As the world looks to alternative forms of energy, one of the biggest hurdles has been finding an efficient way to store that energy.
A team from the University of Waterloo says it’s found a solution – and that solution is already drawing praise from a major environmental group.
Dipan Kundu, a PhD student at the university, has been fascinated by batteries for years.
Frustration with the existing options led him and his team to develop a battery based on zinc ions, salt water and a nanomaterial known as pillared vanadium oxide.
The zinc ions set it apart from most batteries used in modern electronic devices, which instead feature lithium ions.
The difference, says Waterloo chemistry professor Linda Nazar, is that the zinc-ion battery lasts longer than many lithium-ion batteries, and is also low-cost – zinc, after all, is the main component of American pennies.
“I think it’s a bit of a game-changer,” she says.
“There’s nothing out there like this.”
While the scientists are still looking for ways to improve their batteries, there are a couple of drawbacks at this point. They can only handle a lower voltage than the lithium-ion batteries, and they’re a little bit larger as well.
Still, Kundu sees use for the batteries as storage for power generated by solar panels and other emerging technologies.
“We want to harvest solar (power), but we don’t have batteries that can store those energies,” he says.
A spokesperson for environmental group Environmental Defence says the Waterloo-developed battery could have a “very significant impact” as new energy sources gain in popularity.
“If this battery is inexpensive, if it’s efficient, if it’s non-toxic – this looks very promising,” he said.
“It’s the thing that’s going to enable renewable energy to really, really scale up.”
The team hopes to have their batteries on the market within two years.
With reporting by Nadia Matos
