It is exactly what it sounds like: a bit battery, a bit electrolyser.
It is exactly what it sounds like: a bit battery, a bit electrolyser.
In December of last year (indeed, this is not the hottest news, but still important enough) a team under the leadership of Fokko Mulder, Professor of Materials for Energy Conversion & Storage at the TU Delft published an article in Energy & Environmental Science that describes a new use of a 19th century invention: the Ni-Fe batterie, developed and patented by Thomas Edison in the early 1900s.
In the words of Wikipedia, the chemistry produces “a very robust battery which is tolerant of abuse, (overcharge, overdischarge, and short-circuiting) and can have very long life [….] it can be continuously charged and can last for more than 20 years.” Its only problem is that it starts to develop hydrogen when you overcharge it, which is less desirable if you want to use it as a car battery. But in the context of a hydrogen energy economy, H2 generation could be a feature rather than a bug. The hydrogen could for instance be stored as ammonia, to be used as such, or to be reconverted to electricity when the demand is high.
TU Delft reports that the Dutch technology transfer agency TTW (formerly STW) and several companies have come forward to fund a research program that can advance battolyzer technology.