[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/EW-02-26-14-Batteries-from-Rhubarb-and-Sugar.mp3|titles=EW 02-26-14 Batteries from Rhubarb and Sugar]
Storing energy produced by wind turbines and solar panels is a necessity if these on-again-off-again energy sources are to supply a majority of our electricity needs. But storage technology must be affordable and efficient.
Flow batteries – which convert chemical energy into electrical energy using ion exchange between specialized liquids stored in large tanks – are a new technology for large-scale storage of energy for the grid.
Recent work by Harvard researchers has identified an alternative for the metal ions currently used in flow batteries: organic compounds called quinones. These are common organic molecules. The one used in the research is almost identical to that found in rhubarb.
Quinone-based batteries, if successfully developed, would be much cheaper than metal-ion based batteries and are likely to be safer as well. The researchers believe the technology could be ready for market in three years.
Meanwhile, a group at Virginia Tech has identified a new enzyme pathway that enables sugar to be used as a battery. Enzymes slowly break down the sugar to generate nearly constant power over a long period of time.
A test device, about the size of a AAA battery, has the energy density 10 times higher than the lithium ion batteries in cellphones. And the new device has a long operating life and can even be recharged by filling it up with new sugar solution.
Living things function using energy stored in sugars and other organic molecules. Some day, the electricity we use may be stored in the same way.
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Rhubarb: Great for Pie…and Batteries?
An environmentally friendly, energy-dense sugar battery
Photo, taken on June 26, 2008, courtesy of Sara via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.