New anode material could make proton batteries a viable alternative to lithium-ion batteries. Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney have developed a carbon electrode called tetraamino-benzoquinone (TABQ) that promises to overcome some limitations of current proton batteries.
Lithium ion batteries they are currently the dominant technology for mobile devices and electric vehiclesi, but they have disadvantages in terms of cost and safety. Proton batteries, which use more abundant materials, are considered a possible alternative. However, so far they have suffered from limitations such as a narrow voltage range.
Proton batteries have the advantage of not exploding.
The new TABQ material for anode developed by Australian researchers shows promising performance:
- It can support 3,500 full charge cycles
- Maintains high capacity
- It works well even at low temperatures
These benefits could make proton batteries more suitable for renewable energy storage on a large scale, especially in cold regions where lithium batteries lose efficiency.
Professor Chuan Zhao of UNSW Sydney highlights another important advantage: “In our case, we have both electrodes made of organic molecules, and in the middle we have the aqueous solution, making our prototype battery light, safe and economical.”
Despite the progress, there are still obstacles to overcome before proton batteries can compete with lithium ones:
- Production costs must be reduced
- Cathode performance needs to be improved
Sicheng Wu, PhD student at UNSW Sydney, explains: “We have designed a great material for the anode, and future work will move to the cathode side. We will continue to design new organic materials with a higher redox potential range to increase the battery output voltage.”
The search will focus on the development of organic materials with a higher redox potential for the cathodein order to increase the overall output voltage of the battery. This step is crucial to making proton batteries competitive with current lithium-ion technologies.
If these challenges are overcome, proton batteries could play a significant role in the transition to renewable energyoffering a safer, cheaper and more sustainable energy storage solution than lithium batteries.
Source: www.tomshw.it
