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By Maisy Chase

 A New Way To Store Solar Energy?
Researchers developed a new battery that is able to store solar energy.
You may have heard of solar powered energy. It presents itself throughout the world through solar panels or even just drying your clothes in the sunlight. Solar energy is a renewable energy source that has become more and more popular over the years. Researchers have invented a new way of capturing and storing solar energy using another renewable source, chemical energy. Researchers at Harvard University built a solar flow battery that uses an eco-friendly way to store energy. This device, known as the “solar flow battery”, allows the storage of solar and wind energy.


Because there is only a limited amount of sunlight everyday, scientist needed a way to figure out how we can store the energy from the day. The solar flow battery allows three different modes for different needs. If energy is needed right away, it can act like a solar panels and immediately convert sunlight to electricity. Otherwise, the device can soak up solar energy by day and store it as chemical energy to deliver it later as electricity when night falls or the sky grows cloudy. The device can also be charged by electrical energy if needed, just like a typical battery.





Actually manufacturing these batteries would be very expensive. The hope is that there will be more cost-efficient ways of creating the battery in the future. One way, instead of using expensive materials such as metal, scientists can use organic materials.



To recharge the battery, it is exposed to sunlight. The sunlight causes the dye molecules in the electrolyte to give electrons to the photo-electrode, reducing the amount of energy needed to recharge the battery. The applied voltage to recharge the solar flow battery is reduced to 2.9 Volts compared to over 3.6 Volts for traditional lithium-iodine batteries, resulting in an energy savings of up to 20%
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