Resource World Magazine

A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 www.resourceworld.com 75 GREEN TECHNOLOGIES Robertson said: "Not in the immediate future. Not tomorrow." But he predicts the financial picture will improve and the energy source will come into its own. "The costs are going to go down. If we look at all of our other energy-generating technolo- gies, they were all exceedingly expensive off the bat. You have no economies of scale; you're testing multiple technologies, con- cepts, ideas and methods, and a lot of them don't work." EXTRACTING ENEGY FROM SOLAR PAINT Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne, Australia have created a new solar paint that can produce clean energy. As described on the RMIT website, the paint draws moisture from the air and splits it into oxygen and hydrogen. As a result, hydrogen can be captured as a clean fuel source. The paint contains a recently developed compound that looks and feels like silica gel commonly used in sachets to absorb moisture and keep food, electronics, and medicine dry, but it acts like a semi- conductor. Lead researcher, Dr. Torben Daeneke, says, "We found that mixing the compound with titanium oxide particles leads to a sunlight-absorbing paint that produces hydrogen fuel from solar energy and moist air." According to colleague, Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, hydrogen is the cleanest energy source on the planet and can be used in fuel cells as well as in conventional combustion engines as an alternative to fossil fuels. Because tita- nium oxide is the same white pigment commonly found in wall paint, when combined with the new material, the solar paint can be applied to "convert a brick wall into energy-harvesting and fuel-pro- duction real estate," said Daeneke. Using moist air eliminates the need for filtered or clean water to feed the system. And, any location that has water vapor in the air, including remote areas, can produce fuel. "This system can also be used in very dry but hot climates near oceans. The sea water is evaporated by the hot sunlight and the vapour can then be absorbed to produce fuel," said Kourosh Kalantar- zadeh. "This is an extraordinary concept – making fuel from the sun and water vapour in the air." DEVELOPING INSTANTLY RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES Electric vehicles require charging ports in convenient locations to be viable, but a new battery technology will allow hybrid vehicle drivers and electric vehicle driv- ers to charge their vehicle batteries in a way similar to conventional gas station refills. In a press release, John Cushman, Distinguished Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science and a Professor of Mathematics at Perdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana said, "Electric and hybrid vehicle sales are growing worldwide and the popular- ity of companies like Tesla is incredible, but there continues to be strong challenges for industry and consumers of electric or hybrid cars." Cushman, who leads the research team, went on to say, "The biggest challenge for industry is to extend the battery's charge life and to provide the infrastructure needed to actually charge the vehicle." Cushman added, "The components must be safe enough to store in a family home, stable enough to meet major production and distribution requirements, and must be cost effective." The Purdue researchers plan to use their new technology to create an afford- able, environmentally friendly, and safe "instantly rechargeable" battery. Their company, IFBattery, LLC, based in West Lafayette, Indiana, will commercialize and develop the technology. They say this breakthrough will not only speed the switch to electric vehicles by making them more convenient to drive but will also reduce the amount of new support infra- structure needed for electric cars. The new battery model is a type of rechargeable flow battery. Recharging is provided by two chemical components dissolved in liquids contained within the system and most commonly sepa- rated by a membrane. One of the biggest advantages of flow batteries is that they can be almost instantly recharged by replacing the electrolyte liquid, while simultaneously recovering the spent mate- rial for re-energization. The Purdue team's flow battery system is unique because, unlike other versions of the flow battery, this one lacks the mem- branes that are costly and vulnerable to fouling. "Membrane fouling can limit the number of recharge cycles and is a known contributor to many battery fires," said Cushman. According to the press release, transitioning the infrastructure to accom- modate cars using these batteries will be easier than designing and building a host of new charging stations. Existing pumps could be used for these battery chemicals, which are safe. The biggest hurdle to production isn't obtaining the materials, which are cheap and plentiful. The researchers need more financing to complete the research and development and to put the batteries into mass production. To overcome this prob- lem, they're publicizing the innovation to draw interest from investors. n

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