“Basic fundamental science” could be the answer to many of the planet’s clean energy needs, according to scientists at California’s Stanford University, who have found a new way to store electrical energy in liquid fuel, revolutionizing the way we think about and use battery technology.
Published on 12 June 2024 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the team’s innovation uses chemical compounds that can absorb and release hydrogen in liquid form, making the hazardous, low-density element, easier to store and transport. These so-called “liquid organic hydrogen carriers” (LOHCs) are part of a catalyst system that converts electrical energy into isopropanol, which in liquid alcohol form carries high-density hydrogen.
Cobaltocene-Mediated Catalytic Hydride Transfer: Strategies for Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation | Journal of the American Chemical Society @Stanford @StanfordUChem #Cobaltocene #Hydride #Electrocatalysis #Hydrogenation https://t.co/W83Bo7kxx4
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Cheap cobaltocene provides answer
Iridium is one of the key catalysers, but the researchers needed to find a way to work with hydrogen without releasing gas. Enter cobaltocene, a cobalt chemical compound which the team found a new use for.
Extracted from an economical non-precious metal, cobaltocene has been considered a simple reducing agent but was found to work as a selective co-catalyst in the process while avoiding the liberation of hydrogen gas. It is just one of the abundant, affordable, and therefore scalable co-catalysts such as iron that the team are now going on to explore further.
Big step forward
The “new strategy for selectively converting and long-term storing of electrical energy in liquid fuels” says the Stanford team, is “basic fundamental science” but it represents a big step forward in the field of energy storage, with the potential to make energy grids less dependent on highly polluting and resource-guzzling lithium-ion batteries. The discovery could offer better sustainability, and – importantly – make energy grids that run on wind and solar sources more reliable, with the Stanford liquid battery as a use-on-demand backup.
Game changer
“When you have excess energy, and there’s no demand for it on the grid, you store it as isopropanol. When you need the energy, you can return it as electricity,” said the study’s lead author, Robert Waymouth, the Robert Eckles Swain Professor in Chemistry at Stanford.
And it is not only energy grids and their users that could benefit. With applications in decarbonizing transportation and other sectors, thanks to the safe way the hydrogen can be carried and used as a fuel cell, the findings could be a game changer for the planet too, helping to mitigate carbon-driven climate change and secure the planet’s energy supplies for future generations.
