Hybridising energy conversion, storage in a mechanical-to-electrochemical process
17 Dec 2012
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have created a power cell that directly converts mechanical energy to chemical energy, which can then be stored and converted to electrical energy upon demand.
This new system is unlike other similar technologies that first convert mechanical energy to electrical energy, which is then stored chemically.
Energy generation and energy storage are two distinct processes that are usually accomplished using two separated units designed on the basis of different physical principles, such as piezoelectric nanogenerator and Li-ion battery; the former converts mechanical energy into electricity, and the latter stores electric energy as chemical energy.
But in the process developed at Georgia Institute of Technology, a fundamental mechanism has been introduced that directly hybridises the two processes into one, in which the mechanical energy is directly converted and simultaneously stored as chemical energy without going through the intermediate step of first converting into electricity.
The cell, developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology by Professor Zhong Lin Wang and his research team, was first reported in the journal Nano Letters on August 9, 2012.
By eliminating the need to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy for charging a battery, the new hybrid generator-storage cell utilises mechanical energy more efficiently than systems using separate generators and batteries.
