He Oak Ridge Center of the United States (ORNL) has made public its progress when developing batteries with a dual application.
The first would still be expand the use of renewable energy, as already happens, through its storage. Energy generated by renewable sources such as solar panels or wind turbines that is not used at a given time can be stored for when there is no sunlight or wind, using these types of solutions.
The second application developed by this laboratory would consist of capture carbon dioxide that is emitted into the air from industrial sources, store it in solid powder form and then convert it to value added products.
This is where the novelty really lies, since, thanks to this new formulation, in addition to giving it a new use and stopping the emissions that are responsible for climate change, it would be safer than existing batteriessince these electrodes are stable in water.
At the moment, and in this phase of development, the laboratory continues working to be able to carry out this innovation, although they are still looking for solutions to some obstacles that they had found. An example of this is battery deactivation due to accumulation of chemicals.
Up to 600 hours of use
From what is extracted in the statement released by the laboratory, these new battery formulations consisted of one that combines carbon dioxide with salt water sodium, using an economical iron-nickel catalyst; the second, this same gas with aluminum.
Of these two new types, one maintained its capacity for 600 hours of use and could store up to 10 hours of electricity.