Energy Storage

ESS Inc has developed a hybrid iron flow battery that can be significantly competitive with vanadium-based ones, with an electrolyte that is one order of magnitude cheaper.

Watch our preview of the IDTechEx Show! coming up in Santa Clara on Nov. 16-17 (www.idtechex.com/usa).

In this article, analyst Lorenzo Grande looks at the available chemistries both in terms of inorganic and polymer electrolytes, with mentions of which company is working on which technology. A watch list is also provided that includes companies worth keeping an eye on in the solid battery space.

Novel technique may lead to longer battery life in portable electronics and electrical vehicles

Researchers have developed an inexpensive, energy-efficient way to create silicon-based anodes for lithium-ion batteries from the fossilized remains of single-celled algae called diatoms. The research could lead to the development of ultra-high capacity lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and portable electronics.

Chemists have discovered that one or more organic compounds in a family that traditionally has been known as pollutants could offer an important advance to make cheap, reliable batteries.

eChemion is an Oregon-based start-up that has developed a process to surface-treat graphitic electrodes for redox flow batteries. The company is a spin-off of Oregon State University and is now completing its Series A round of funding.

ITN is spinning off its daughter company Storion, which is developing vanadium redox flow batteries for the German, US, and Indian markets. Dr Lorenzo Grande interviewed Ashutosh Misra, VP of Administration.

Volterion is a company spun off the Fraunhofer Institute of Oberhausen in Germany. They have developed novel graphitic bipolar plates for vanadium redox flow batteries that are flexible and intelligently welded.

Kemwatt is a French startup working on organic redox flow batteries based on quinones. They claim lower OpEx than traditional redox flow technologies.

A molecule that transports oxygen in blood could be key to developing the next generation of batteries, and in a way that's environmentally friendly.

Researchers have revealed how microalgae produce hydrogen, a clean fuel of the future, and suggest a possible mechanism to jumpstart mass production of this environmentally-friendly energy source.

Electronics that can be embedded in clothing are a growing trend. However, power sources remain a problem.

IDTechEx are hosting a free webinar on Tuesday 1 November 2016 presented by Chairman Dr Peter Harrop.

EVs use a lot of their precious electricity  heating occupiers in winter so improvements are afoot. Making replacements for dumb structural parts that double as occupant focussed heating has attraction as has directed infrared - "heat the person not the space" but less focussed heat pumps are efficient contenders

A French-US team has succeeded in improving the energy density of a rechargeable battery without increasing its size (limited to a few square millimeters in mobile sensors).

Researchers have for the first time developed a supercapacitor that uses no conductive carbon at all, and that could potentially produce more power than existing versions of this technology.

At IDTechEx we are convinced that lithium-ion batteries will dominate the automotive scene over the coming ten years and possibly the coming fifteen years. During that time we shall see peak lead acid battery the biggest nail in its coffin being when electric vehicles more widely abandon them and even those conventional vehicles modified to stay legal under impending carbon dioxide laws abandon them, relying totally on lithium-ion units.  

Litarion produces lithium-ion battery cells for high-performance applications. The company also supply electrodes as well as ceramic separators. Since April 2015, Litarion has become a subsidiary of Electrovaya.

Engineers have developed an innovative bio-manufacturing process that uses a biological organism cultivated in brewery wastewater to create the carbon-based materials needed to make energy storage cells.