cheaper green energy storage solution invented by calgary profs - energy storage companies

A new discovery by a pair of chemists at the University of Calgary may make
The scale of wind and solar energy is more feasible.
Curtis Berlinguette and Simon Trudel have invented an eco-friendly, highly customizable way to store power by turning water into hydrogen fuel
They say it's about 1,000 times cheaper than the current method of making this ingredient.
They published their approach online this week on Science Express and are currently trying to commercialize it through a new derivative company called Firewater Fuel Corp.
Wind and solar energy are considered clean renewable sources, but they have a major drawback --
The amount of electricity they generate at a given time depends on the amount of wind and sun at that time.
This is not necessarily related to the power demand at a given time.
Storing power for later use is a way to solve the mismatch. High-
Technology storage technology for green energy, electricity can already convert water into hydrogen and oxygen through a process called electrolysis, using a device called an electrolytic device to store it cleanly.
By recombining hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel cell, the stored chemical energy can be re-converted into electricity.
This is a battery-like process that can be used in similar applications, including electric vehicles.
However, hydrogen and water are cleaner storage materials than used in batteries and fuel cells, and they tend to be more effective than batteries in many different ways.
Unfortunately, at the molecular level, it is a "very complex reaction" to dissolve moisture into oxygen and hydrogen, says Berlinguette, in which many different things can
So unless you compensate for the slow speed by adding extra power, the response is usually too slow to actually use.
Obviously, the efficiency of green or practical is not very high.
A special type of compound called a catalyst can speed up the reaction and greatly reduce the additional energy required.
But so far, the water electrolysis catalyst is made of crystals containing rare, expensive toxic metals such as ru and iridium gold.
Berlinguette and Trudel have invented a way to make a catalyst that performs as well as those expensive, but costs 1,000 times less.
The new process also allows relatively no
Toxic metal compounds such as iron oxides, commonly known as rust.
"Our method is effectively converted into every metal in the periodic table," Berlinguette said . ".
Because the new process is more customizable than the existing method of producing this catalyst, the formula can be adjusted to include a metal combination of any proportion for optimal performance.
This means that it is possible to find a formula that is far superior to the existing expensive catalyst.
The new catalysts and the process of making them are completely different from the existing water electrolysis catalysts, since they were not intended to be used as catalysts in the first place.
Trudel is working on them because he is interested in their magnetism.
One day, after working with Berlinguette, he happened to hang out outside, and Berlinguette was working on a different catalyst.
According to U. S. data, about hydrogen fuel in North America is produced by natural gas. S.
Department of Energy.
The cost of producing hydrogen from water is higher
According to the Florida Solar Center, when electricity is $5 per kilowatt hour, the cost of hydrogen generated by natural gas is about twice the cost of natural gas.
In Ontario, electricity is supplied from 6. 3 to 11.
8 cents per kilowatt hour.
"To be honest, we're just drinking beer and talking [I]
He said, why don't we take out your materials to see if they work as a catalyst?
"Recalls Berlinguette.
They are working.
"The traditional method of manufacturing water electrolytic catalysts involves the adhesion of the electrode to a solution containing metal, resulting in the deposition of crystals called metal oxides on the electrode.
Berlinguette says the mixture of different metals does not work because some of them are deposited on the electrodes faster than others to form separate layers, instead of making the useful mixed metal catalyst a uniform mixture.
The new method is to put the metal on a light scaffoldsensitive, non-
Metal, carbon
Dissolve them in solution.
Different metals can be dissolved in the same solution and mixed evenly.
The electrode is immersed in the solution and the solvent is allowed to evaporate, resulting in the catalyst-
Contains molecules attached to it
The researchers then glow on the electrodes and break down the light.
Sensitive scaffolding, leaving only metal oxides evenly distributed.
These metal oxides are not crystals like traditional electrolytic catalysts, but rather "amorphous" materials with less organizational structure, called "defects ".
"The researchers believe that it is this that makes it easier for them to react and thus become a better catalyst.
According to the University of Calgary, FireWater Fuel
It plans to launch a commercial electrolytic device by 2014, and a home version on the market a year later.