UVA research could unlock better energy storage for solar power

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WRIC) -- Researchers from the University of Virginia (UVA) have developed a new battery technology designed to improve renewable energy storage.

A new paper from the UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science, titled "Selective Membrane for Non-Aqueous Electrochemical Flow Cells," shows that this research would unlock a new energy storage method. The issue stems from the difference between when renewable sources are at their most productive and when the grid needs that power the most.

Charles Leroux, a chemical engineering Ph.D. student and the lead author of the new study published in Advanced Functional Materials, explained that solar farms can produce large amounts of energy. But he acknowledged that it's hard to store it. As a result, solar power is not always available at the necessary times.

Per the study, traditional batteries -- including lead-acid batteries used in cars or lithium-ion batteries powering electronics and electric cars -- are not always economical for large-scale energy storage, according to the research.

“Generally speaking, you need energy most in the morning and the evening, because everybody’s at home,” Leroux said. “You plug in your electric vehicles, you’re going to need more energy, but for solar, that energy is mostly available during the peak daylight hours.”

However, Leroux emphasized the possibility of flow batteries, which use redox-active materials -- chemicals that can repeatedly gain and lose electrons -- dissolved in two large, separated tanks of liquid electrolyte, according to the new study.

Leroux and his coauthors developed a non-aqueous flow battery that uses organic chemicals instead of water as solvents to increase battery energy density. The battery also includes an improved membrane that efficiently conducts ionic charge carriers while blocking harmful transfer of the redox-active material.

According to the research, one main challenge of the project was achieving high conductivity -- allowing for ionic charge carriers to move across the membrane -- without also permitting the redox-active components in the organic liquids to cross over.

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