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Old 02-13-2017, 04:46 AM   #1 (permalink)
RedDevil
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Flow battery development news

Harvard have developed an new type of battery that can be fully discharged and recharged for thousands of times:
Long-lasting flow battery could run for more than a decade with minimum upkeep | Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Key element is the application of ferrocene, which is usually insoluble and can only be used with highly toxic and reactive battery chemistries.
Quote:
But by functionalizing ferrocene molecules the same way as the viologen, the team was able to turn an insoluble molecule into a highly soluble one that could be cycled stably.
Quote:
“Because we were able to dissolve the electrolytes in neutral water, this is a long-lasting battery that you could put in your basement,” said Gordon. “If it spilled on the floor, it wouldn’t eat the concrete and since the medium is noncorrosive, you can use cheaper materials to build the components of the batteries, like the tanks and pumps.”
An older one, utilizing vitamins:
A battery inspired by vitamins | Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

If you are to emit carbon dioxide anyway, it can be put to use like this:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.estlett.6b00467

This is not a battery in the usual sense but a nice 'free' power harvesting mechanism anyway.

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Last edited by RedDevil; 02-22-2017 at 02:55 AM..
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