The new invention could herald ‘battery revolution’, according to scientists
Redox flow battery could prove crucial for full transition to renewable energy sources
Researchers have invented a new battery that they claim could have profound implications for the future of energy storage and renewable technologies.
The lithium-based redox-flow battery, developed by a team at the University of Cincinnati, could prove crucial for wind and solar operations, where large-scale batteries are needed to store energy during times of overproduction and release it when production drops off.
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“Energy generation and energy consumption is always mismatched,” said Jimmy Jiang, who led the research at the University of Cincinnati.
“This design significantly decreases material costs,” said Soumalya Sinha, a visiting professor at the University of Cincinnati who was involved in the research.
“We’re trying to achieve the same performance at a cheaper cost.”
The research team has already submitted patent applications for this ground-breaking design. Dr. Jiang confidently predicts a “battery revolution” in the next two decades, citing the intensive research underway to push the boundaries of battery performance.
“I am confident about that,” he said. “There is a lot of intense research going into pushing the boundaries of battery performance.”
The research was detailed in a paper, titled ‘Development of high-voltage and high-energy membrane-free nonaqueous lithium-based organic redox flow batteries’, published in the journal Nature Communications.