Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
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Re: Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
#2Don't we have better water-based power storage systems called reservoirs? Far many more 'recharge cycles' and there are some that operate by storing water pumped during times of excess energy generation and then releasing it back when needed during a peak demand.
Re: Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
#3I wonder how safe this will be with hydrogen gas being a part of it. Sounds promising but you’d want it extra safe considering a mini Hindenburg would be attached to your house. Edit. I suppose I read it incorrectly as this is being invented for the utility scale.
Re: Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
#4I worked on a similar system when I was finishing my degree. I suspect that, in the next 5-10 years, there will be several versions of this of various sizes ready for deployment.
Re: Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
#5I wonder how safe this will be with hydrogen gas being a part of it. Sounds promising but you’d want it extra safe considering a mini Hindenburg would be attached to your house. Edit. I suppose I read it incorrectly as this is being invented for the utility scale.
We currently put high-temperature, charged lithium in our pants pockets. The technology this is replacing uses lead and sulfuric acid. Hydrogen is probably fine.
Re: Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
#6I wonder how safe this will be with hydrogen gas being a part of it. Sounds promising but you’d want it extra safe considering a mini Hindenburg would be attached to your house. Edit. I suppose I read it incorrectly as this is being invented for the utility scale.
Well, any vehicles you park in your garage or in your driveway probably have a lot of stored potential energy that can be released catastrophically under the wrong circumstances too. (this goes for whether it's ICE or electric).
The fact that we generally consider those safe to sleep next to is a testament to safety engineering (and possibly a bit of self delusion).
Re: Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
#7I wonder how safe this will be with hydrogen gas being a part of it. Sounds promising but you’d want it extra safe considering a mini Hindenburg would be attached to your house. Edit. I suppose I read it incorrectly as this is being invented for the utility scale.
We currently put high-temperature, charged lithium in our pants pockets. The technology this is replacing uses lead and sulfuric acid. Hydrogen is probably fine.
In case of problems you can remove your pants very quickly.
Re: Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
#8I wonder how safe this will be with hydrogen gas being a part of it. Sounds promising but you’d want it extra safe considering a mini Hindenburg would be attached to your house. Edit. I suppose I read it incorrectly as this is being invented for the utility scale.
With adequate seals this is no more dangerous than existing chemical energy storage, such as gasoline and natural gas.
The researchers state (in the paper itself) that they carefully control the charging voltage to avoid oxygen production in the same cell. Oxygen and hydrogen in the same device is dangerous, only hydrogen not so much.
Re: Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
#9I wonder how safe this will be with hydrogen gas being a part of it. Sounds promising but you’d want it extra safe considering a mini Hindenburg would be attached to your house. Edit. I suppose I read it incorrectly as this is being invented for the utility scale.
Well, any vehicles you park in your garage or in your driveway probably have a lot of stored potential energy that can be released catastrophically under the wrong circumstances too. (this goes for whether it's ICE or electric). The fact that we generally consider those safe to sleep next to is a testament to safety engineering (and possibly a bit of self delusion).
The wrong circumstances required to catastrophically release all of that energy in an ICE car is pretty extreme, requiring the fuel to atomize and thoroughly mix with air. Otherwise you have a fire, not a bomb. Hydrogen by contrast just needs a spark and then it comes to strongly resemble a bomb. If your hydrogen is under pressure, then simple containment failure can be the “spark” required. Plus, gasoline is easy to store, while hydrogen tends to embrittle materials storing it.
We shouldn’t short sell just how tricky hydrogen can be.
Re: Researchers have developed a water-based battery to store solar and wind energy
#10This is really brilliant. They cycle between two chemical species that are thermodynamically very stable in our atmosphere, solid MnO2 and Mn2+. This is very smart as a starting point because you don't need to worry about the electrodes slowly rusting away (compare: related work with exotic/expensive/unstable rare earth oxides)
Also this redox couple charges at 1.6 V so oxygen production (which is bad in a cell that also evolves hydrogen) does not really happen (this takes 2.0 V or so)
Really exciting stuff.