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https://reneweconomy.com.au/australian-scientists-build-quantum-battery-with-instantaneous-charge-1000-fold-gain-in-storage/>
"Australia researchers have built and tested a quantum battery that can charge
instantaneously and store 1000 times more energy than a previous version.
But this is still experimental quantum physics, meaning a 1000-times
improvement is measured in going from storing nanoseconds of energy to
microseconds. But RMIT PhD student and co-author Daniel Tibben is hopeful.
“With the system that we have now we can theoretically get up to a second of
storage,” he told
Renew Economy.
The point of the research was to prove that adding a chemical layer to store
the energy created by the quantum layer – without which it simply
instantaneously charges and discharges – could work.
And with version number four of a total of five different models, the
researchers from RMIT University and CSIRO proved the theory worked.
Unlike traditional batteries, which rely on chemical reactions, this quantum
battery theory uses quantum superposition – the concept that an electron can
exist in multiple states until it’s measured – and interactions between
electrons and light to achieve faster charging times.
For this study published in
PRX Energy, the team built and studied five
optical cavities, a specially engineered structure, to trap and confine light
between reflective surfaces.
The fourth of these proved to be the winner, working best when two specific
energy levels aligned perfectly, allowing energy to be stored.
Inside the cavity, molecules, from a fluorescent dye called rhodamine 6G,
interact with photons and become energised into polaritons – particles that are
part light, part matter. This is the charging layer.
A second layer using molecules from the light-sensitive chemical palladium
tetraphenylporphyrin absorbs the energy.
It’s in what’s called a low-energy triplet state, where two of three electrons
spin in the same direction. That means it’s stable enough to provide long
duration – in quantum terms at least – storage.
Tibben says the theoretical ability to get up to 1 second of storage is
directly related to that triplet state.
“This work shows we can incorporate other chemical systems into these sorts of
batteries and have them interact with polaritons, and that is a new order of
understanding,” he says."
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
