Category Chemistry/Nanotechnology

Schematic illustration of single-atom catalyst anchored on porous carbon.
Credit: WSU

Researchers at Washington State University have developed a new way to make low-cost, single-atom catalysts for fuel cells – an advance that could make important clean energy technology more economically viable. Hydrogen fuel cells are critical for the clean energy economy as they are more than two times as efficient at creating electricity than polluting combustion engines. Their only waste product is water.

However, the high price of the platinum-based catalysts that are used for the chemical reaction in fuel cells significantly hinders their commercialization. Instead of the rare platinum, researchers would like to use nonprecious metals, such as iron or cobalt...

A simple liquid-based battery containing a methylene blue solution (left side), and a colorless solution of leuco methylene blue (right), which is methylene blue with added electrons.
Credit: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki/University at Buffalo

Methylene blue is a common ingredient in wastewater from textile mills. But scientists think it may be possible to give this industrial pollutant a second life. In a study, they show that the dye, dissolved in water, is good at storing and releasing energy on cue. This makes the compound a promising material for redox flow batteries, which could store energy for wind farms and solar homes.

“Methylene blue is a widely used dye...

Lithium.
Credit: © vchalup / Fotolia

Chemists from the University of Waterloo have successfully resolved two of the most challenging issues surrounding lithium-oxygen batteries, and in the process created a working battery with near 100% coulombic efficiency. The new work, which appears this week in Science, proves that four-electron conversion for lithium-oxygen electrochemistry is highly reversible. The team is the first to achieve four-electron conversion, which doubles the electron storage of lithium-oxygen, also known as lithium-air, batteries.

“There are limitations based on thermodynamics,” said Linda Nazar, Canada Research Chair of Solid State Energy Materials and senior author on the project...

Test set-up for the solid-state battery: the battery of the size of a button cell is located in the middle of the acrylic glass casing, which ensures permanent contact with the battery.
Credit: Forschungszentrum Jülich / Regine Panknin

There are currently great hopes for solid-state batteries. They contain no liquid parts that could leak or catch fire. For this reason, they do not require cooling and are considered to be much safer, more reliable, and longer lasting than traditional lithium-ion batteries. Scientists have now introduced a new concept that allows currents up to 10X greater during charging and discharging than previously described in the literature.

The low current is considered one of the biggest hurdles in the development of solid-state batteries...