyanide is a substance that has been combined with iron, so it is safe," is now an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Marshak said he added that ferrocyanide is now often used as a food additive and fertilizer.

“This research is groundbreaking and demonstrates that organic molecules can be used as active ingredients,” said George Crabtree, director of the Argonne National Laboratory Energy Storage Research Center. He said the study was "notable and promising," the battery "just touched the surface of the organic molecule."

Another battery expert who did not participate in the study also saw its advantages. “The battery is very flexible, very safe, and can be very cheap,” says Robert Savinell, a professor of engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He hopes that the battery will be commercially available in the next 10 years, but more tests are needed before this.

Aziz acknowledged this. "We need to prove that these organic molecules don't break down during thousands of charge cycles," he said, not doing long-term observations for the research team. Aziz expects similar tests to be conducted in the coming year, but Harvard is likely to license the technology before it is tested.

“Technical empowerment may happen soon,” Aziz said, noting that several companies have contacted him. As for how fast, he said that the transferee is a start-up company or a mature battery manufacturer.

Others, such as Elon Musk and its Tesla Super Battery Factory, are eager to mass produce batteries for automotive, domestic and commercial use. As solar and wind power generation continues to increase, Aziz expects significant competition in the energy storage industry.

However, considering the huge potential market size, he said that even the cheapest battery production speed may not catch up with the speed of demand.

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