The batteries produced by researchers at the University of Southern California are designed for use in power plants. They are used to store large amounts of energy and can be deployed on demand. "Batteries last about 5,000 charging cycles and their life expectancy is 15 years," said Professor Narayan of Sri Lanka. "Yeah, lithium-ion batteries have only 1000 charge cycles, and the production cost is more than 10 times."
Most current battery designs use metals and toxic chemicals as their electroactive materials, but they hope to find an alternative that will be cheap and have the least impact on the environment. They found that quinones, which are ubiquitous in plants, fungi and bacteria, are the most perfect reactants for photosynthesis and cellular oxygenation. "These are the types of molecules that use natural energy to transfer energy," Narayan said, and he expects that the batteries they need will be made from this type of helium.
The team developed batteries considering renewable energy, because solar panels can generate electricity only after the sun rises, and wind turbines can only generate electricity when there is enough wind to push them, so power companies have been reluctant to use them. . But there are large-capacity batteries on hand to store electrical energy, and the use of excess energy from the sun and wind power generators as needed can fill the gap. "Ultrascale energy storage is a key issue for the future of renewable energy."