The world is moving towards renewable power, but the intermittency of solar and wind energy requires the development of technology that can store and deploy energy from the electrical grid as needed. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are commonly used in everyday devices, but concerns about sustainability and cost have arisen due to the limited resources such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt they rely on. Xiaowei Teng and his team at WPI are exploring new battery technologies for grid energy storage, with recent results suggesting that iron, when treated with the electrolyte additive silicate, could create a high-performance alkaline battery anode. Iron is a more sustainable and abundant alternative to nickel and cobalt, making it an attractive option for grid energy storage.
Iron is already used as an alkaline battery anode in iron-nickel alkaline batteries, but the presence of hydrogen gas formation during charging and inert iron oxide during discharging has limited its energy efficiency and storage capacity. By adding silicate to the electrolytes, the team has found a way to charge a battery without producing hydrogen, improving the alkaline iron redox chemistries in iron-air and iron-nickel batteries. Silicate, a compound of silicon and oxygen commonly used in various industries, has been found to interact with battery electrodes and suppress hydrogen gas generation, making it a promising agent for enhancing energy storage applications in microgrids or individual solar or wind farms.
The results of Teng’s team were published in the European scientific journal ChemSusChem, highlighting the potential of iron-based alkaline batteries as a solution to the challenges faced by conventional lithium-ion batteries. Iron is the second most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust after aluminum, and the United States alone recycles over 40 million metric tons of iron and steel from scrap each year, making it a more sustainable option for battery production. The team’s findings demonstrate the effectiveness of silicate in improving the performance of iron-based batteries, paving the way for more efficient and cost-effective energy storage solutions for renewable power systems.
The use of silicate as an electrolyte additive in iron-based batteries has shown promising results in suppressing hydrogen gas formation during charging, addressing a major technical challenge in the use of iron alkaline batteries for modern energy storage systems. By enhancing the redox chemistries of iron-air and iron-nickel batteries, silicate could play a crucial role in facilitating the integration of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power into the electrical grid. Teng believes that this new technological development could have significant implications for the future of energy storage, enabling microgrids and individual solar or wind farms to store and deploy energy more efficiently and sustainably.
Overall, the research led by Xiaowei Teng and his team at WPI represents a significant step forward in the development of sustainable energy storage solutions for renewable power systems. By exploring new battery technologies that utilize abundant and cost-effective materials like iron and silicate, the team has demonstrated the potential for iron-based alkaline batteries to address the limitations of conventional lithium-ion batteries. The use of silicate as an electrolyte additive has shown promise in improving the energy efficiency and storage capacity of iron-based batteries, making them more attractive for grid energy storage applications. With further research and development, these advancements could pave the way for a cleaner and more sustainable future powered by renewable energy sources.