Water-Based Battery Claims Exceptional Scalability

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

A new battery made of manganese and hydrogen could be easily scaled up to store energy for the grid, researchers say. The battery houses a large amount of energy, lasts a long time, and could be inexpensive enough for the job. Basically, it solves all current battery problems. Let's see how far it can go.

[Alvin Lee + 5]

isn't this basically fuel cell with Mn as catalyst? strange term calling it water battery. 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

5 minutes ago, Alvin Lee said:

isn't this basically fuel cell with Mn as catalyst? strange term calling it water battery. 

Hi Alvin, welcome to the Oil Price forum; great to see you over here.

 

[Alvin Lee + 5]

tom...thanks. interesting on some technology though these technologies are doubtful like this so-called water battery. 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

22 minutes ago, Alvin Lee said:

tom...thanks. interesting on some technology though these technologies are doubtful like this so-called water battery. 

Alvin, I don't know much about batteries, so I can't really comment about this new type of battery.

The last paragraph of the article seems to confirm your scepticism, though.  (I added emphasis on key bits below.)

"This battery is similar to the nickel-hydrogen batteries used to power satellites, says Ping Liu, who designs materials for energy storage at the University of California, San Diego. Those have impressively long lives of 20,000 cycles, but are costly. The new manganese battery could face the same challenge. “Tank size will be a critical consideration,” he says. “Tanks are costly and bulky.” Nevertheless, he adds, “these aren’t insurmountable issues. If they can find a solution, then material cost is extremely low.”

[Alvin Lee + 5]

Tom.... precisely what i meant. i see this is meant as energy storage for renewable energy powerplant, not for automotive vehicles for sure. if it is a ''battery'' with Mn-H2, then i believe you still need this precious metal, platinum at anode if not mistaken.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Alvin Lee

[Guillaume Albasini + 851]

3 hours ago, Alvin Lee said:

Tom.... precisely what i meant. i see this is meant as energy storage for renewable energy powerplant, not for automotive vehicles for sure. if it is a ''battery'' with Mn-H2, then i believe you still need this precious metal, platinum at anode if not mistaken.

The article says " The team has developed low-cost catalysts to replace platinum and is now experimenting with other cathode materials to further improve battery performance.". But they don't specify the material used to replace platinum.  So some piece of information is missing.

[Alvin Lee + 5]

as long as material not specified and if it is not platinum, it is likely "battery size" is not practical.

[John Foote + 1,135]

“Water” batteries aren’t intended for EV vehicles. Far too large, think the size of a house trailer as a base. Utility scale solar is very cost competitive, but unless storage improves, it can only be a bit player. The ability to outperform, say diesel electric, should be achieved relatively soon. Today the spot electric market does utilize diesel some.