A group of nationwide experts that includes Stanford scientists is solely focused on making water the crucial component in future batteries, according to a university news release on the project. It's dubbed the Aqueous Battery Consortium.
The goal is to create a safe, reliable, and inexpensive power pack with limited environmental impact using a water-based electrolyte. To accomplish the lofty task, the team will need to maximize the best parts of common lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries without the cons as well as create an environment where water and electricity work well together.
"This project will undertake the grand challenge of electrochemical energy storage in a world dependent on intermittent solar and wind power. We need affordable, grid-scale energy storage that will work dependably for a long time," Stanford professor Yi Cui, the project's lead, said in the news release from the consortium.
Lead-acid batteries, common in most gas-powered cars, are a type of aqueous water battery. The large and heavy power packs provide a short burst of energy for the starter, but the Stanford team said they are inefficient. What's more, 85% of toxic lead produced globally goes into these batteries, per the experts.
The consortium intends for its battery to be environmentally safe as well as cheap. The latter point would be accomplished by using water and other inexpensive materials. The goal is for the aqueous power pack to cost one-tenth the price of common lithium-ion batteries, like the Tesla Megapack, which is already used for grid storage, according to the release.
The effort has been tabbed by the U.S. Energy Department as an Energy Innovation Hub. The hubs are geared to develop breakthrough tech to aid in our transition to cleaner power. As a result, the consortium could land nearly $63 million over five years to support the work of the 31 scientists from a collection of universities and government labs who are involved, as Interesting Engineering reported.
The challenge is a significant one, according to project leader Linda Nazar, from Ontario's University of Waterloo.
"The barriers to such a new aqueous battery have stymied inventors for years," Cui said in the release. "In addition to stubbornly low voltage and energy density, water can corrode battery materials, become the source of undesirable side reactions, and the cells can fail after just hundreds of charge-discharge cycles under demanding practical conditions."
More than 20% of the country's energy comes from renewable energy, mostly from the wind, per the government. Better-performing power packs can store more of the intermittent power for longer stretches, which is important for grid use.
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Cleaner energy production is needed as tech companies continue to use more power — currently 2% of U.S. electricity consumption, as noted by the Energy Department — for data centers. Meta recently invested in solar energy projects in Illinois and Arkansas to offset some of its computing energy needs.
Importantly, sun power is becoming attainable for more homeowners thanks to community solar programs. These efforts allow residents to tap into nearby solar farms without any rooftop systems. Folks with utility bills of around $125 could save about $150 a year by participating.
All the renewable power, combined with battery storage, can reduce the amount of heat-trapping air pollution being produced that is linked by NASA to increased risks for severe weather.
At the Stanford lab, the experts will be considering all parts of the battery, from the electrodes to the electrolyte, as they figure out a way to make a top-notch power pack using water.
"We hope our inventions may someday benefit all of humanity," Cui said in the news release.
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