The increasing interest in energy storage for the grid can be attributed to multiple factors, including the capital costs of managing peak demands, the investments needed for grid reliability, and the integration of renewable energy sources. Although existing energy storage is dominated by pumped hydroelectric, there is the recognition that battery systems can offer a number of high-value opportunities, provided that lower costs can be obtained. The battery systems reviewed here include sodium-sulfur batteries that are commercially available for grid applications, redox-flow batteries that offer low cost, and lithium-ion batteries whose development for commercial electronics and electric vehicles is being applied to grid storage.

Electrical Energy Storage for the Grid: A Battery of Choices

[Liu, Chang; Li, Feng; Ma, Lai-Peng; Cheng, Hui-Ming] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Met Res, Shenyang Natl Lab Mat Sci, Shenyang 110016, Peoples R China.;Cheng, HM (reprint author), Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Met Res, Shenyang Natl Lab Mat Sci, 72 Wenhua Rd, Shenyang 110016, Peoples R China;cheng@imr.ac.cn

Advanced Materials for Energy Storage

Note: Times Cited: 875 Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-206025doi:10.1021/cr0501846View record in Web of Science URL: ://WOS:000249839900009 Record created on 2015-03-03, modified on 2017-05-12

/pdf/complex-hydrides-for-hydrogen-storage-vphufvreyb.pdf

Complex hydrides for hydrogen storage.

High-throughput computational materials design is an emerging area of materials science. By combining advanced thermodynamic and electronic-structure methods with intelligent data mining and database construction, and exploiting the power of current supercomputer architectures, scientists generate, manage and analyse enormous data repositories for the discovery of novel materials. In this Review we provide a current snapshot of this rapidly evolving field, and highlight the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

The high-throughput highway to computational materials design

Supercapacitors are electrochemical energy storage devices that operate on the simple mechanism of adsorption of ions from an electrolyte on a high-surface-area electrode. Over the past decade, the performance of supercapacitors has greatly improved, as electrode materials have been tuned at the nanoscale and electrolytes have gained an active role, enabling more efficient storage mechanisms. In porous carbon materials with subnanometre pores, the desolvation of the ions leads to surprisingly high capacitances. Oxide materials store charge by surface redox reactions, leading to the pseudocapacitive effect. Understanding the physical mechanisms underlying charge storage in these materials is important for further development of supercapacitors. Here we review recent progress, from both in situ experiments and advanced simulation techniques, in understanding the charge storage mechanism in carbon- and oxide-based supercapacitors. We also discuss the challenges that still need to be addressed for building better supercapacitors.

/pdf/efficient-storage-mechanisms-for-building-better-45mhaouxcn.pdf

Efficient storage mechanisms for building better supercapacitors

Flow Batteries: Current Status and Trends

In recent years, with the deployment of renewable energy sources, advances in electrified transportation, and development in smart grids, the markets for large-scale stationary energy storage have grown rapidly. Electrochemical energy storage methods are strong candidate solutions due to their high energy density, flexibility, and scalability. This review provides an overview of mature and emerging technologies for secondary and redox flow batteries. New developments in the chemistry of secondary and flow batteries as well as regenerative fuel cells are also considered. Advantages and disadvantages of current and prospective electrochemical energy storage options are discussed. The most promising technologies in the short term are high-temperature sodium batteries with β″-alumina electrolyte, lithium-ion batteries, and flow batteries. Regenerative fuel cells and lithium metal batteries with high energy density require further research to become practical.

Battery Technologies for Large-Scale Stationary Energy Storage

Magnesium borohydride as a hydrogen storage material: Properties and dehydrogenation pathway of unsolvated Mg(BH4)2

We have determined the structures of two phases of unsolvated Mg(BH4)2, a material of interest for hydrogen storage. One or both phases can be obtained depending on the synthesis conditions. The first, a hexagonal phase with space group P61, is stable below 453 K. Upon heating above that temperature it transforms to an orthorhombic phase, with space group Fddd, stable to 613 K at which point it decomposes with hydrogen release. Both phases consist of complex networks of corner-sharing tetrahedra consisting of a central Mg atom and four BH4 units. The high-temperature orthorhombic phase has a strong antisite disorder in the a lattice direction, which can be understood on the basis of atomic structure.

Structure of unsolvated magnesium borohydride Mg(BH4)2

The ammonia complex of magnesium borohydride Mg(BH4)2·2NH3 (I), which contains 16.0 wt % hydrogen, is a potentially promising material for hydrogen storage. This complex was synthesized by thermal decomposition of a hexaaammine complex Mg(BH4)2·6NH3 (II), which crystallizes in the cubic space group Fm3m with unit cell parameter a = 10.82(1) A and is isostructural to Mg(NH3)6Cl2. We solved the structure of I that crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pcab with unit cell parameters a = 17.4872(4) A, b = 9.4132(2) A, c = 8.7304(2) A, and Z = 8. This structure is built from individual pseudotetrahedral molecules Mg(BH4)2·2NH3 containing one bidentate BH4 group and one tridentate BH4 group that pack into a layered crystal structure mediated by N−H···H−B dihydrogen bonds. Complex I decomposes endothermically starting at 150 °C, with a maximum hydrogen release rate at 205 °C, which makes it competitive with ammonia borane BH3NH3 as a hydrogen storage material.

Grigorii Lev Soloveichik

Papers

Flow Batteries: Current Status and Trends

Battery Technologies for Large-Scale Stationary Energy Storage

Magnesium borohydride as a hydrogen storage material: Properties and dehydrogenation pathway of unsolvated Mg(BH4)2

Structure of unsolvated magnesium borohydride Mg(BH4)2

Ammine Magnesium Borohydride Complex as a New Material for Hydrogen Storage: Structure and Properties of Mg(BH4)2·2NH3