As solar panels and wind turbines become more common around the world, they will need batteries that can store electricity when power is not available. Researchers at Harvard University recently introduced a promising prototype battery.

Researchers at Harvard University have developed a flow battery that stores electrical energy in liquid containers and uses non-toxic, non-corrosive and non-flammable materials.

If you want to own a solar-powered house, it is best to weather the unpredictable batteries without solar days, and Harvard researchers may have the perfect solution.

Researchers at Harvard University pioneered a unique program in developing batteries for the future. They said the new research and development of liquid batteries cheap, and the selection of non-toxic, non-corrosive, non-flammable battery materials is their first.

"This is a huge improvement for the battery and makes it possible for all to use it," said Michael Aziz, a Harvard professor of engineering and co-author of the study published in Science. The battery is non-corrosive and very safe and therefore suitable for use both in the commercial area and at home. "I'd love to put this battery in the house," he added.

As climate change intensifies and humankind's demand for clean energy grows day by day, energy storage technology has become the holy grail of renewable energy. Research on this technology has also started to make progress over the past five years. The reason is simple: Solar panels and wind turbines generate power only intermittently, requiring stored energy to be used when there is no sunlight or wind.

More than 20 years ago, Sony developed a lithium-ion battery for personal electronics, but the battery has some drawbacks. This battery is expensive, especially for larger batteries, and is flammable. Lithium-ion batteries have caused some electric vehicles to catch fire and mass-transport lithium-ion batteries have even ignited transport aircraft.

Therefore, researchers are improving lithium batteries, while seeking alternatives. Some researchers, such as Harvard University researchers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, are not only exploring new combinations of battery materials but are still experimenting with nanomaterials.

Aziz's team has been studying flow batteries, unlike traditional solid batteries, which store electricity in an external liquid container. The larger the liquid container, the more electricity is stored. Most of these batteries use vanadium metal, expensive and corrosive.

Last year, scientists at Harvard University made prototypes of flow batteries using quinone-based organic molecules. Although the battery performs well and is licensed to a European company, the battery contains toxic bromine, which is a volatile substance. As a result, the team improved its battery this year to replace bromine with non-toxic, non-corrosive ferrocyanide.

"Because of the cyanide word, it sounds like a bad feeling," said Michael Marshak, who discovered the new formula at a university conference on the new discovery, when he was a Harvard postdoctoral fellow. "Cyanide can cause death because of its close association with the body's iron. Ferrocyanide is a chemical that has been combined with iron and is therefore safe," said Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Colorado at Bend. Marshak said he also added that ferrocyanide is now used as a food additive and fertilizer.

"This research is groundbreaking and demonstrates that organic molecules can be used as active ingredients," said George Crabtree, director of the Argonne Joint Laboratory for Energy Storage Research at Argonne National Laboratory. He said the study "is noteworthy and promising," the battery "just touching the surface of organic molecules."

Another battery expert who did not participate in the study also saw its benefits. "This battery is very scalable, very safe, and it can be very cheap," said Robert Savinell, a professor of engineering at Case Western Reserve University. He hopes the battery can be commercialized in the next 10 years, but more testing is needed before that.

Aziz agrees. "We need to prove that these organic molecules will not decompose thousands of times during charging," he said without looking into the research team for a long time. Aziz expects a similar test to take place in the coming year, though Harvard University is likely to license the technology without conducting experiments.

"Technology licensing can happen soon," Aziz said, noting that several companies already had contact with him. As for how fast he said it depends on whether the transferee is a nascent company or a mature battery producer.

Others, such as Elon Musk and the Tesla super-battery factory it manages, are eager to mass produce batteries for automotive, domestic and commercial use. Aziz expects huge competition in the storage industry as solar and wind power generation continue to increase.

But given the huge potential market size, he said even the cheapest battery may not be able to keep pace with demand.

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