![]() Despite its abundance in the atmosphere, hydrogen is also difficult and expensive to produce and transport, particularly at scale. Storing hydrogen is expensive and energy-intensive, both as a gas and stored as a liquid at low temperatures. Moderating the temperature of the fuel cells is important to prevent volatile reactions, and because fuel cells need liquid water to work as opposed to steam or ice. Much like sodium, hydrogen is highly flammable and can react explosively if not handled correctly. However, hydrogen fuel cells are a relatively new technology and come with their own drawbacks. Hydrogen batteries also use less carbon dioxide to manufacture than lithium batteries by virtue of not requiring energy-intensive mining efforts. While the manufacturing processes for batteries (and the devices they power) release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, this effect can be mitigated by powering the processes with renewable energy sources. Hydrogen fuel cells also have a greater range than lithium batteries and only produce water and heat as part of the energy production process, presenting an efficient and carbon-neutral source of power compared to conventional batteries. Hydrogen is extremely abundant in the atmosphere, making it an attractive alternative to materials with limited supply such as lithium or zinc. ![]() This means hydrogen fuel cells can be lighter and occupy smaller spaces while delivering equivalent power to lithium batteries, saving on resources. ![]() Hydrogen fuel cells have an energy-to-weight ratio ten times greater than lithium batteries, owing to the use of hydrogen and oxygen as reactants. Hydrogen has been touted by a number of energy companies as a carbon-neutral alternative to liquefied natural gas, and hydrogen fuel cells are also being developed as an alternative to traditional lithium batteries. These high temperatures could damage the ceramic membrane separating the anode and cathode components of the battery, and could also exacerbate the volatility of the reactants in the batteries. Sodium-sulphur battery factories and installations that use them have been the site of a number of fires, such as the 2011 fire at the Tsukuba Plant in Japan that caused manufacturer NGK to temporarily suspend production of its sodium-sulphur batteries.Īnother drawback to sodium-sulphur batteries is the high operating temperature of 300 ☌, which is needed to liquefy the sodium. Liquid sodium coming into contact with water in the atmosphere poses a significant risk due to the highly exothermic reaction, which could become explosive when working at scale. However, there are risks involved with handling both sodium and sulphur due to the volatile nature of both reactants. Sodium and sulphur are also abundant and inexpensive materials, which mitigates one of the main problems with lithium batteries. Sodium-sulphur batteries have a longer lifespan than their lithium-ion counterparts, with lifetimes of around 15 years compared to the two or three years expected from lithium batteries. It is five times larger than the second-largest storage battery at 108 megawatts (MW)/ 648 megawatt hours (MWh). In February 2019, Abu Dhabi installed the world’s largest storage battery which makes use of sodium-sulphur battery cells. Sodium-sulphur batteries are another alternative to lithium, and have already seen significant use at scale in sites around the world. “So it is not clear from the reserves available if we will have enough zinc to support the enormous need that will result from the demand for grid-scale batteries.” Professor of chemistry at the University of Southern California Sri Narayan told the New York Times: “At the present rate of production of zinc, zinc reserves will last about 25 years.” However, while zinc is one of the most abundant metals on Earth, using it at scale as an alternative to lithium could pose problems in the future. Zinc-air batteries also contain no toxic compounds and are neither highly reactive nor flammable, allowing them to be recycled and safely disposed of. According to the company this method can be manufactured locally without rare or costly materials, reducing reliance on imports and contributing to jobs and local economies. Importantly, NantEnergy also developed a technique to allow zinc to retain its charge for extended periods of time, solving the usual problem of limited reusability for zinc and zinc-air batteries.
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