We first saw the appellation, “24M” four years ago in our report on research done at MIT to produce an ionic liquid called “Cambridge Crude,” usable in flow batteries. Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang headed up that work in collaboration with Professors Angela Belcher and Paula Hammond at MIT and Glenn Amatucci at Rutgers, among others. They formed a commercial spinoff and seemingly went underground for the next four years. Dr. Chiang and his associates had previously gone commercial with A123, which went through the trial of bankruptcy and being acquired by overseas investors. It’s now solvent and looking to double output. 24M is a spin-off of A123. We found that Professor Chiang had resurfaced when friend and blog reader Marshall Houston sent an article from Quartz about Chiang’s work with Dr. W. Craig Carter to expand on the foundational energy storage technology of 24M – based on the thick black electrolyte they’d created and a resulting semisolid electrode. Their semi-solid lithium-ion …
The Magnificent Seven Ride Again
SolidEnergy is an MIT spin-off with a lithium battery that’s been touted by R&D Magazine as “potentially…the biggest breakthrough in battery technology since Sony introduced the first Li-ion battery in 1991.” Unlike other manufacturers with indefinite product dates, SolidEnergy says it will release a 2 Amp-hour smartphone and wearable battery in 2016 and a 20 Ah electric vehicle battery in 2017. SolidEnergy claims their Solid Polymer Ionic Liquid (SPIL) electrolyte enables creation of an “ultra-thin lithium metal anode, and improves the cell-level energy density by 50 percent compared to graphite anodes and 30 percent compared to silicon-composite anodes.” The electrolyte adds non-flammability and non-volatility, operating safely at temperatures up to 300° C. We reported on this company last year when Dr. Qichao Hu, CEO and Chief Technology Officer of SolidEnergy, spoke at the eighth Electric Aircraft Symposium in Santa Rosa, California. Dr. Hu led a team of six associates in developing SolidEnergy Systems’ Solid Polymer Ionic Liquid (SPiL) rechargeable lithium …
100 Percent Efficiency? Great! and So What?
A particularly brilliant and demanding manager for whom your editor used to work had a “SO WHAT?” stamp with which he would critique our technical papers and proposals. His point in defacing our papers was not to be snide, but to force us to defend why we included certain facts – interesting though they may be in themselves. Two different and equally brilliant discoveries by University of Cambridge and University of California, Riverside researchers bring the “so what?” stamp to mind. Even with their breakthroughs, approaching 100-percent efficient solar cells in the first instance, solar cells may not yet be a perfect fit for aircraft propulsion. Each square foot of the earth’s surface receives about 15 Watts of solar energy during a bright day. 100 square feet of solar cells (about what we could expect for an average-size wing on an average light plane) would see 1.5 kilowatts hitting that surface – not enough to sustain flight on anything but …
Trapping Light: A “Perfect” Solar Absorber?
The news item from David L. Chandler at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) claims that researchers there have come close to realizing the “ideal” for solar absorption, trapping and containing all of light’s wavelengths that reach earth’s surface from the sun. This absorbed sunlight is converted to heat by a two-dimensional metallic dialectric photonic crystal, which can absorb sunlight from a wide range of angles and withstand extremely high temperatures. Even better, it can be made cheaply and in large quantities, according to MIT. One aspect of the design that might make it difficult to use on aircraft is its high operating temperature. A solar-thermophotovoltaic (STVP) device, the energy from the sunlight hitting the cells is “first converted to heat, which then causes the material to glow, emitting light that can, in turn, be converted to an electric current.” Having worked on an earlier version of STVPs, the researchers noted that the solar cells had many hollow cavities. Nature …
Cheap Hydrogen, Anyone?
Researchers in Glasgow and at Stanford University have devised ways to decouple oxygen and hydrogen from water without resort to expensive extraction or storage techniques. Both breakthroughs involve low-cost materials, low-energy requirements, and the production of clean hydrogen through what should be renewable energy resources. The latter overcomes one major objection to hydrogen production. As Professor Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry explains, “Around 95% of the world’s hydrogen supply is currently obtained from fossil fuels, a finite resource which we know harms the environment and speeds climate change. Some of this hydrogen is used to make ammonia fertilizer and as such, fossil hydrogen helps feed more than half of the world’s population. “The potential for reliable hydrogen production from renewable sources is huge. The sun, for example, provides more energy in a single hour of sunlight than the entire world’s population uses in a year. If we can tap and store even a fraction of …
Batteries, Fuel Cells – or Something Else?
We’re coming to a parting of the ways in energy storage development for electric cars. Or we may be coming to a joining of technologies in new and previously unimagined ways. One side, led by Elon Musk and his Tesla Empire, promotes battery power and development. Yet, in Tesla’s home state of California, government and private investments in hydrogen vehicles is growing. Several Asian and European automakers are bringing out fuel cell powered vehicles in the face of low numbers of existing fueling stations. For all the promotion from either side, future “green” cars may become too expensive for private ownership, and various approaches to providing personal mobility may replace the traditional owner-driver model. Regardless of the outcomes or market shares, the technology will be applicable to personal aviation, although perhaps at a significant price. Battery-Powered Vehicles Lead – For Now According to EV World, “In the last year, global registrations of electric vehicles from the first three years of …
EAS VIII: Ultra High Energy Density Lithium Battery
Qichao Hu is Cofounder, President and interim CEO of SolidEnergy, a battery company with a different technology and a unique business plan. According to his company’s web site, he “Cofounded SolidEnergy while a PhD student at MIT, and led it through early stage business plan competition, fundraising, licensing and collaboration negotiation, and technology development. 2012 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy, and is a graduate of MIT and Harvard University.” His team was also the Deployment and Infrastructure Category Winner in the 2012 MIT Clean Energy Prize competition. In his presentation to the eighth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium on April 25, Hu told about his Waltham, Massachusetts startup’s strategic partnership with A123, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. The firm’s laboratory and intellectual depth enables creating a battery that is safer, lighter and smaller, as Hu told attendees at the Symposium. Solid Energy Systems Corp. is now affiliated with A123 Venture Technologies Corp. This allows Hu and his …
EAS VIII – A Day and a Half You’ll Never Forget
Who would pass up a chance to stay at a nice resort, attend lectures that challenge and inspire, and meet at poolside with speakers who bring some of the sharpest minds in the world to bear on some of the biggest problems we all face? Let’s face it. Global warming probably won’t be going away anytime soon, and aviation seems destined to play a bigger part in polluting our otherwise near-perfect atmosphere. Unless…we learn how to make our favorite activity (in the top five for most of us, anyway), into a more responsible way to travel and recreate. Since solving the problems which go with that responsibility will involve the best in aerodynamics, power systems and new, efficient technology, the CAFE Foundation has invited experts in these fields with demonstrated successes in meeting such challenges. To be held April 25 and 26, 2014 at the Flamingo Resort in Santa Rosa, California, the event will host speakers on everything from practical, …
Angela Belcher Continues Making Batteries with Viruses
Three years ago, in one of our earliest entries, this blog reported on the blending of biology and chemistry in a bionic battery created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Angela Belcher. She was honored with a press briefing with President Obama, MIT President Susan Hockfield and her prototype battery, and used the occasion to encourage federal funding for such ventures. In a later visit to her laboratory, the President accepted a business card with the periodic table, saying he would consult it periodically. She has turned her bionic battery research to improving the chances for lithium-air batteries to reach that magic 500-mile figure ( or at least 550 kilometers or 341 miles), and has explained her approach and progress in a Nature Communications paper and in the video below. Since Dr. Belcher has been using a biological approach in her research for the last decade, it was natural for her to use genetically-modified, non-toxic viruses to grow” spiky surfaces” …
SolidEnergy Teams with A123 for High Energy Density Battery
Take two Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) business incubator realizations, mix their strengths and watch for the potential breakthroughs that could come in the form of high-energy-density batteries. According to its web site, “SolidEnergy is developing a safe, high energy density, and wide temperature capable rechargeable battery that has the potential to transform the consumer electronics, electric vehicle, and downhole exploration (as in well drilling) industries. The core technology is called a Solid Polymer Ionic Liquid (SPIL) lithium metal battery.” Founded in 2012, “one of the toughest years in the battery industry,” SolidEnergy’s “…objective is to develop an insanely great next generation battery and commercialize it in the fastest and most efficient way.” This decidedly brash approach needs a steadying hand at the wheel, which is where its partnership with A123 Systems comes into play. A123’s first collaboration under its expanded research and development model combines SolidEnergy’s SPIL technology with “the mature cell design and prototyping capabilities of A123.” This would help …