Energy News  
ENERGY TECH
Proton transport 'highway' may pave way to better high-power batteries
by Staff Writers
Corvallis OR (SPX) Jan 29, 2019

file illustration only

Researchers at Oregon State University have found that a chemical mechanism first described more than two centuries ago holds the potential to revolutionize energy storage for high-power applications like vehicles or electrical grids.

The research team led by Xiulei (David) Ji of OSU's College of Science, along with collaborators at the Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California Riverside, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, are the first to demonstrate that diffusion may not be necessary to transport ionic charges inside a hydrated solid-state structure of a battery electrode.

"This discovery potentially will shift the whole paradigm of high-power electrochemical energy storage with new design principles for electrodes," said Xianyong Wu, a postdoctoral scholar at OSU and the first author of the article.

"Coming up with Faradaic electrodes that afford battery's energy density and capacitor's power with excellent cycle life has been a big challenge," said Ji, associate professor of chemistry. "So far, most of the attention has been devoted to metal ions - starting with lithium and looking down the periodic table."

The collaborative team, however, looked up - to the single proton of hydrogen - and they also looked back in time, to Theodor von Grotthuss, a German-born Lithuanian chemist who in 1806 penned the theory on charge transport in electrolytes.

Von Grotthuss was just 20, and living in a region beset with political upheaval, when he published "Memoir on the decomposition of water and of the bodies that it holds in solution by means of galvanic electricity" in a French scientific journal.

"In the turmoil of his time and place, he managed to make this big discovery," Ji said. "He was the earliest to figure out how electrolyte works, and he described what's now known as the Grotthuss mechanism: proton transferred by cooperative cleavage and formation of hydrogen bonds and O-H covalent bonds within the hydrogen-bonding network of water molecules."

Here's how it works: Electrical charge is conducted when a hydrogen atom bridging two water molecules "switches its allegiance" from one molecule to the other, Wu explains.

"The switch kicks disjointed one of the hydrogen atoms that was covalently bonded in the second molecule, triggering a chain of similar displacements throughout the hydrogen-bonding network," he said.

"The motion is like a Newton's cradle: Correlated local displacements lead to the long-range transport of protons, which is very different from metal-ion conduction in liquid electrolytes, where solvated ions diffuse long distances individually in the vehicular manner."

Added Ji: "The cooperative vibrations of hydrogen bonding and hydrogen-oxygen covalent bonds virtually hand off a proton from one end of a chain of water molecules to the other end with no mass transfer inside the water chain."

The molecular relay race is the essence of a fantastically efficient charge conduit, he said.

"That's the beauty of it," Ji said. "If this mechanism is installed in battery electrodes, the proton doesn't have to squeeze through narrow orifices in crystal structures. If we design materials with the purpose of facilitating this kind of conduction, this conduit is so ready - we have this magic proton highway built in as part of the lattice."

In their experiment, Ji, Wu and their collaborators revealed the extremely high power performance of an electrode of a Prussian blue analog, Turnbull's blue - known by the dye industry. The unique contiguous lattice water network inside the electrode's lattice demonstrates the "grandeur" promised by the Grotthuss mechanism.

"Computational scientists have made tremendous progress on understanding how the proton hopping really occurs in water," Ji said. "But Grotthuss' theory was never explored to avail energy storage in detail, particularly in a well-defined redox reaction, which had the aim to materialize the impact of this theory."

While very excited about their findings, Ji cautions that there's still work to be done to attain ultrafast charge and discharge in batteries that are practical for transportation or grid energy storage.

"Without the proper technology involving research by materials scientists and electrical engineers, this is all purely theoretical," he said.

"Can you have a sub-second charge or discharge of a battery chemistry? We theoretically demonstrated it, but to realize it in consumer devices, it could be a very long engineering journey. Right now the battery community focuses on lithium, sodium, and other metal ions, but protons are probably the most intriguing charge carriers with vast unknown potentials to realize."

Findings were published today in Nature Energy.

Research paper


Related Links
Oregon State University
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


ENERGY TECH
Static electricity could charge our electronics
Buffalo NY (SPX) Jan 28, 2019
Unhappy with the life of your smartphone battery? Thought so. Help could be on the way from one of the most common, yet poorly understand, forms of power generation: static electricity. "Nearly everyone has zapped their finger on a doorknob or seen child's hair stick to a balloon. To incorporate this energy into our electronics, we must better understand the driving forces behind it," says James Chen, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the School ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

ENERGY TECH
US charges Chinese national for stealing energy company secrets

Making the world hotter: India's expected AC explosion

EU court backs Dyson on vacuum cleaner energy tests

Mining bitcoin uses more energy than Denmark: study

ENERGY TECH
Novel device may rapidly control plasma disruptions in a fusion facility

Static electricity could charge our electronics

New method yields higher transition temperature in superconducting materials

Fiery sighting: A new physics of eruptions that damage fusion experiments

ENERGY TECH
Major companies, cities buying into Texas' green energy boom

EON achieves successful commercial operation and tax equity financing for Stella wind farm

Lidar lights up wind opportunities for Tilt in Australia

US Wind Inc. agrees to sell its New Jersey offshore lease to EDF Renewables North America

ENERGY TECH
BayWa teams up to secure the future of solar power in Victoria

Self-assembling nanomaterial enable cheaper more efficient solar power

New water splitting catalyst could make it easier to generate solar fuel

US underwent a quiet clean energy revolution last year

ENERGY TECH
Framatome companies and Joint Ventures in China are renamed

Hitachi wants nationalisation of UK nuclear project: report

Britain's AECOM, AWE announce nuclear waste storage partnership

Framatome receives $49 million grant to accelerate enhanced accident tolerant fuel development

ENERGY TECH
A powerful catalyst for electrolysis of water that could help harness renewable energy

From toilet to brickyard: Recycling biosolids to make sustainable bricks

Scientists turn carbon emissions into usable energy

Researchers create 'shortcut' to terpene biosynthesis in E. coli

ENERGY TECH
Kremlin denies reports Russia mercenaries protecting Maduro

US urges Venezuela army to accept 'peaceful' power transfer

U.S. fuel prices near month ago levels, unlikely to change

Crude oil prices rise amid renewed Venezuela concerns

ENERGY TECH
Space technology predicts droughts several months in advance

Study: Climate change reshaping how heat moves around globe

Tens of thousands protest in France, Belgium over climate crisis

'I want you to panic': Swedish teen raises climate alarm at Davos









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.