Now Get Energy From Salty Water - Entropy Battery

Non-conventional energy resources are day by day becoming indispensable. Scientists are coming with crazy ideas everyday to tackle energy problems which would arise in the near future. But have you ever heard of harnessing energy from saltiness of water? Crazy, isn’t it? Well the very thing is developed by a research group led by Dr. Bruce Logan from Penn State University and Dr. Yi Cui, of Stanford University.

#-Link-Snipped-#The battery is named “Entropy Battery”. The concepts revolve around an idea which says, that we can take advantage of salinity of “more salty liquid”. The battery is actually simple in construction consisting of anode and cathode as usual made up of Silver and Manganese dioxide respectively. The electrolyte in the process is the common salt (NaCl) which is easily available in river streams and seas. However as we are trying to focus on the ‘difference’ in salinity, this battery will be used at some point where rivers meet the sea like some estuary.

Initially the battery contains nothing but fresh water. Then to start the electrolytic action, a small amount of current is applied. The battery is charged when fresh water from rivers takes away Sodium ions from Cathode and Chlorine ions from anode. No doubt that the battery is charged by this but this depletes the electrodes of ions. The depletion of ions can then be compensated for by replacing fresh river water with sea water, which has a higher salinity than river water. This action results in inducing a higher voltage difference between the two electrodes. The electrodes again get enriched with Sodium and Chlorine ions. The cycle of replacing fresh water and sea water with each other goes on continuously.
The concept of developing power or electricity is quite old. Earlier there was another technique in which sea water was being passed through a membrane. However, this was not a cheap alternative available. It was costlier than conventional electricity generating process.

Mr. Cui believes that only if we could put this idea into use for every river in this world, then it could change the energy scenario drastically. It would mean that we can meet up to 13% of world energy requirements.

This battery would not only promise us with a renewable source of energy but it would also provide us with fresh drinking water. In this way, this battery can have multiple uses. Moreover, it would also be boon to the people living near estuaries. Industries could then be easily promoted and developed because of availability of power. Availability of fresh water would also be boon to agriculture.

Mr. Cui is currently working towards increasing its efficiency from current 74% to 85%. If only we can develop this and put it to a commercial use, the “entropy battery” will work wonders for this world.

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