TY - GEN
T1 - A Zn↔ZnO loop for terawatt-scale storage of solar electricity
AU - Tao, Meng
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is supported by National Science Foundation under grant numbers DMR-1306542 and CBET-1336297.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 IEEE.
PY - 2016/11/18
Y1 - 2016/11/18
N2 - In this paper an alternative to battery storage of solar electricity is proposed, in which storage and generation are performed by two separate devices. Storage is realized in an electrolytic cell which reduces a metal oxide to metal through solar electricity, and the produced metal anode generates electricity on demand in a metal/air battery. By separating storage and generation, this approach allows centralized storage and distributed generation with distributed optional grid connectivity. The theoretical performance is calculated for many metal↔metal oxide cycles. Based on material abundance, theoretical performance, process simplicity and technical readiness, the Zn↔ZnO cycle is proposed for this closed sustainable energy loop. The amount of Zn required for terawatt-scale storage of solar electricity is estimated.
AB - In this paper an alternative to battery storage of solar electricity is proposed, in which storage and generation are performed by two separate devices. Storage is realized in an electrolytic cell which reduces a metal oxide to metal through solar electricity, and the produced metal anode generates electricity on demand in a metal/air battery. By separating storage and generation, this approach allows centralized storage and distributed generation with distributed optional grid connectivity. The theoretical performance is calculated for many metal↔metal oxide cycles. Based on material abundance, theoretical performance, process simplicity and technical readiness, the Zn↔ZnO cycle is proposed for this closed sustainable energy loop. The amount of Zn required for terawatt-scale storage of solar electricity is estimated.
KW - electrochemical processes
KW - energy storage
KW - photovoltaic systems
KW - zinc
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85003456379&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/PVSC.2016.7749981
DO - 10.1109/PVSC.2016.7749981
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85003456379
T3 - Conference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
SP - 2011
EP - 2014
BT - 2016 IEEE 43rd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2016
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 43rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2016
Y2 - 5 June 2016 through 10 June 2016
ER -