That renewable energy is the future of power production is crystal clear, but so too may be energy storage.
Researchers at Penn State’s Materials Research Institute are developing a thin and flexible glass, about one-tenth the thickness of display glass, capable of storing energy at high temperatures and could be used in high power applications.
In a paper titled "Flexible Glass for High Temperature Energy Storage Capacitors," the researchers state they have been able demonstrate an "alkali-free glass with high permittivity, low dielectric loss, high energy density, and potential self-healing capabilities that significantly performs better for high temperature–high power capacitor applications prepared through a standard roll-to-roll process than currently used polymer films."
10-micron thick glass from Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) was coated with high temperature polymers by the researchers; increasing energy density by 2.25 times and boosting self-healing capabilities.
Polymer capacitors usually require a separate cooling system, but the NEG glass has a high charge-discharge efficiency at temperatures of up to 180 Celsius - and recent experiments indicate even higher.
The researchers say the technology could be used in a variety of scenarios, including electric vehicle power electronics, wind turbines and grid connect solar.
Glass energy storage is just one of many novel battery-type technologies we've covered on Energy Matters. Energy storage research and development is becoming a huge industry given the importance it will play in a clean energy future. Here are some of the other technologies we've looked at; several of which have already been commercialized.
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