Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently developed a new rechargeable flow battery that generates three times more power per centimeter than lithium-ion batteries and other commercial storage systems.
Energy is stored and released in the device through ‘Laminar Flow’, a concept that describes two liquids that are pumped through a channel where they undergo electrochemical reactions between two electrodes.
In the past, flow batteries using these liquids resulted in hydrobromic acid, which eats away at the battery’s membrane, reducing the life span of the battery and slowing its energy storing reaction. Hydrobromic acid is not the only reactant that can corrode membranes, which are one of the most costly and unreliable components of a battery.
To solve this problem, the MIT researchers created a flow battery without a membrane. They used a small channel between two electrodes through which liquid bromine is pumped over a graphite cathode and hydrobromic acid under a porous anode. This occurs while hyrdogen gas flows across the anode. Energy is produced by the reaction between the bromine and hydrogen.
This membraneless flow battery has the potential to produce energy costling as little as $100 per kilowatt-hour.
