One of the biggest hurdles for integrating renewable energy from solar or wind sources comes from the question of storage – how can power be stored for times when the wind doesn’t blow or the skies are overcast?
Researchers at Stanford University are addressing this headlong and have reported the development of a new high-power electrode that is cheap, durable and efficient. If development continues as hoped, this discovery might potentially foster the manufacture of batteries large enough to provide for economical renewable energy storage on the grid.
Said electrode was made using crystalline nanoparticles from a copper compound, copper hexacyanoferrate. The atomic structure of the crystals found in the new electrode has an open framework that allows ions to move in and out without damaging the electrode.
Laboratory tests show this electrode survived 40,000 charging/discharging cycles. Following that activity, the electrode could still
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