Battery boost for grid-scale storage

In a study published in Batteries and Supercaps, researchers from Ohio State University detailed their findings centred around the construction of the battery's cathode.

"If you want to go to an all-renewable option for the power grid, you need economical energy storage devices that can store excess power and give that power back out when you don't have the source ready or working," said Vishnu-Baba Sundaresan, co-author of the study and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ohio State. "Technology like this is key because it is cheap, it doesn't use any exotic materials, and it can be made anywhere and promote the local economy."

With a theoretical energy density of 935Wh kg⁻¹, potassium-oxygen batteries have been a potential alternative for energy storage since they were invented in 2013. A team of researchers from Ohio State, led by chemistry professor Yiying Wu, showed that the batteries could be more efficient than lithium-oxygen batteries while simultaneously storing about twice the energy as existing lithium-ion batteries.