A new polymer chain clears a major hurdle for the future of energy storage. A team of chemists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has developed the polymer-based system that can yield energy storage density—the amount of energy stored—more than two times higher than previous systems. The new system is able to reach an average of 510 Joules per game with a maximum of 690, while the previous high-energy storage density achieved in a polymeric system was in the range of 200 Joules per gram. “Theory says that we should be able to achieve 800 Joules per gram, but nobody could do it,” Dhandapani Venkataraman said in a statement.
“This paper reports that we’ve reached one of the highest energy densities stored per gram in a polymeric system, and how we did it.” According to the researchers, if energy storage density improves, applications for the new technology include possibly solar pads that collect energy from the Sun by day and then store it for heating food, living spaces, clothing or blankets at night. This could be particularly impactful in areas with no access to a power grid. “Because what you cannot do with a carbon nanotube is reduce the distance between the molecules,” he added. “We thought that the structure of a polymer chain would let the azobenzene groups get closer to each other and interact, which is when they gain energy and become more stable.” Venkataraman said the finding was unexpected, which led them to conduct more experiments.
Read more> Non-Electric Batteries Could Store Solar Energy
