A new rechargeable high voltage manganese dioxide zinc battery, exceeding the 2 V barrier in aqueous zinc chemistry, is the latest invention by City College of New York researchers. With a voltage of 2.45-2.8V, the alkaline MnO2|Zn battery, developed by Dr. Gautam G. Yadav and his group in the CCNY-based CUNY Energy Institute, could break the long dominance of flammable and expensive lithium (Li)-ion batteries in the market. To break the previously daunting 2 V barrier in aqueous zinc chemistry, primary inventor Yadav and his team interfacially engineered two different aqueous electrolytes that deliver the theoretical capacity (308mAh/g) reversibly for many cycles. "The voltage of current commercially available alkaline MnO2|Zn batteries is around 1.2-1.3V, and this has been considered low compared to Li-ion which has a voltage >3V," said Yadav.
Voltage has been Li-ion's greatest asset and has helped fuel its rise in an energy hungry world. "Unfortunately it contains elements that are toxic and geopolitically sensitive with Asian countries having a monopoly on mining and manufacturing them," added Yadav. "This has put the United States at a tremendous disadvantage and has lost its lead in energy storage industry, when in the past it was a world leader. With Mn and Zn being widely available elements, and with the U.S. being rich with them as well, it allows the U.S. to compete again. The manufacturing cost of these batteries will also be low, so it can kick start the growth of the energy storage industry in the U.S."
The research appears in the journal ACS Energy Letters, which publishes breakthrough energy-related research.
https://techxplore.com/news/2019-08-rechargeable-aqueous-battery-lithium-ion-dominance.html
Unlike petrol and diesel, hydrogen produces no pollution when burned. It is already used by some car manufacturers to power vehicles and may also be burned to generate electricity. But until now the wide-scale roll-out of hydrogen technology has been prohibited by the high cost of separating it from hydrocarbons. Currently the vast majority of hydrogen used for vehicles is derived from natural gas, the extraction process of which produces planet-warming methane. Now a group of Canadian engineers say they have come up with a method of getting hydrogen directly from oil sands and oil fields, while leaving carbon dioxide and methane in the ground. The team behind the research, which was unveiled at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference in Barcelona, said the technology had the potential to supply Canada's entire electricity requirement for the next 330 years—all without releasing any greenhouse gases. Τhe method could produce hydrogen at between $0.10-0.50 per kilo, compared with the current production cost of around $2 per kilo. Even abandoned oil fields still contain significant amounts of oil. Ιnjecting oxygen into the fields raised their underlying temperature, freeing hydrogen that can be filtered from other gases.
Experts greeted the possible breakthrough with guarded optimism.
Voltage has been Li-ion's greatest asset and has helped fuel its rise in an energy hungry world. "Unfortunately it contains elements that are toxic and geopolitically sensitive with Asian countries having a monopoly on mining and manufacturing them," added Yadav. "This has put the United States at a tremendous disadvantage and has lost its lead in energy storage industry, when in the past it was a world leader. With Mn and Zn being widely available elements, and with the U.S. being rich with them as well, it allows the U.S. to compete again. The manufacturing cost of these batteries will also be low, so it can kick start the growth of the energy storage industry in the U.S."
The research appears in the journal ACS Energy Letters, which publishes breakthrough energy-related research.
https://techxplore.com/news/2019-08-rechargeable-aqueous-battery-lithium-ion-dominance.html
Unlike petrol and diesel, hydrogen produces no pollution when burned. It is already used by some car manufacturers to power vehicles and may also be burned to generate electricity. But until now the wide-scale roll-out of hydrogen technology has been prohibited by the high cost of separating it from hydrocarbons. Currently the vast majority of hydrogen used for vehicles is derived from natural gas, the extraction process of which produces planet-warming methane. Now a group of Canadian engineers say they have come up with a method of getting hydrogen directly from oil sands and oil fields, while leaving carbon dioxide and methane in the ground. The team behind the research, which was unveiled at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference in Barcelona, said the technology had the potential to supply Canada's entire electricity requirement for the next 330 years—all without releasing any greenhouse gases. Τhe method could produce hydrogen at between $0.10-0.50 per kilo, compared with the current production cost of around $2 per kilo. Even abandoned oil fields still contain significant amounts of oil. Ιnjecting oxygen into the fields raised their underlying temperature, freeing hydrogen that can be filtered from other gases.
Experts greeted the possible breakthrough with guarded optimism.
- "Making hydrogen from hydrocarbons using oxygen is nothing new—the trick is not releasing the CO2 to the atmosphere. It would be really exciting if they had found a way of... ensuring the carbonaceous gases remain locked underground—letting them go to atmosphere would result in no difference to burning the oil above ground at far less energy burden." said Jeremy Tomkinson, Company Director and CEO at NNFCC The Bioeconomy Consultants.
- Professor Brian Horsfield, from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, said that extensive field testing would be needed to see how the system works on an industrial scale. He nevertheless called the project "highly innovative and exciting. "Declining oilfield infrastructures now stand to get a new lease of life."
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